A WEEK-END WRAP UP

 

It's the start of our most Holy Week as Christ-followers.  Even non-Believing Christians  (those who aren't Christ followers/saved/born again) but who identify as Christian vs Jewish, Muslim, etc) tend to celebrate and go to church on Easter Sunday.  It's hard to believe it's only 1 week away!  This past year has flown by for me.  Last year, Dave, Courtney, and I were in the Easter choir and were so busy getting our music learned.  This year, because we sang on Christmas Eve,  we don't have choir for Easter but Courtney and I were selected to sing in a women's vocal ensemble with 4 other women for our Good Friday service. We are busy working on our harmonies! In fact, that is what I spent most of Friday afternoon doing. 

FRIDAY:  Friday was my mother-in-law's 91st birthday!  My sister in law Kathy sent us this pic of Betty celebrating with Dave's bro Peter and Kathy during lunch at home. They bought her her fave fish and chips and chocolate!  My mother in law has been the best mom in law ever. She's never come between Dave and i and our decisions regarding her 2 granddaughters.  She's treated Kathy and I (her 2 daughters in law) very well over the years and her own 2 daughters used to tell me she treated us better than she treated them! 😊  Seriously, she is the best. We've had some good talks over the years and although we differ on many things, including certain aspects of child-rearing, she has never made life difficult for me or Dave and has always respected us and the way we parented the girls.  

Happy Birthday, Betty!

Friday evening, Dave was tired. He packed an overnight bag as was leaving the next morning to head out to his mom's with a birthday gift (a cross necklace made out of Guatemalan jade that he bought for her on his missions trip) and to discuss some plans regarding her care with his brother Peter. I did some reading and then had a marco polo conversation back and forth with my friend Deb from TN. Then I packed my hiking backpack for a hike the next day and got my winter hiking clothes all set out.  We both went to bed early as we both had to be up early on Saturday. 

SATURDAY!  A COLD but clear day with sunshine and beautiful blue skies. Dave and I had breakfast/ coffee together and then he left for MA after his shower. I left the house around 9:30 to meet the people riding in my car for the hike. One guy was going to meet us there. The hike is in the southern region of the Adirondack Mountains near Caroga Lake and it was like a different world out there. It's only about 80 minutes northwest of where we live but there was still a lot of snow on the ground, much colder temps and frozen mud/ice. 

This is at the end of the first .4 miles into the woods
We chose to hike the Red Loop trail which is a 2.5 miles trail around
Willie Wildlife Pond/Marsh

When we got to this point, we went left and that's when we saw all the post holes (not  ok! this means someone(s) hiked in snow over 6 inches without snowshoes  or cross country skies on which leaves deep holes and then is dangerous in late winter/early spring for hikers. Mainly because the snow then freezes leaving these huge holes.  People who post hole really don't understand winter hiking. Most of the trail was icy and snowcovered but we did well.  I used one pole as did most of the hikers except Jill who had her microspikes on (I chose to leave mine in the car) and Evelyn and the guys didn't use poles. 

Here's a few pics of our hike: 

Willie Wildlife Pond and Marsh
in all its frozen beauty

SoulSteps Hikers!
l-r: Evelyn, Mark, Tyler (E's son), my oldest girl Courtney, Jill
Courtney and Tyler are dating and Courtney now enjoys hiking again
which Dave and I are secretly glad about and we just knew it would take a guy
to get her back to it.  Her first hike was when I wore her in a baby sling at 6 weeks old. Our 2nd daughter (Claire) was 8 months old for her first hike. Yes, we start them out young! 

Evelyn in the pines
 with no post holes on this part of the trail!

After the first 1.5 miles, we were on the other side of the pond, through the woods, and in an open sunny area.  The sun was warming us up, the sky was a beautiful blue, and we had 3 benches to sit on and eat some protein and drink water. Everyone was very well prepared. Did you know that when you hike in the cold weather, you actually burn more calories? I never really knew that!  I"m not a true winter hiker but in early Spring here in the Northeast, the mountains are more like  early Winter, with conditions rapidly changing. And then the two guys decide to do planks and have a crawling race on the pond. Thankfully the ice was thick! 

Ready, set....crawl!!

After getting around the pond, we decided not to go back to the cars via the longer ridge trail and instead opted to go back across the pond at the 2nd longer bridge and return to the junction where the signs are located in the first pic above. By now we had gone just under 2 miles, were cold, two of us had feet plunged into muddy water and the wind was picking up.  It was also lightly snowing.  We got back to the junction and then it was just another .4 miles back to the car. All in all, we hiked 2.2 miles.  We were home by about 3 pm!

Once I was home, I got the mail, unpacked my backpack and emptied the hydration pack.  Cleaned up and changed into regular  clothes.  I had some dinner around 6:30 pm and watched a movie on Netflix that was on the edge of your seat gripping.  It's called The Captive. Is similar to true crime but fiction.  Based on a  s*x trafficking ring and set in western NY.  It's very well done!! The ending is well done.  The guy on the DVD cover plays the dad of the kidnapped little girl. He was an excellent actor! 

I also listened to the MP3s on Church planning center app and practiced my alto part for Good Friday. The rest of the evening was spent reading.  I'm reading two good books: a fiction that is part of a detective series I enjoy set in Sweden, and Harris's non-fiction book on her run for President. It's SO good! I would love to meet her Baptist pastor!! She includes a prayer he prayed for her.  I'm only on chapter 4....it reads like a novel so is an easy non-fiction. 

SUNDAY: I was up by 7:30 so had a good night's sleep and although I first woke up about 4 AM, I was able to  fall back asleep after I opened a window a little bit for fresh, cold air. After  coffee and the day's meditation and prayer from the Lectio 365 app which was all about Jesus riding in to Damascus on the donkey (Palm Sunday), I took a shower, ate breakfast and got ready for church. I rang through the music one more time as I had rehearsal at 12:30. Then I had a phone conversation with my youngest daughter Claire for about 15 minutes.  It was good to hear from her as she had had a busy week and we didn't chat at all during the week. 

 Church was awesome....the worship was powerful, the communion time was inspiring, and Pastor Rex preached on the Cross and what it means.  His title was "What do you see" (when we see the cross). He had 3 main points of what the Cross reveals to us. It was SO good. He also gave people a chance to pray the prayer of salvation. At 12:15, which is when  church ended, Courtney and I had vocal ensemble rehearsal for the Good Friday service.  We practiced until 2 pm and then I had to go get gas in the car. By the time I was home, it was 2:30 and I made my self some dinner. (leftover pasta, broccoli, plant-based chicken and sauce). I then had a phone call with my friend Cheryl from my childhood hometown.  After that, I did some light housework and sat down to read. I had just started when Dave arrived home. We chatted about his mom, etc and then I read some blogs, and will spend the evening talking with Dave, and reading. Today I am fighting one of the cervicogenic headaches although I did do the neck stretches so....not sure why it's flaring up. 

Overall, it's been a good weekend with some good activities and also some down time. 

How was your weekend??