JULY FAVES

 

WOWZA! It's been another few days of hot and humid weather but the high humidity is supposed to break tonight, so for that I am grateful. I'm tired of having the central air on. I much prefer fresh air blowing through the open windows in my home. 

Let's pause and find FIVE blessings from the week that "Wow-ed" us or made us stop and say "thank You, God".  I'm joining in with other bloggers who do this every Friday and Susanne is the host! Thankful for Susanne continuing this because it is good to give thanks for our blessings. 

• iPHONE CAMERA: I'm thankful for the iphone camera. My vacation pics came out pretty good and although a couple of the ocean ones didn't come out at all, most of them have been sorted through, uploaded onto this laptop, and put into albums on Facebook and used in blog posts talking about each day of our vacation.  So far, I've only written about 2 out of the 5 days, but that's ok. I started backwards with Day 4 (I'm not doing one for the last day but I wrote about it on FB) so did that and Day 3. Day 2 will be written tonight if I get a chance or tomorrow morning. If you click on the blue bold print, it will take you to the posts. Day 4 was the day we discovered some very interesting things about Dave's family 😃 at the Pilgrim museum. 

Day lilies

hanging plant off front entrance

gerbera daisies in front flower bed

Sunflowers

• THRIVING PLANTS:  I was so happy to see my plants (including the buttercrunch lettuce I left in the dining room while we were gone as it can't be out in the high heat and humidity) thriving this week. Our youngest daughter came up after work while we were gone one evening and when we got home she reported to me that she only had to water the indoor plants because this area had a couple of days of "monsoons" (her words).  She said it poured. It never rained at all in Plymouth and Cape Cod, thankfully. I was so worried these plants would die from the heat and humidity but they're actually thriving. The short sunflowers are now all opened since I've taken this photo. The sprinkling of red you see on the leaves  is chili powder. It keeps the bunnies who live under our shed away!!  As it is, they ate all of my morning glories as I forgot to sprinkle those. I'm thankful for beautiful blooms. 

the central and high peaks region from the firetower 
on the summit of Swede Mt 

me and Melanie
on the summit of Swede Mt
There is a sign informing hikers
 of the history of the ADK  fire towers
photo compliments of Charlie 
used with permission

I had Charlie, our newest SoulSteps member,
lead the way down the mountain. 
The broken down cabin is a former hunting cabin
Hunting is allowed on Swede Mt 
so the trail is closed to hikers from Sept-midDec. 

• MID-WEEK HIKE:  I had 6 members originally signed up for hiking up the small mountain in eastern Adirondacks known as Swede Mt. Swede only has an elevation of 1904 '.  The trail is very narrow and overgrown in the first half mile. The 2nd half mile is a nice wide trail with switchbacks as it's a short,  steep mountain. It ended up being just 3 of us hiking as some members who had signed up were either not feeling well or were recovering from injuries. Melanie and Charlie were great hiking partners and it was great to get to know Charlie a bit. He shared his testimony and it was quite powerful. I had him lead us back down the mountain.  It was very hot and humid, and while I was climbing the firetower, I actually had to sit down on the last flight to slow my heart rate down...I felt like I was going to faint.  But I figured out that I just hadn't been drinking enough water plus we had set a pretty fast pace. It ended up being a hot humid day so Melanie and I went to Loon Lake afterwards which is about 15 miles north of the mountain.  We had planned to hike somewhere so we were wearing our swimgear under the hiking clothes. I'm thankful Charlie enjoyed his first SoulSteps hike (he was on vacation all week and his wife doesn't like to hike) and that we all stayed safe. 

relaxing at Loon Lake (eastern ADK)
after a hot, sweaty hike.
Loon Lake is super clear and clean and the water is cold but refreshing

• CHORES DONE:  Dave and I tackled the laundry together last weekend and while I dealt with grocery shopping and reading all the mail that was waiting for us when we got home Friday evening, he mowed the entire lawn. It felt good to be back in our own bed and get the chores done and then Sunday evening we just relaxed.  I'm thankful my husband helps out around the house! 

Thursday evening

• HAIR RE-SHAPED!  I couldn't stand the pixie cut my hair stylist did for me in June. It was much to "shaggy" in the back and the top just didn't look good on me. I don't like complaining to her as I've gone to her for about 25 years now and she's usually top notch but that cut just wasn't working for me.  So I called her, got in for yesterday morning, and asked her if she could do the stacked look in the back and trim it to grow back out to be a cropped French bob.  She said she absolutely could.  She did a great job and she agreed the shaggy pixie...although super trendy right now....just doesn't fit me well. I told her to not let me talk her into ever doing that again! HA! Seriously...I am so thankful for her and her skills.

That wraps up my first full week of July and some favorite blessings.

How was your week? what are you thankful for today? 

I totally forgot to mention Independence Day!!  We spent it doing chores and I made grilled burgers (plant based for me, beef for dave) and we attended our local baseball game (the Valley Cats..used to be minor league but can't remember what level it is now) where the visiting team won but that was ok because that's who we were rooting for! Why? because it was the Brocton Rox and that's the area of MA that Dave is from!! It was a great game with a grand slam and just so much fun to see the fireworks afterwards.  I was especially thankful that our youngest daughter Claire could meet us there...it was so good to see her and get caught up on her life. 

I love how this pic I took came out!