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.