Mid-June Faves

 

Can you believe we are on the last Friday/Saturday of Spring?

Summer begins on Sunday! 

June has been just glorious here in eastern New York State, other than those few very hot and humid days. This past week was much more the way I personally like it: zero humidity, temps in the 50s at night so no need for central air and daytime temps have been in upper 60s and 70s. So again, all windows have been open and fresh air flowing through the house. Makes for nicer days to do housework, gardening and outdoor activities. 

The weather has been a true blessing but I also have FIVE other things to share that top my list of FAVE things/events. 

Join in with us at Susanne's blog.  Leave a comment and I'll come by and read your list as well!

Keystone Arch Bridge
Berkshires, MA
13 June, Saturday

• HISTORIC HIKE:  I had a SoulSteps hike scheduled for Saturday the 13th.  Originally there were 9 members signed up.  One woman had to opt out due to her  elderly mom needing her and my daughter opted out as she wanted to get stuff done around her apartment. My husband also opted out as he had a work thing in the morning and wanted to get the yard work done before dinner. That left 6 of us.  I drove, and our new members, a married couple from Indonesia, met us at the trailhead.  It's located in the Berkshire Mts of MA and took about 1.5 hours to get there. My friend Anita brought her son Dylann who had just graduated from college.  The other passenger in my car was our good friend Dave D, who has been a SoulSteps member since I started the group in 2024. The trail we were hiking is this one.  You can read about the history of this famous railroad and arches by heading here.  None of us had hiked here in the past. It was a wonderful 5 miles!  We actually ended up hiking 5.4 miles because we took a couple of extra side trails to see all the old arches.  Our destination, or so we thought, was the photo above.  However, at the end of the trail, there was a sign stating that to see the very high arch, we had to drive to another town, go down a very narrow mountain road for 4 miles, go under the bridge, park about a half mile from the arch and hike back to take pics.  We did just that! I'm thankful this hike turned out to be a gem!  Here are a couple of my fave photos from the day: 

my fave part of the trail..
this is after hiking the first .9 miles

on top of the first arch/trestle that the trail goes over
this is after about a 1.5 miles in
l-r: Lisi, her husband Ridwan, and Dave D 

End of the trail
this is one of the original arches/trestles
 that the CSX railroad went over....this was built in the mid 1800s
that blue is the water below with the sky reflection 
this was as close as we could get to this arch
there were 3 other ones along the trail as well
and sadly, none of the others came out in my photos!

After hiking back the 2.5 miles, we drove to the other arch
l-r: me, Dylann, his mom Anita, Dave D. 
photo by Dave D and used with permission
Missing from photo: Ridwan and Lisi

• SUNDAY EVENING MOVIE DATE: Dave really wanted me to sit with him Sunday evening in the family room and have a movie date. He chose Song Sung Blue which was awesome because Neil Diamond has been one of my  all time fave singers since I was a teenager. I LOVE his music and the greatest hits are actually on my phone's playlist. The movie isn't about Neil Diamond though.  It's about the real couple (stage names are Thunder and Lightning)  who became a tribute band with a large following.  We loved this movie. Hugh Jackman was amazing as was Kate Hudson. If you like Neil Diamond's music, watch this movie and make sure you have tissues on hand. It's a tearjerker towards the end. HIGHLY recommend! (not for ages under 17 in my opinion, though). I'm thankful that my husband wanted a relaxing Sabbath day and that he bought yummy spiked limeade  as a treat. I had the cherry one and it was so refreshing! 

•  GARDEN DELIGHTS!  I'm so very thankful my rosebushes and the day lilies are blooming and thriving this year. Last year, I had some major issues with the roses.  I trimmed them way back in November and Dave took out two dead branches from the center of the bush and voila....this year, after applying the Neem oil, the roses are thriving! In the photo, they look almost white but they are actually a pale pink tea rose.  Also, for the first time ever, I decided to start from seeds, some buttercrunch lettuce back in April in a large deck pot. My sister warned me it probably wouldn't grow as she's never had luck with them from seeds. Well....this past week, I was finally able to pick some of the bigger leaves and add them to a  salad (shredded broccoli, green and red cabbage, scallions, carrots, radishes, sesame sticks, pecans, dried cranberries)  I was making.  The lettuce was perfectly "crisp" and I hope it continues to do well as summer  approaches. I'm thankful for fresh homegrown produce and pretty flowers! 

• REDUCING/RECYCLING: Yesterday, there was a tornado  watch for our area and points northwest. We had rain over night which was needed, and then partly sunny skies most of the day with very high winds so I stayed home and got stuff done around the house. One of those things was going through 2 old bins in our basement of some of my old books from childhood/old music from college. I also went through our living room bookcase and was able to donate 6 books altogether to a local thrift store. Besides the bag of books, I also had two other bags of outdated, not worn or just not used in more than a year clothing, tote bags,  towels, and decorative winter or holiday items. I drove them over before lunch and the woman there welcomed all three bags. I'm thankful I could reduce what has become "clutter" and also recycle some of the older music and the books that were falling apart.  

• DOWN TIME:  This week was my first week since early March where I had nothing on the calendar! Most unusual.  No appointments of any kind, no SoulSteps hikes to lead, no Bible study to lead, no class to attend, no coffee or lunch dates.  Monday evening, after we had sandwiches, we went over to Lowe's to buy/order a new gas range. I wrote about  my appliance anxiety here. (the reasons we had sandwiches for dinner? my oven completely died about a half hour before dinner and I had planned a dish that required  the oven!) Thankfully for Wed  I was  able to grill and Dave surprised me by taking me out to my fave diner last evening,  and for Tuesday's dinner,  I used the slow cooker.  At any rate, Dave wanted me to stick close to home this week and just relax but also to be available in case the installer calls with our new stove all ready to be hooked up. I'm thankful for extra time to focus on some different types of cleaning chores, to read at various times throughout the day, and to soak up the sunshine. I've also gone on lots of walks and have noticed that many places are beginning to decorate for our nations birthday.  I particularly liked this display at our town park. I'm thankful our town is displaying patriotic things, planning an Independence Day parade and also paying tribute to our many vets and the various Armed Forces in our nation. 

Flowers at the park in the south part of town 

Tribute to Veterans of the Armed Forces. 
Each unit has its own plaque: Coast Guard, Army, Navy,
Marines,  Air Force, and Marines Special Forces

New wreaths at the Veterans Memorial 

That wraps up my week of things to be grateful for!

What about you? What are you most thankful for this week?? 

ENJOY the last day of Spring/first day of Summer this weekend!