Sunny Week Faves

 

Wow!  It's Friday already, and it's almost 9 AM and I haven't even shared FIVE FAVE blessings from the week yet!  I slept in until about 6:45 which was delightful as I was in bed later than usual. But it's time now for coffee on the deck, share my blessings from the week, and then link up at Susanne's to join in with other grateful bloggers. Thank you, Susanne, for keeping this weekly gratitude exercise going.  It's very meaningful to me. 

FIVE FAVES 

• COMPUTER HELP:  Sunday evening, our oldest daughter came over for dinner and to help me with what I thought was a Macbook Pro issue but turned out to be a SIMS4 issue. Courtney had bought me this game which I enjoy in the winter evenings when Dave and I are doing separate things and the last time I played it, the game seemed frozen and was having major issues. Courtney solved the problem in about 20 minutes and then showed me how to keep it from happening again.  Or least that's the hope. For those of you who enjoy EA Games, they are not a great  company and have many issues, but when one knows how to do simple computer programming (definitely not me) like my daughter (she knows all things Sims4) the fixes are usually easy.  Even my software engineer computer nerd husband couldn't figure it out! I'm grateful for the help and her pay? She asked if she could do laundry here as her apartment complex is still installing new machines so of course I said that's an easy trade! I'm so thankful for my daughter Courtney and her computer skills. 

this is one of the adult rabbits living under our shed
we alsosaw a baby bunny off and on this week
enjoying our "meadow" of a backyard

God's Love in nature
saw this perfect heart shaped leaf 
on one of my power walks on the town bike path

new summer flag on sale!

Peonies have bloomed!

Woodpeckers have been enjoying the suet 
all throughout the week.  We've had hairy and downy ones
along with  cardinals, bluejays, black capped chickadees and nuthatches

• SIGHTS, SCENTS,  AND SOUNDS OF SPRING:  This past week has been glorious, weather-wise here in the Capital Region of NYS.  How I love June-October here in NY. It truly is heaven on earth minus a few here and there hot, humid days.  This week we only needed the central air one afternoon to cool the upstairs and then we could turn it off for sleeping. It's been just perfect for sitting on the deck or the backyard swing and just being still.  I've enjoyed morning coffee, lunch, dinner on the deck as well as my personal devotions time and reading in the late afternoon. We've seen a family of rabbits off and on all year and they are now producing babies who come out from under the shed very timidly so we can never seem to snap a pic. We've had birdsong all morning, all day, and into the evening. The roses and peonies are blooming and the scent is beautiful. I placed  some peonies in a mason jar for the deck  table for my last small group meeting and the ladies really enjoyed the scent.  I'm so thankful for  the beautiful Creation that God has blessed us with. 

SoulSteps Hikers: Bessies Woods Trail System 
l-r: Shawna, Maggie, me, Melanie
photo used with permisson
3 June 

• WEDNESDAY WALK!  I had scheduled a Wednesday morning walk in the woods with the SoulSteps group and originally I had 7 people signed up.  2 had to cancel due to an emergency and a physical issue, and the other one we have no idea why she didn't show up. So there were just 4 of us to explore a "new to all of us" trail system about a half hour from our  church across the Hudson River. It was a gorgeous morning and although we needed bug spray, none of us got bit by mosquitoes.  The trail was dry the whole way and we were supposed to combine the Greywhacke Wonder trail with the Old Woods Rd trail but about half-way on that trail, it turned to walking through a meadow of tall grass so we turned around as we didn't want to deal with ticks. We instead closed the loop by taking the snowmobile trail for a total of 3.2 miles of hiking. Google what greywacke is if you don't know. It's rather fascinating. It's found mainly in New Zealand, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, central Europe, the lakes district of England,  the northeastern USA, and the Canadian Shield. Here are a few of our fave photos from the morning.  I'm thankful we all had a great time! 

photo compliments of Maggie

greywacke

more greywacke

shawna on the greywacke! 
used with permission

The Greywacke Wonder trail 

• LAKE DAY!  Our youngest daughter has Sundays/Mondays/Thursdays off from now until September. She's working T-W-F-S for 10 hours each day. The other optimetric tech has to take a summer class so she switched hours with him.  She's still working as an apprentice optician as well. so her days are busy. She asked me to go with her to her fave state park and enjoy a day at the lake. I told her I had to be home by 4 pm to shower and get ready for a dinner event I needed to attend. So we left around 10 AM and were home by 4.  There were only 3 other people on the beach yesterday! She had pre-made some cocktails (similar to a Tom Collins) and I brought the glasses and ice.  We both packed our own lunch foods.  The water was numbing.  It wasn't even 50 degrees yet (the lake water). It's a spring fed mountain lake and was so cold I could only go in up to my waist. She  actually swam!! We loved the temps of 75 and when we got home here in suburbia it was 85!!  I'm thankful she wanted to spend the day with me. She shared a story with me about her Pakistani friend that I cannot share on here but please pray for this young woman if you have time. Her first name begins with a P.  God knows the details. Here are some pics of our time at the lake: 

Black Lake at Cherry Plain State Park
this is located about 40 minutes east of my home
and is Claire's fave state park  

Claire loves swimming in ice cold lake water

ice cold cocktails made by Claire

• Night on the Deck:  I had to attend a dinner at my church for all small group leaders/leaders of ministries. We had to share our name and what ministries we oversee/facilitate. The food and conversation was delicious and there was a short testimony from the young woman who heads up the Prayer Team every Wednesday. She  gave a very powerful short testimony on fasting and prayer and what it really means to her. It was so good. Afterwards, I came home and sat with Dave on the deck because it was a perfect late Spring evening. The birds were settling down, the bunny was out nibbling our dandelions and the tree peepers were so noisy!  I have solar powered lanterns around the yard and deck and they were coming on. I neglected to take a pic because we were busy sharing about our days and I told him about Claire's friend and the situation. We need to pray that our national leaders get a clue about certain people groups. That's all I'll say.  Woe to us as a nation if we shut our doors on true refugees. The Bible is very clear on how we as Believers are to treat foreigners/refugees,  widows, and orphans. I'm thankful Dave and I ended our day with a time of good conversation. 

That wraps up my week.  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!