Friday, October 05, 2018

Friday five


Not sure how another Friday rolled around so quickly, but it has!  Here are five blessings from the past week:

1.  Safety as thousands of miles were traveled during our vacation.  We traveled from our home in NH to Boston by bus, then flew to Salt Lake City.  Our family picked us up there and we drove to Nevada.  We took a four-day road trip to south central Idaho and then back to Nevada.  This past Monday we all drove to Salt Lake City, then we flew out from there Tuesday morning.  Had a brief layover in Minneapolis, flew from there to Boston, caught a 9:30 pm bus to NH and were home shortly after midnight.  Whew!  It makes me tired just to think about it (still a bit jet-lagged!) but so thankful for the safety God gave.

Yes, there are even Dunkin' Donuts out west!  America truly does run on Dunkin'.  This one is in Wells, Nevada. ⬇

2.  The kind and generous hospitality of friends.   During our vacation, Mr. T and I were blessed to stay in a lovely quiet apartment in the basement of our son-in-law's parents' home.  D and J stocked the pantry and fridge for us and even loaned us a car during the time we spent in Nevada.  We definitely feel that this blessing enabled us to come back more refreshed and rested!

3.  Wonderful fellowship with God's people.  We attended church services last Sunday with folks who have come to be like our own church family.  In the afternoon, several families from church joined us at a local park.  The kids played safely while the adults visited ... just a lovely time of fellowship.  Wednesday evening saw us back with our own church family here in NH, which was certainly a blessing as well.

4.   Quality time spent in God's magnificent creation.  We were so blessed to enjoy a hike in Lamoille Canyon last Friday.  I was even able to spend some time in prayer as I rested on a large rock in the midst of this beauty.  (Photos below are from my daughter Carrie.)


Sadly, a fire began near the Canyon on Sunday.  You can read about it here: fire in Lamoille Canyon and see an update here: Range Two Fire.  Thankfully, the fire was 50% contained as of last night, and rain was helping with the firefighting efforts.  Still, those who know about such things say that the canyon, a treasured local resource loved by many people, will not be the same in our lifetime.  So thankful we have had numerous opportunities to enjoy its beauty over the years!

5.  The chance to attend a grandson's soccer game last Saturday.  We can occasionally get to a local grandchild's game or event, but have never been able to do this with regard to the Nevada grands.  So thankful for this opportunity, even though his team lost this game.

And a bonus, because I forgot to mention this last week.

6.  The fun of baking with grandkids, using the Concord grapes from our daughter and son-in-law's backyard.  They had a bumper crop of grapes this year, so we enlisted the kids and baked two grape pies.  Their grapes were quite small, so it took many hands to slip off the skins to make the pie.  Emily, a pie crust expert (at age 10!), tutored Julia in rolling out and crimping.  The result was delicious, although I failed to get pictures of that.  (These photos are also by Carrie.)



 If you should be interested in baking a grape pie of your own, the recipe for grape streusel pie is here on my blog in this post: Grape Streusel Pie.  You will need to scroll down to get to the recipe.  I was so glad I had written about it, since after volunteering to bake the pies, I realized I didn't have the recipe with me.  I did a search on my own blog, and voila!

So ends another Friday five!  Hope you've enjoyed these glimpses into our vacation.  I hope to write some actual vacation posts soon.

12 comments:

  1. oh, yes, tell us more! So fun to see Mr. T wearing his special shirt with the grands. ☺️ So sorry about the fire that ripped through that beautiful canyon. May it recover well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope to write another post or two this week, Vee. Yes, wasn't that fun that he was wearing that particular shirt in the photo? Grape stains would never be noticed on that! I had forgotten he was wearing that when we met up with you. It's one of his favorites, in case you can't tell.

      Yes, it is indeed so sad about the canyon. It was such a testimony to the glory of God with all the mountainous beauty there.

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a wonderful vacation!! Glad you are home safe and sound.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was indeed wonderful, Arlene! And now we are home just in time to see the glorious New Hampshire foliage!

      Delete
  3. Each one of these is great! What a nice time you had with those Nevada kiddos!! Memories made!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many, many memories made, Terri! So thankful for the time together!

      Delete
  4. Although I have never been to Lamoille Canyon, one of my friends lives in Elko, Nevada and sent me similar pictures a few years ago, which I had on the side column of my blog for a long time. I am saddened to read about the recent fire there.

    Glad you had such a good trip. Love the bright faces of your precious grandchildren.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I remember seeing that photo of Lamoille Canyon on your blog! It is indeed so sad about the fire. It was such a special place to so many people.

    Elko is where our daughter and family live! I wonder if they might be acquainted with your friend?

    Yes, it was a wonderful trip and all of the grands certainly enjoyed their time together. It was a rich blessing from the Lord to be able to see this trip happen.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a lovely vacation you have shared, baking with grandchildren is one of the most special memory makers ever! I have enjoyed this so many times. The grape pie sounds wonderful too, one of my favorite pies when I was a child was my grandmother's grape hull pie, I can almost taste it now.
    Thanks for sharing, thank you for visiting and for taking the time to leaves such a sweet comment.
    Blessings,
    Sue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really was lovely, Sue. I have baked with my local grandchildren many times, so when we go to Nevada I always try to do at least one baking project with them in their kitchen.

      I wonder if your grandmother's grape pie recipe was similar to mine. We love grape pie even though it is a lot of work. Many hands made light of the work in this case, though! And we all enjoyed the results.

      Delete
  7. What an incredibly fun time to have taken this family trip to Nevada with your daughter and her husband's family! I enjoyed the pictures on Instagram, and also reading about it here. Such a wonderful thing that you got to see the Canyon before it caught on fire! Fire is so terribly destructive, and something we all fear here in the northwest. So thankful that you had a wonderful time and lots of very special memories! I've never had a grape pie, it sounds wonderful, and even more special to have everyone helping to make it! Such precious memories :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was indeed a wonderful time, Marilyn. We enjoyed every single moment, and it was made even more special that Carrie and family got to join us. The cousins had so much fun together.

      Grape Pie is very good. Since they had Concord grapes growing in the backyard this seemed like a nice project for everyone to work on together.

      I'm now replying to this comment 3 years later. I think that the Canyon is coming back quite well from the fire, thankfully.

      Delete

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit my kitchen table! I love company here in my kitchen, so be sure to leave a comment so I'll know you've visited! I'll answer your questions and comments here on the blog unless you request otherwise.