What a week! Many busy days and slower evenings......two days felt like the middle of July here in eastern New York State with a temp of 94 F on Monday! We had to turn on the central air Monday around 2 pm and it stayed on until Wed morning when a cooler front pushed through. I much prefer having my windows open for fresh air so I'm happy it's more Spring-like now. Pollen is flying around so allergy tablets and more dusting have been part of my daily routine this week but it's also been a week of many blessings and things that made me say "Thank You, God".
I'm sharing FIVE of those things called FAVES and linking up with others who do the same, at our host's site: Susanne of Living to Tell the Story. Join us!
- MISSIONS EVENT: Last Friday evening, Dave and I were signed up to attend the "Christ, Curry, and Coffee" missions event at our church. Our guest speakers were Prakesh from India and the mission organization called RiseIndia, and Audrey from the local area who is a geologist and volunteer with the Living Water Project. They work with the lowest caste in India called the "Untouchables." I wrote about this evening in more detail here if you're interested in seeing how these people and their group of missionaries are impacting the lives of people in India. I'm thankful Dave and I had the chance to hear these amazing individuals, eat excellent Indian food from this local restaurant, and chat with some of our missions team leaders at our church. I also am thankful we saw and spoke with an elderly couple (Doug and Bev) who used to attend our church but are serving (and in their 80s!) elsewhere. Doug (age 86) and his wife Bev have served in India 40 different times for extended missions trip, working with Rise India and representing our church. They no longer travel over to India but they are still making an impact here in our local region. Dave and I hadn't seen them in many years. We had a good talk reminiscing about when they taught a ballroom dancing class at our church when Dave and I first joined and took the class back in 2005-2006! I'm so thankful for faithful Christians who shine for God!
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| SoulSteps morning hike: High Falls Area Adam and his wife Kathryn, Celine Dave D and me High Falls Conservancy Area 16 May |
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| our destination was the highest falls in Columbia County to the east of us High Falls 16 May |
- SOULSTEPS MORNING HIKE: I had a scheduled hike to lead last Saturday morning and it was a perfect Spring day! Temps were in the 70s and we had full sunshine. I originally had 8 people signed up for this hike but it ended up being just 5 of us. My husband couldn't go as he had to deal with an emergency by working from home that morning. I'm so thankful we had a great morning hike and were home by 1 pm! This trail is listed as a tourist attraction for people visiting the NYS Capital Region and we saw many other hikers as well. It is only a 50 minute drive from my house heading east towards MA. It was my 2nd time there and I enjoyed every moment of this easy hike. I'm thankful everyone had a good time.
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| Irises in the front flower garden |
- BLOOMS AND GROWTH: I don't know if it was the heat wave or what but my irises are blooming about 2 weeks earlier than usual and they're bigger than ever. I have several bushes of them on the side of the house but for some reason the pic didn't come out good. They don't last long so I've been enjoying them this week. I also noticed my dianthus plant, aka Diane, is back to blooming after bunny ate her previous flowers. I sprinkled chili powder around the plant and they have stayed away, thankfully! AND my buttercrunch lettuce is finally getting bigger as are both rose bushes. I'm thankful for Spring growth and beauty.
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| "Diane" is blooming again! |
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| Buttercrunch lettuce......I'm experimenting in a large pot |
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| this bush will have pretty pink tea roses in another week most likely I love the little solar "buds" behind it. They glow so pretty at night |
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| my small rose bush is doing better this year it will have peach colored roses in another week or two |
- MID-WEEK HIKE! On Wednesday, I had another scheduled hike to lead that thankfully I didn't have to cancel. It was at this place just about 40 min southwest of where we live. Rain was at 15 % and it was cloudy with a temp of 74 F. There were originally 6 of us signed up but one woman had to cancel due to an injury. We had so much fun! Three of these ladies are dear friends of mine and the other is in choir with me and becoming a friend. I love and thank God for these sisters-in-Christ. We hiked 3 different, short trails and ate our lunch in the Japanese style garden gazebo next to the labyrinth and meditation Rock Garden. After we got back to our town, we went out for ice cream where we indulged. I ordered for the first time this year from a soft serve place, the Oat milk ice cream (hard) which was Chocolate chunk. It was delish! The sun came out finally about half way through the hike for which we were thankful but also the temps dropped a bit and the humidity blew out. I'm thankful for a fun day with friends.
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| The first trail we took was through several different "glens" of various trees Maple, Willow, Walnut, Pine, Birch |
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| Willow Pond about .3 miles in on the trail |
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| Melanie uses the provided flip-flop to play the musical bridge! |
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| Meditation Rock Garden |
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| a Koi pond and bridge that leads back to the barn and parking area We ate lunch to the left of the bridge/pic where the gazebo is set up with a picnic table and several lounge chairs |
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| SoulSteps hiker friends Shawna, Maggie, Meg, me, Melanie Landis Arboretum 20 May |
- MOVIE NIGHT: Wednesday, after arriving home from the hike around 2:30 pm and showering and then folding some laundry, my hubby had texted that he had a work dinner, so I was alone for dinner. I had some leftovers and then mowed the yards as rain is forecast for Saturday afternoon when Dave was planning on doing it. Plus I had a lot of energy after the easy hike. After dinner, I watched the Netflix movie featuring 2 of my fave actors: Diane Keaton and Michael Douglas. It was such a good, clean family friendly movie. Such a sweet story. And the little girl in the movie stole my heart. She was amazing. Highly recommend this movie! I'm thankful for a good, long day with several things that made me smile.
Those are the main things I'm thankful for this week.
I should also mention: it now offiical. We have a new car insurance agent who has helped both girls get their own policies and saved both of them hundreds of dollars. If you recall my last week post: I was beyond frustrated with the process of switching. She made it so easy and responds right away, which is something we haven't had the fortune to have with our former agent. Praise God for competent, genuinely nice employees.
Happy Memorial Day and Happy Long Weekend!!
3 comments:
I had to giggle over your title...I think spring missed us and went right to summer here in Florida, lol. Thank you for sharing your photos and post, I truly enjoyed it. smiles.
Wow, that is some hot weather already. I, too, prefer the windows open to AC running but am thankful for the AC when it gets too hot for that. It's actually been cold here and amazingly the furnace has kicked on quite a few times over the last week. The waterfall looks gorgeous! Love that you're building new relationships through your hiking group. I'll have to look up that movie for this weekend. It's getting harder and harder to find good clean family type shows.
Sounds like a great week with the Mission event and your two hikes. I haven't heard of that film, I'll have to check it out. And what a result on the insurance front. So many things like insurers, utility companies etc outsource to call centres and I find them so frustrating. Have a great weekend. We're forecast to have summer weather here too.
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