MAY FAVES

Well, we've just finished the first week of May and there have been many blessings during the last week. I'm here to join in with other grateful bloggers by sharing FIVE of my FAVE blessings from the week. 

Join in by heading over to Susanne's blog who hosts this each week and helps us stay intentionally thankful. 

Summit of Moxham mt with Gore Mt in background
Sleet greeted us as we crested the summit! 
Temp dropped to 32 F!! 

• FIRST MOUNTAIN for 2026!  I scheduled my group (SoulSteps) to climb Moxham Mountain in the central region of the Adirondacks (1.5 hrs northwest of my home) on the first Saturday of May.  That was last weekend!  There were 4 members originally signed up: one woman ended up in the hospital and the guy who signed up had something come up and couldn't make it. So it was just Evelyn and I. Evelyn is the mom of my oldest daughter's boyfriend. She had never climbed this mountain and it was my 5th time going up.  It was wonderful! We had clouds, then sun, then a super short (45 sec) drizzle of rain, then more sun almost all the way to the summit (2.8 miles up) and then while we were eating lunch and chatting with 3 more hikers who got to the summit about 10 min after we did, the sleet began!  Icy pellets of frozen snow struck us so on went the windbreakers and hats and we quickly gathered our things and left the summit to head back down. The entire hike was 5.78 miles and it was just wonderful. The 3 younger women left the summit before us and so we had the trail to ourselves although 3 more hikers (male) passed us going up. About .3 miles down from the summit, the sun came back out.  I'm so thankful we were prepared for all kinds of weather and that it ended up being a sunny hike down. Spring up there is about 2-3 weeks behind us down here in the Capital Region. Here are a few  of my fave pics from the day: 

trillium!!  
This wildflower is a NYS protected plant

walking along the ridgeline
when the sun started to come out
on the way to the summit

me on the ridgeline 
(sheer drop off to the left of pic)

Evelyn at one of the first of 11 overlooks
on the way up to the summit

• SUNDAY DINNER COMPANY:  Sunday was a day when we had our oldest daughter Courtney and her  bf Tyler over for Chicken Broccoli and Pepper Curry and Brown Basmati Rice, along with her friends  Hannah and Scot.  Hannah is our church's choir director and a full time vocal music teacher who is like our third daughter. Her husband Scot works full time for our church as the Production Coordinator and Technician.   Everyone loved the curry I made (I don't serve it with cilantro like shown in the pic) and the mocha brownies with homemade mocha frosting for dessert with fresh coffee was a huge hit as well. I'm  thankful we could have these young millennials over for dinner and fellowship. They have a lot of energy and you can learn alot about what they're thinking regarding  their own spiritual journeys as well as the culture of today.  Our home has always been open to the girls' friends and we are thankful for that, too. 

a rainy Wednesday

• RAINY DAYS:  I'm actually thankful that Wednesday was a full day of rain. We needed rain and also I needed a cozy day in to get housework done, work on preparing for my book group,  and just enjoying a slower day.  The wind got so strong, that before Dave left for work, he put one of the lawn chairs on the corner of the  deck rug to stop it from blowing up.  I'm thankful for the Spring season and I'm thankful that with the rain came sunshine for yesterday and today! 

Medical building where my primary NP is located
(the side door) and the LabCorp (brick side of building)
i think my dermatologist is also located on the far right now. 

• GOOD SCORE!  This past Tuesday I had my annual blood work after fasting for 12 hours. Wednesday morning I had my results and all was normal except my Vitamin D is low! (not unusual for women living in the Northeast but mine is rather low so I'll find out if I need an RX supplement of it next week at my annual physical).  The thing I am MOST grateful for though is that my "good" cholesterol (HDL) went up by 15 points!!  I'm  finally at optimal level!  And my triglycerides went  way down to an optimal level.  I'm super thankful for good numbers although my LDL was elevated which happens when you are deficient in Vitamin D. Also, last year my glucose was at the "prediabetic" stage but now it is smack dab in the middle of the normal level. (I think it's because it's Spring and I'm not doing blood work just after Christmas like last year! 😂)I'm looking forward to next week's appointment with my NP primary and that this annual lab appointment is done!

town park bike path heading north
in the Colonie Town Park which is in the north part of Colonie where we live 

heading south to go back to my car

this is actually a hiking trail that cuts through
the north-western part of the park from the Mohawk River
to the bike path where I was walking. I was going to hike it
but  due to the rainstorm on Wednesday, it was far too wet and muddy
for just wearing walking sneakers. I'll go back when it's drier. 

• SUNSHINE AND WALKS:  This week I've enjoyed 2 good power walks in my neighborhood and a more leisurely walk yesterday morning in the town park that is on our end of the Town.  We live in a very large suburb.  It is called "The Town of Colonie".  It is divided into 2 different school districts:  North, where we live and our daughters attended public school, and South where several of my friends from church live. In the South part of Colonie, there is a park called Crossings. I walk here often for fitness walking (Power walking).  On my end of town...the North end...we have an older park called Colonie Mohawk River Park. This is where my daughters took swimming lessons from age 6-12 every summer for 2 weeks.  This is where their 6th grade graduation picnic was held. This is where we used to take them to play on the playground, swim and have picnics.  It's where we used to bike with them. Now I power or leisure walk here and I love it. I'm thankful I live where there are plenty of parks!  Our town also has several other little hiking trails scattered around both the south and north ends. Each part (South and North) has several small "hamlets" and 2 small cities! And surrounding us are the 3 large cities that make up the bulk of the Capital Region: Albany (the capital of NYS to the south of us by about 7 miles; Troy across the Hudson River to the east of us, and Schenectady home of G.E. to the west of us)  Here is a link about our suburb. I'm thankful I live north of the Capital with so many beautiful spots to be outdoors and such diversity! 

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend and if you are a mom, I hope you have a blessed Mother's Day!