Friday Favorites - Best of the Past Two Weeks

I missed out on last Friday's Favorites due to the fact that we were out of town for the week on a little vacation.  We had a lovely time, but it's always good to be back home. Since I was gone last week, this week's favorites will be for the last two weeks. Here are just some of the things that were the best parts of the past two weeks.  Linking again with Susanne and other grateful bloggers over at Living to Tell the Story for Fridays Fave Five. 

A great vacation - We had a super good trip to Sedona. Charly enjoyed doing the things we love most, and of course the best part was just being with my best friend in a fun and beautiful place. 

Hiking - If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how I love to hike.  Whether close to home of far away, getting out on a trail with my favorite hiking hat, shoes and backpack and exploring a "wild" place is one of my favorite forms of stress relief.  

When Josh and I encountered this TRAIL CLOSED sign as we went out to continue our hike along the Jordan River Trail this past Sunday evening, it was disappointing.  We looked at the diagram again and again, and then physically tried to follow what we thought was the detour trail, but we didn't have much luck.  The trail was completely blocked off, the map was very confusing and the construction won't be finished until next spring.  Frustrating, but you can bet that Josh and I will be back next spring to finish the 8-9 miles remaining to get to the southernmost post of this trail which is Utah Lake.  I am grateful Josh has been so excited to hike the Jordan River Trail with me this summer. We have got some good exercise and made some good memories.  We have hiked close to 18 miles along this trail (not counting the return trips to our starting point - which would total about 36 miles this summer).

Fun shops - Aside from hiking, Charly and I enjoy exploring thrift, consignment and antique stores and other interesting shops just about everywhere we go.  These are some of the places we checked out on our trip to Arizona.  We didn't find "treasures" in every store, but we did find fun things at some of them. 

Here are some of the things we found at these stores for our outdoor space- wind chimes (I love the sound of wind chimes in a soft breeze - so calming and comforting), a beautiful, glass butterfly sun catcher (now adorning my patio fence), and two metal plant stands (which Charly plants to paint  - they will be holding pots of flowers on our patio next spring, if not before).  

Rest stop - traveling distances in the American West can be great - miles and miles and miles of pretty much nothing.  That can be a big problem for people like me who need a bathroom stop every once in a while.  We had a 4+ hour drive from Flagstaff to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and my bladder can't make it that long, so I am always so grateful when this shabby little gas station, with a shabby (but clean) little restroom comes into view.  It is truly a life (and bladder) saver for me! We always buy a few very overpriced snacks here because we really want this place to stay in business.

Audiobooks - Charly and I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, The Woman in the Window, when we were traveling. We finished it up when we got home. We are now listening to another audiobook - Cadillac Desert - while we walk and are in the car.  I think that listening to audiobooks may become a new habit for us, and I am grateful that our local library has a good audiobook app and an excellent selection of books. 

Mystery books - I received these books in the mail last week - the prize for winning the book giveaway over at one of my favorite blogs, Buttercup Counts Her Blessings.  I am always looking for fun books to read and I am looking forward to diving into these throwback 1980s mystery books. 

Voting - This is privilege and responsibility I don't take lightly, so even though this "only" the mayor's race, I researched the candidates and am voting for the person I think would be best for the job.  My ballot was mailed off yesterday.  

Progress on another class - I am almost finished with another online class.  This one has been a class about the history of America and I have found it to be very interesting.  I do enjoy history. According to my calculations, after I finish and turn in the paper work for this current class and one more shorter one - I will have 6 of the 20 credit hours I need to increase my salary.  I still have a long way to go, but considering I only started working on this goal in May, I am doing pretty well.  :-) 

The garden - the garden is looking great.  I have an abundance of beautiful, delicious, ripe tomatoes. When we came back from Sedona, I had so many ripe tomatoes, that I was able to share some with an elderly woman in our church congregation who was very pleased with them.  The grapes are starting to turn purple as are the plums - so they will be ready soon!  Purple seems to be a popular color in my garden this week. The purple flower in the corner right picture made me very happy this week because it is a blossom on Clematis vine that I planted in the spring right before the weather got brutally hot.  The plant almost died, but now that the temps have cooled somewhat and we even got some rain last week, it is doing much better and has new growth and this beautiful flower.  

Lunch with a friend - I met up with a former teaching colleague and friend for lunch Thursday. We met up at Zupas - one of my personal favorite lunch spots.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch and engaged in a lot of teacher talk and catching up.  It was enjoyable. I am glad we have kept in touch.

Jeans hemmed - I spent part of one afternoon down in my sewing room hemming some jeans for both Charly and I.  I am not a seamstress, but I am always grateful for the sewing skills I have.  It means I can get name-brand jeans for $3 at a thrift store and make them fit - at least with regard to length. 

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend. 

😊Deb💖

"The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life."

 ~ Robert Louis Stevenson