Grateful: Day 14 Faves

 

Here we are at mid-November already and a Friday!  I'm pausing my "to do" list to share FIVE of my FAVE blessings from the week. I do this with other bloggers and we all link up at Susanne's site. 

• DAY IN THE MOUNTAINS: There were originally 6 people signed up for last Saturday's hike in the southern region of the Adirondack Mountains. It ended up being just 4 of us and we all had an amazing time.  We arrived at the first trailhead around 9:45 after the 1.5 hours drive.  We were hiking on the new loop trail the state of NY had just done maintenance work on and i noticed that the former trail was officially closed.  This is a trail i've hiked before and it was in rough shape the last time I was there in 2020. The friends with me all loved it and we lingered by the falls for the longest time. The sun came out warming us up and we had to shed the layers. When we started out it was only 33 degrees F. When we ended our day in the mountains, it was 55.  After hiking the falls trail, we drove to the village center to walk the nature preserve there and then the town historian happened to be there that day so we had a free tour of these buildings. What fun it was!! It was created by a very wealthy local man when he was in his 80s. Here is the story. It's quite fascinating and I've always wondered over the years about this! I'm thankful my friends and I had a fun day in the mountains. (Hubby said it was too cold for him to go...ha!). 

Hiking buddies: Celine, Faith, Maggie, Joan
photo used with permission
Auger Falls trailhead
Southern ADK 

Auger Falls
on the Sacandaga River 

Stone steps have been added through 
the wet, muddy section of trail
thanks to the NYS DEC

The Sacandaga River via Auger Falls trail

one of the replica's of the Route 66 buildings.
this one is an old Christian school...
click on the photo to read the sign 

• FIRST SNOW:  I'm actually thankful for the rain that fell on Monday turning it to a dusting of wet snow. It was just a tiny bit but we've needed the moisture and there's just something about the first snow falling from a November sky.  I'm also thankful it didn't last more than a few hours! 

our  front yard on Monday afternoon

• FINISHED TASKS:  I had a long list of about 10 errands/tasks I needed to finish up...things I had started back in September that I just put on hold.  I finally had the chance Tuesday and Wednesday to get those items checked off!  One was a fun thing:  a former student of mine is collecting preemie sized sleepers for the Albany Medical Center NICU babies. He spent a great deal of time there as a newborn, when he was first adopted by a loving couple who couldn't have biological children.  I had him as a student when he was 5.  He is now 14 and doing well and has a very generous heart. He comes up with these projects all on his own. My small group decided to take this project on and we have collected quite a few preemie sleepers (and I still need to pick some up from 2 other women).  I also wanted to donate two bags of former teaching clothes and gently used shirts/sweaters/tees and towels to our local Episcopal church who then makes sure their needy families receive the items.  They also reach out to the homeless they know. I'm thankful I have the means to donate needed items for people who will use them. Another task was to thoroughly clean out the fridge. I'm thankful I have a fridge full of good food with options for different meals. I never want to take that for granted. 

Donations for St Matthews Episcopal Church

preemie-sized clothing for the NICU babies

a clean, organized fridge!

• PORCH SET-UP: I also am thankful I spent some time last weekend setting up the porch for my "thanksgiving/harvest" display. I painted hot sauce on the pumpkins to keep away the squirrels and set everything up in a different arrangement for November vs the Jack o lantern, etc for Halloween. It felt good to get the porch swept up, throw away the candy wrappers some trick or treaters had left behind, and do some weeding of old flowers. Soon, it will be time to get the Christmas decorations out there!

front porch Thanksgiving decor

• ANSWERED PRAYER:  My new friend Maggie (and fellow hiker and member of my book group) texted me yesterday afternoon that a prayer request we have been lifting up for her as a small group was answered by the Lord.  She had been wanting to hear from her 19 yr old  grandson who lives down in Virginia (I cannot go into details as I neglected to get her permission to share the back story) as it had been months, and she finally heard from him!!  He called her, they talked a good while and then he texted her the next day. God is so good to sometimes say YES to us.  Maggie was really hoping and praying she would hear from T and she did!!  I'm thankful for the power of prayer! 

Those were my top faves that I gave thanks to God for this past week.  What about you? What are you thankful for today?