STAYCATION WEEK FAVES

 

This week has been unusual......Sunday was like perfect summer weather....as was last Saturday.....

Monday was ok and then Tuesday - yesterday morning was rain, rain, rain and very high humidity (with much lower temps).  We had flooding in our area of NYS, as did places down by NYC). Thankfully, we live on the Latham ridge so we had no flooding but our sump pump sure was working hard!  

It was also a 2 day work week for my husband....he wanted to do a staycation from Wednesday to Monday. We were supposed to go kayaking and an outdoor art park in the Catskills which of course didn't happen due to all the rain....as in pouring down in sheets rain.  So we went here instead and it was awesome!! Our oldest daughter came with us as she took the day off and it was her 2nd time there.  Highly recommend if you're ever in the Berkshires of MA. 

I'm here to share FIVE of my favorite blessings that came into our week.  Join in by heading over to Susanne's site to see what the FFF is all about.

FIVE FAVES

a wonderful trail through pine woods
for 1.7 miles to the end

• AFTERNOON HIKE:  Saturday was a perfect summer day.  Temps in the mountains ranged from 70-82 depending on where you were.  There was only a slight bit of humidity in the air.  And the skies were clear from the Canadian wildfires!  I had had 10 people signed up for hiking in the eastern Adirondacks to a remote pond.  It ended up being just 5 of us but that was actually perfect as the destination was rather a small area. I'm thankful two new members (a married couple from Indonesia) were signed up.  This was their 2nd hike with SoulSteps and it was really awesome getting to know more about them. They have only been at the church for about a year.  I'm thankful, too, that everyone loved the trail and the final destination was just so beautiful! The entire hike was 3.4 miles.  

Spectacle Pond
with Pharoah Mountain in the background
Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area, eastern ADK

photo used with permission
SoulSteps hikers: Cindy R, Maggie, me, Lisi and Ridwan

all the ladies (photo by Ridwan)
Cindy, Lisi, me, Maggie
(Cindy and I have been friends since 2009
and she now goes to a different church...i love that she joined SoulSteps!)

• FUN WITH FRIENDS:  After the hike, it was only about 3:45 pm so the ladies who traveled with me in my car decided we should go get soft serve ice cream and find a real bathroom.  The married couple wanted to head over to Schroon Lake and check it out so we went our separate ways. Maggie and Cindy had never been to the Adirondack General Store and I knew there were real bathrooms there. It's located on the edge of the eastern side of Schroon Lake in the town of Schroon but the hamlet of Adirondack.  Got that?! We headed over as it was only a 6 minute drive from the trailhead. And the owner was just closing!! They close at 4 pm. BUT...he insisted he take our photos in front of all his iconic 60s/70s themed signs. I had so much fun and it was a day I really needed without even realizing that I needed some fun with good friends. I'm thankful for friends in Christ to do life with!

Cindy, me, Maggie
in front of the very iconic
Adirondack General Store
in the hamlet of  Adirondack NY

He has the smallest liquor store in NYS!

He said we were like models...HA! 

After we spent some time talking to him about hiking, and all the iconic treasures of the mountains, we headed over to this place for soft serve. That was my dinner!  I  chose chocolate orange twist in a dish and wow did that taste great!  It's my 2nd fave place for soft serve in the ADK. 

• PRAYERS/Encouraging Emails: I had an answer to something I had been praying for on and off for many years....regarding a former student.......I was so thankful to see she is alive, well, a Christ follower (!!)  and thriving as a young adult. God is so good.  I'm not at liberty to share more but I'm so thankful. Also,  3 different friends who are very special to me, sent me some encouraging emails and texts. One was my counselor-friend and her email blew me away because it was so confirming of some things I'm currently working on.  I'm taking a sabbatical of all the ministry duties I volunteer with (it started Sunday) until August 14th and between my friends Joan, Shawna,  and Cheryl, it was just so encouraging to me to read the Scriptures they sent, the wisdom, the Truths.....I'm thankful for my dearest friends who aren't afraid to tell me Truth. And who aren't afraid to hear the hard stuff. They understand that even small group leaders need help sometimes.  One of the triggers for me this past week was running into a couple from our former  church at our current church and the whole exchange was odd and unsettling. Mainly because of the timing...the very week I'm dealing with what went down there! (if you're a faithful reader here you know what I'm talking about). They had a relative getting baptized. I can't get into it here but let's just say some very odd verbal exchanges were made with me and my husband.  I needed some major help afterward.....the timing of this was uncanny. But my friends totally saw it for what it was....and Every single one of them have been through either the same thing I'm going through or something similar. I honestly can't imagine doing life without my good friends. I'm so thankful to God for safe people and safe leadership. And I'm so thankful we transitioned to our church 21 years ago!  We have felt so safe here and have grown in so many ways! 

backsplash for new stove 

resized birthstone

• CHECKED OFF!  This past week, I was able to get several things checked off the "to do sometime this month" list:  order and put up the new tempered glass backsplash for our new stove; get my birthstone re-sized and polished; get items for Dave's party tonight; get all the rooms dusted, and gather the items I need for an interview I need to conduct on Sunday with a potential new member for the hiking group.  I've never met him so I had a few exta things to gather. I'm thankful I got everything done and now I'm working on the list for August. 

Dave enjoyed crab cakes as an appetizer....
I enjoyed the peach martini

Dave was thrilled to get lobster, clams and the works
He also enjoyed the white zinfandel to go with it

A free piece of cheesecake was a surprise 
especially because we had ordered the  chocolate lava cake to share

fun decor!

• BIRTHDAY DINNER!  Wednesday was Dave's 60th birthday.  Yes, he's 6 years younger than me and yet more mature than any older guy I dated in college!  When I asked him where he'd like to go for his birthday dinner, I figured he'd be like me and choose one of the more upscale restaurants here in town, in Albany, or Saratoga. Nope. He actually wanted to try a new-to-us seafood place that is kind of like a step up from fast food but much more casual than a fine dining restaurant.  He chose The Mighty Crab and WOW.  The seafood was Louisiana style and SO good. I was shocked. I am not a huge sea food fan as I grew up in central NYS and we rarely could get good fresh seafood. It's actually hard to get it here in eastern NY too (but we get great seafood in Boston!).  I like tilapia which was the only seafood choice I was willing to put into my body. I ordered it with the cornbread topping and it was fantastic! Too much sodium but oh so good. It came with cajun fries and I couldn't finish them..they were delicious but way too salty.  She heard me talking about his birthday gift and at the end of the meal surprised him with a free piece of cheesecake. I can't have cream cheese so I stuck to helping him eat the lava cake and he brought the cheesecake home to have another time. I'm so thankful we had a fun evening out.  We will definitely be back to eat here. Dave was in heaven that the lobster was good. He said the  clams were not great. He gets better ones on the Cape. 

Another blessing was a road trip yesterday to Mass MoCa.  Oh my goodness. We had such fun with our oldest daughter and the restaurant in the museum had such good food...we had a late lunch (Chicken caesar wrap for me and kiwi lemon sparkling water) and spent from noon to 5 pm closing time looking at every single exhibit. Here are  a few amazing pics from contemporary artists.  Everything was quite poetic.  There will be more on FB. 

The artist's hand....he's a potter....
my fave piece because this hand reminded me of Jesus, our Master Potter, 
reaching out for us......

I loved how vibrant this was. 

This hallway  reminded us of the 
Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
(we were there in 2010)

That wraps up my list of fave blessings.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and if you're in the midwest, be careful out there with all those high temperatures we are seeing on our news!!