Summer Faves

 

Here it is Friday again!  Time to look back on the week and share FIVE of our Favorite blessings.  I had so many blessings this week.  But I'll share the top five and link up with Susanne at her blog.  Join us! 

FIVE FAVES

Dave pruning our cherry trees 

• SATURDAY WITH DAVE  Saturday morning, Dave had to get up on the very tall ladder that reaches to the roof to temporarily fix the gutter strip that had partially torn away from the gutter in last Thursday night's thunderstorm. I had noticed it Friday morning but he had to work all day so couldn't get to it that day.  After realizing he was going to have to call a gutter service (he temporarily tucked the strip into the edge of the gutter making a loop so it couldn't get loose again) he decided to then get the shorter ladder (he hates heights) to prune both of our  cherry trees.  He pruned/sawed and I carted all the branches to the backyard area where we store brush until it's dry enough to burn. Then we had other chores to tackle and the afternoon was a partial Sabbath rest for us.  For dinner, we dashed out to pick up Chinese food and then we watched the third movie in the Enola Holmes triology.  We agreed the first 2 movies were better, although we did enjoy the ending. I'm thankful we had a day for just the two of us and that we spent the morning getting a lot of yard work done. I'm also thankful for in-home date nights. 

 photo compliments of instagr*m

before 

• RESTORED  I never order from a site I see advertised on social media because the 2 times I did,the product ended up being NOTHING like what the ad showed and both items came from China and were poorly made.  One was a pair of sandals (one arrived with a broken heel!) and the other was a very poor quality dress I ended up trying to send back but of course the company refused to communicate with me.  My credit card company did agree to not charge me for the item.  Anyways, I saw this product on social media so did my own research into the company, read reviews and ordered directly from their website. I'm thankful I have this product because the results speak for themselves.  And it arrived within 10 days of ordering it. It doesn't get rid of gouges of course but look at the water damage in the above pic and look how the salve restored my kitchen cupboard!  I'm thankful I could buy this. 

after!

• EMERGENCY VISIT:  I woke up Friday morning with what I thought was a case of Patellar tendinitis or wicked shin splints. I iced the knee on and off all that day and didn't work out. On Saturday, my knee was feeling a burning feeling and my right foot was tingling and I had sciatic nerve pain going down the back of my upper right leg. So I knew right away....like in 2012...that this was a pinched nerve in the piriformis muscle (look it up) which is exacerbated by sciatic nerve issues. Thankfully, on Monday, after having wrapped it for 2 days, I was able to get into my amazing chiropractor for an emergency alignment and massage of the piriformis muscle with the hypervolt and some PT stretches for the upper thighs that she put me through. It was hell. BUT...when I stood up after she worked on me for 25 minutes, the tingling in my foot was gone, the pinched nerve feeling was gone and I only had mild upper back pain. She said the pain was coming from S1-S2 joints so not a disc issue like 14 years ago. I'm so thankful she considers me an established patient and I'm very thankful for good health insurance that gives me unlimited visits to the chiropractor. She wished me luck on the hike the next day and had me schedule a follow up for today (Friday). She thinks I overdid it with the daily power walking and no rest day and being on hard pavement made things worse. Her alignment of my lower spine brought on some upper back pain on the right side but that's pretty normal for me. 

  

  all wrapped for the hike! 

  
  

• HARD HIKE! Tuesday was a day my friend Joan and I had set aside to go hike a trail that's been on my bucket list for 10 years.  I'll be doing a separate post about Hoffman Notch but for now: it's the iconic Adirondack trail that most die-hard hikers like me wanna hike, but most don't. Why? because it's (per state measurements) 7.6 miles one way. In actuality, because of re-routes and major blowdown and the trail disappearing after the first 4.6 miles, it ended up being 9.05 miles and over 21, 786 steps!! Because we didn't want to hike south to north and then turn around (that would be 18 miles!!), we took Joan's car to the north entry point, then got in my car and drove to the south entry point, began hiking at about 9:30 AM from the south which is Loch Muller (town of Schroon, eastern lower high peaks region) and went north to Blue Ridge Rd in North Hudson (high peaks region).  We bascially were hiking a flat trail except in two spots, and came out at the exit point on Blue Ridge Rd at 6 pm.  We LOVED it. I had no physical pain, God showed up big time which I will write about in the actual hiking post sometime later today or this weekend. We were actually energized!  Which is odd.  We then got in Joan's car, drove south for 3 exits, got back to my car, changed into bathing suits right there in the wilderness (no one is around and we are 12 miles from civilization at this point).  Drove our cars to the Schroon Lake town beach (it's now about 7 pm) jumped in the lake to cool off, wash off the bug spray, got our bag of clean non-hiking clothes and shoes, went off to find bathrooms to change, then had a very late dinner (8 pm) at this fave spot before driving home and arrving at home at 10:45 pm.  We left my house that morning at 6:30 AM.  Long day but very rewarding, and we are super close, tightly knit friends now and it's day we will never forget. I thank God we were safe (we were the only humans in that trail system!!) and that we were able to get through the bushwhacking parts just fine. This was not a hike for my group SoulSteps. This was just 2 friends out hiking and it was perfect. God is good. Here are just a couple of pics to show you and the whole hike will be in a separate post with all of our pics. 

about to start this hike!
Joan and I at about 9:30 AM Tuesday 

This is what the trail looked like for most 
of the 4.5 miles to the Big Marsh
which is the half-way point going from south to north
very narrow and thick vegetation

To clarify: to hike through a notch means to hike a narrow gap or like this trail, to hike through a deep depression between 2 mountain ridges/peaks.  We hiked between the Hoffman Mt /Blue Ridge range and Washburn Ridge. 

Beautiful Big Marsh at about 4.3 miles in
Hoffman Mt is in the background 
(no trail to summit) and it stands at 3,693'
so almost a high peak 

we had to trek through this
yes, this is the trail.......
totally overgrown for about a half mile
after leaving the marsh 
at this point we have another 4 miles to go

This is what most of the "bridges" were like...
walking a balance beam....this was a "dry" section of the brook
Most of the stream crossings involved knee high or higher water
In the hiking post later this weekend, I will explain why at this point I am wearing
an ace bandage on my left leg

THE END!!  9.05 miles hiked
This is the North End where Joan's car was parked. 
We were thrilled we actually succeeded and did the entire trail
end to end....most people turn around at Big Marsh and go back
on the "Easy" part of the south end. 

Schroon Lake about 7:15 PM
The lake felt so good! The air was getting chilly.....

• PHONE CALLS:  my pastor's wife and I talked by phone on Wednesday evening. I was able to share with her about the hike and what God did during it. It was a great conversation and I'm so very thankful for my church leadership. They are the real deal and so trustworthy!! I am thankful I can call them friends. And on Thursday morning, my friend Joan called me to check on something and share a Scripture with me. I'm so very thankful for these friends in my life. And then last night, my very dear friend and therapist from years ago, called me to hear my news about Tuesday and she said she was so happy to hear how God showed up. She informed me that recent psych research has shown that people who have endured spiritual/church abuse have more damage to their souls than the s*xual childhood abuse.  She said because I had both,  this is one reason it took so long to work through.  We ended up praising God together. I never want to take my close, intimate friends for granted. I'm so very grateful for their care. 

That wraps up my week.  

What about you? what made you say Thank You, God?