Mid-September Faves

 

Did I really just title this post "Mid-September"?? 

Wowza this month is already half over!  And Autumn officially begins on Tuesday and we are having a glorious end of Summer here in eastern NYS.  I have had many blessings this past week so it's hard to choose just 5 but here we go, to give intentional thanks to the One who makes it all possible.

Head on over to Susanne's site to learn how to join in and link up!

FIVE FAVES

SPAC and Worship in the Pines
The first ever Christian concert held at
Saratoga Spa State Park/Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Friday 11 Sept. 
l-r: Maggie, Darlene, Cindy, me

• CHRISTIAN CONCERT:  back in June, when my book group found out there was to be 3 of our favorite Christian bands at SPAC, for the  first ever Christian concert held in the very fave venue where I see the Philadelphia Orchestra and the NYCBallet every summer, we were over the top thrilled. Some of us bought tickets and rented chairs right away. Cindy offered to drive so we gave her gas money. Because it wasn't a SPAC sponsored event, but a Live Nation one via Ticketmaster, the prices were insane for parking. (classical stuff hosted by Spac is free parking). and the food and drinks prices were way above what I pay for the ballet. So, we brought our own empty water bottles and filled them at the water stations, and brought snacks.  Cindy and I did end up buying fruit smoothies which were delicious and non-dairy and were "only" $14. but at least we got 16 oz of it!  I was most excited to see Rend Collective and Crowder bands as I have been a fan of them for years.  And of course the evening ended around 10 pm with Brandon Lake whom I'm sure most of you know and probably sing some of his music in your worship services.  It was a phenomenal evening. There were 18,000 people!  It was truly an evening to be thankful for.....so many Christians gathered on the lawn and in the ampitheatre to worship God.  And my young friend Scot who is the head of production at my church, was asked by the team to be a videographer for that evening. I was so happy I ran into him and also that he scored this gig as he said it was paying well.  If you've never seen Crowder, Rend Collective or Brandon Lake in concert, I highly recommend. There were 3 lesser known bands playing as well and one was the younger generation, Elevation Rhythm,   of Elevation Worship which of course most of us know from the church songs for most praise and worship services at churches across North America.  

Crowder!! 

Jonathan Chu, the fiddle player for Rend Collective
 I was most excited to see/hear him!!
Fantastic!

friends from the Bible Study/Book Group I lead:
Maggie, Darlene, me, Cindy 
photo used with permission

Moreau Lake State Park 
Sat 12 September

• SUN, SAND, SOLACE:  Last Saturday, Dave was at a gaming convention, something he had been looking forward to all summer in a city to the west of us. This left me alone for the weekend, again, and no scheduled SoulSteps hike that I had to lead.  Because I had been out so late at Worship in the Pines, and didn't even wake up until 7:45 AM, I decided to get ready for a morning at the beach and do some reading and catch some rays to prolong my tan. There were only 2 of us on the beach and one young family was fishing over by the boat launch.  As the morning went on, a few people would come walk their dogs by the lake/on the beach and then as I was leaving around 1:45, a group of young teen boys were playing touch football on the beach.  It was so peaceful and although the temp was only 68 up there, I was in full sun from 10:30-1:45 (yes I use sunscreen!) and it felt heavenly to have a large chunk of time to sit and read.  I had packed an apple and water and I did  get up a couple of times to walk around. Im thankful for a peaceful morning. 

Finally!

• MORNING GLORIES!  My morning glories, which should have started climbing and blooming in July since I started them from seeds in March and planted them as seedlings in mid-May, are finally crawling up the deck trellis and blooming. Since I took this pic last Sunday, there are many more purple and pink blooms.  I'm thankful I have morning glories again. They  typically last until mid-November here in eastern NY unless we get snow before then, which isn't likely. 

• CHIROPRACTIC CARE:  I needed an emergency visit with my chiropractor on Wednesday.  My S1-S2 joints were locked causing my knee to pinch and lock upon going up or down stairs. Sciatic pain is so annoying.  After aligning both sides of my body, and then using a hip flexor stretch on my left side, she decided since I could barely lift my left leg, to use the Activator tool on my S1-S2 joints. This is rather "new" technology that allows her to not do any 'cracking" (she doesn't believe in that unlike most chiropractors) or manual manipulation. It's about the size of a pen and hooks up electrically to help reposition the vetebrae and gives a "tapping" to the joints relieving the pressure.  it's like a little hammer is gently tapping on my back.  Once this was done (it's just less than a minute!) I could lift my leg and was able to stand with no pinched  shooting pain behind the knee.  I'm so thankful she fit me in because I had to lead a rigorous climb up a significantly tall mountain the next day!  

this is after 4.5 miles to the famous Cairn on Jay Mountain
in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. 
We still had another half mile or so to go to get to the true summit. 
from l-r: Joan, me, Michelle, Ping
photo used with permission

• SOULSTEPS HIKE!  I had a scheduled hike up a mountain on Thursday that I didn't think I would ever hike again. I first climbed this 3600' high mountain (remember..here in the ADK we start at base!) in 2018 and it was a kick your butt trail then.  At age 66, I was determined to see if I could make it to the summit. I did but chose not to scramble to the very tip top like last time. Total milage for us (because stupidly, we decided to go further along the ridge past the summit before turning around at a steep drop) was 9.3 miles.  This was our first major and longest hike as a group which began 2 years ago.  More pics and the story will be on FB but for now here are some fave photos from the day. Down here in the Capital Region it was a rainy humid day.  Up there? cloudy at first, and then when we got to the overlook the sun was peeking out. Once we got to the open ridgeline, it was gorgeous but humid.  God was really with us on this hike. There were so many rock scrambles or butt slides, but we all did it and felt great!  I'm so thankful for fun people to hike with. One of the guys who signed up had to bow out due to a neck injury.  So it was just us 4 ladies. 

Whiteface Mt, NYS's 5th highest mountain
(zoom in to see the ski runs)
from Jay Mt Overlook.
This is after 3 miles of hiking up. 
We still had another 1.5 to go to reach the true summit

Beginning of the open ridgeline 

Michelle is behind me as I navigate through
the ridgeline towards the summit

There's the summit!  
This is on the overlook.  At this point we have hiked a steady climb
up 3 miles.  After this we have another 1.5 to go with NO markers/blazes
and most of the cairns were gone.  We began hiking about 9 AM and were back to car by 5:30 pm...after stopping at a rest stop to clean up and change clothes, we went out to dinner!
We left our church (I drove) at 6:15 AM and got back at 9:30 PM! 

Joan and I on the summit....
and no....none of us scrambled to the very top
although I did in 2018.  We were wiped out!
We ate our lunch here and then after about a 20 min  pause
we started the 4.5 miles down. 

Tomorrow? I'm leading a group of 7 of us to a remote stream/flow/waterfalls and RT is only 3 miles. It will be like a walk in the park compared to this! 

Have a fabulous weekend!