I had the most terrible dream last night.

I was screaming and yelling at Emma.

Why am I screaming at Emma in my dream? It's just not right.

The things I said. Oh! They were awful.

I want to forget it all.

And it's actually mostly forgotten already. My dreams have a very short shelf-life, if I remember them at all.
But the bad feeling lingers. I hate that.



I'm sorry I dreamt a weird dream about you. You don't deserve it.


***





And then I had a dream I walked to Ree's ranch. (Katie was with me.)

I arrived uninvited. She was hosting a big luncheon. It wasn't at the lodge.

The kids were filming a movie in the pasture with a cowboy.

I helped in the kitchen, kind of.

Ree kept staring at me.

I went for a walk and got lost in a fancy hotel and couldn't get back.

Fortunately, I only scream at my loved ones in my dreams.

Weird. Weird. Weird.


*****

Speaking of Lost!

Holy Moly Cow!!

It all makes sense now!

Farraday didn't know things at first because his mind was healing. I get it.

So now I think the Oceanic Six will blow up the island, killing themselves, but finding themselves on the airplane, landing safely and resuming their 2004 lives.

And if I am as right about that as I was about Farraday.... don't listen to a word I say ;o)


***






For Matthew


This is St. Christopher. He is the patron saint to travelers.
Here he is carrying baby Jesus across a river.


So sorry to hear about your run in with that dumb deer!
I am thankful you are safe.

May your insurance company pay up quickly.
Amen.

Love,
Mom


And for those of you who want a little meme....

List the cars you have owned.
(I found a list of questions when I cleaned my drawers :o)


Encourage one another,

Donna

The green is back, baybee!!!




And I am over the moon about it!







I get a special thrill from the trees budding.
They do test my patience, though.

The yellow-green glows.

I am trying to describe how seeing this makes me feel.

I'm not coming up with the words yet.




Thank you for coming back!
You were missed!

Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918

Trees

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

****

It is a special day for Katie today. The primary grades at her school are all on the first floor.
Fourth thru eight are upstairs. Today the third graders will go upstairs to visit the second floor and all the secrets therein.
Thereon :o)

In true, Blessed Sacrament form they have invited the parents to come along. So of course, I will be going along.

Matthew was in fourth grade when I started homeschooling. We used Calvert that first year. Child's History of the World.

Good memories for me. Not so much for Matthew. Sorry honey!

Anyway. Katie seems thrilled and that's good for now!


***

Anyone else shocked by the Dancing with the Stars elimination? I was!
The cowboy is a gentleman....but he is by far the most awkward dancer.
The spray tan did not help his stiff-ness.
Ah well.


Biggest Loser. Biggest blab-fest last night. It's just too long.
ABC is milking that show for all it's worth. Two hours. Ugh.


American Idol. Danny Gokey. Wow.
Adam and the rest. Snore. Adam did the same thing...and I didn't like this one at all.
Those of you who love Kris. Will you tell me what you like about him?


***

Off to school.

Thank you so much for sharing your opinions yesterday!


Encourage one another,
Donna

It was a bright blustery day on the farm.



We wandered all around the property to get acquainted, take pictures and get out of the wind!
His mom wanted a few pictures of her son in a suit.
I don't blame her. He looks great in a suit!





I can't tell you his name, be we can call him, Almonzo.






He definitely did not want a picture WITH the donkey.





These were a little departure for me, style-wise.

But how I love the land and the vast sky and it just seemed to fit.

And yes. All of the children in Wisconsin are good looking.



****



Flowers, flowers, everywhere!


*****



I filmed this a few days ago but hated how I looked. Guess I like the other sunglasses better.
Ah well. Thought I'd go with it anyway.

I can't wait to hear your opinions!





Encourage one another,
Donna

How I love these dishtowels.
I love that someone took the time to make them and I wonder if they noticed what a hard time the
young dutch girl was having with her home making.
I wonder if that is why she chose this pattern, because she too had a hard time with home making.







Oh no! The pot is boiling over.




Oh! my!

Ironing can be so steamy!




Dear me!

She must have forgotten her list or her money or her way.


Seems for this little homemaker, peril awaits her on every day of the week.




Except Sunday.


Bless her hard working heart!



Encourage one another,
Donna

She is at ease and can be herself in front of the camera.




I have to talk myself into a pleasant expression.




When I was a little girl, my best friend Cathy and I pretended we were horses.

We galloped around the neighborhood. Around the house and over the driveway, between the trees and under the willow we galloped.

Our names were Wind and Windy.

One of us could run the fastest and the other could jump the highest.

Yesterday, we would have been in little horse-girl heaven.

I wonder if Cathy ever thinks about our galloping days?

Spring
Joyce Kilmer

The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.

For the beauty of the earth
Pierpoint


For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise.

Encourage one another,
Donna

It was the kind of day...





that drew you outside,
to feel the warm, moist air
and to hear the fierce wind.

It was the kind of day you wished it would always be.







Processing: SX70

Various and Sundry

I had a teacher in college who said that. I didn't know what he was talking about.
When I would ask him vocabulary questions, he mocked me.
He brought me a vocabulary list to try to humiliate me.

I smiled and said thank you.

He was a jerk and a pretty rotten teacher.

The End.

On to the various and sundry topics.





I laid on my stomach in the neighbors front yard to get these pictures.

Note to self. Third week of April; grass turns green, flowers start to bloom.





***

Really, I don't work for Bonnie Hunt.





Lost, laughing, the Topsy Turvy and the funniest Halloween costumes!!!




Friday Five

List your five favorite words.


1. lovely
2. Oh!
3. mom
4. thank you
5. beautiful







Oh my. Look at those ruffles.


Have a lovely day!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Borrowed from Facebook



Emma and her friend. Jogging along the lake in Chicago.



Run, run, run!

I love Chicago.
I love my kids.
I love pictures of my kids in Chicago!



***


On the way home from school I spotted a spot with some sweet light.





Goodness Gracious...those eyes make me melt.


**

Lost was kind of a bummer last night. Why the recap?


**

Found during my straightening chore.



Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood or stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbor's deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.


and this....

Homer (on a walk with his wife and kids): "My feet hurt, I'm tired, I hate my job, and I don't know how long
I can keep up this whining!"


Homer Simpson that is :o)


Have a great Thursday!





Encourage one another,
Donna

All over the place ya'll


While I was looking around youtube yesterday, I ran into this wedding dance.

Seems to be the fun, new thing at weddings. The bride and groom make up a surprise dance for their first dance.

The first wedding dance video I ever saw was the funny couple that started out dancing to a slow song and morphed into 'I like big butts'.
It was very funny.

Then all the wedding parties started learning Thriller.

Yesterday I saw a couple dancing the dance Tony and 'what's her names' dance in SNF. (More than a woman. White suit et al)


But this couple. They really do dance together. A lot.

I hope that...the couple that dances together, stays together.




I realize that I saw this somewhere before. Jessica Claire was the photographer for this wedding and she posted this video about a year ago. You can see her dash by a few times. She is wearing yellow :o)

I LOVE this gals dress...and both of their shoes.

Do you think this dance is the Lindy hop or the jive or the jitterbug?

I think it is the Lindy, but I could be wrong.


****


I have a lot of paper piles to sort thru and organize. I worked on it all yesterday afternoon and will tackle another spot today.

Here are the treasures I found.




from Katie

(She is the big encourager around here)




from Matthew

I love this piece of paper with all my heart.
I love how they are holding hands.
This must be from kindergarten.


I wonder what I will find today?

Have you ever heard the saying, "Closets are the underwear of your home?"

It's kind of true isn't it?






*****




The undersides of Katie's flowers photographed much better than the 'faces'.
I took this last night as the sun made its belated appearance.

Could these colors be prettier??




If you were filling out your little "I have a dream" paper,
What would you dream of for yourself?



Encourage one another,
Donna

Bonnie Hunt

The pretty people and Susan Boyle.





DWTS cha cha.



Mark dances round Shawn in this cha cha...but gosh, I just loved it.
I wonder if this is Mark's favorite style. He sure shines.
Shawn is a bit reserved and I think her moves need to be larger but she is such a lovely young girl.

Loved the group dance!!!

Wasn't it interesting that when the 'stars' designed the dresses they were much more modest?



****

To love beauty is to see light.
Victor Hugo



Love is the beauty of the soul.
Saint Augustine



Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
Anne Frank



Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.
Saint Augustine



It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.
Leo Tolstoy


If you look for beauty, you will find it.
Miz Boo


As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oh Ralph!
That is a wonderful quote.





Encourage one another,
Donna

And they all lived happily ever after...




Katie. Acting.
She has been asked a difficult question and is trying to think of the answer.




Twinges of tummy ache kept us on edge.
I decided NOT to think about it.

The production was quite good for children so young.
So much could go wrong with 75 children and lights and mics and props and dances...
But as far as I could tell nothing went wrong.

They worked hard and it payed off.

Hooray!
Bravo!

Phew!





The sisters just after the play.

I was just as proud of Emma for coming all the way home to celebrate with her little sister.

Excuse me while I gush over our girls.


*****

I gave myself about seven minutes to take a few pictures at the antique store on the way to the train.








****

Oh my! The drama on Amazing Race last night.

Patrick and I think we have a group of pretty unlikable folks this time.

He likes Tammy and Victor (Our parents will cry themselves to death)
I like Tammy and Victor and Margie and Luke.

Has there been a sibling group winner yet?

Did anyone else think of "Ping" while watching those birds fish?

****

Patrick and I have been watching The Sopranos on TBS for years. We do not have HBO so we have had to wait years to see the finale.

Next week is the finale. But last night was the big massacre of Tony's crew.
Tony laid down at the end of the show on a sheet-less bed with a machine gun across his chest.
While I have watched the famous last five minutes on youtube. Patrick has not.

For anyone who's watched to ending. Do you think Tony is dead or alive?


****

Well. I'm off to help at school today.

Thank you for your prayers for Katie.

We were very happy that she recovered so quickly from her tummy bug.


Encourage one another,
Donna

Sleeping Beauty




Dear little girl was up from 2:30 until 4:30 last night.
She threw up and couldn't get back to sleep for fear that she would throw up again.

Of all things.

I can't tell you the last time she threw up.

I sure hope it was a fluke. She has worked so hard and not missed one practice for the play it would be just awful to miss it.

She is still in bed so I am not sure how she is feeling today.

***

Patrick and I worked backstage last night as a little volunteer duty.

You know, it takes a special person to deal with 75 children.

That person is not me.

Calgon take me away!!!

You know how people say, "I could never homeschool."

Well. I understand. We are all created differently. "I could never work with large groups of children."
But, I sure admire those who can! What a wonderful group of directors and crew. They are calm and kind and hard working and I say, "God bless you!"


***

Off to pick Emma up from the train in Harvard. I think I will leave a little early as there is a antique store with TONS of stuff on the way and I have always wanted to take pictures of it to show you.
So that's the plan.

Busy day here.

Thank you for reading and if you have a second, toss up a little prayer for Katie's tummy.

Love ya!
Donna

Friday Five

What’s something you know how to draw?
Who’s someone you could get away with impersonating?
Where’s the stapler?
Why will this be a great weekend?
What is your favorite really messy food?


HT friday5.org



What’s something you know how to draw?



This is what I can draw.
I learned this from a girl in 8th grade.





This is a doodle I doodle almost daily.

So now you can see why I picked up the camera to express my artistic side :o)


Who’s someone you could get away with impersonating?

The Tin Man.

I can say "oil can" just like him.

and I think I do a mean Bob Dylan.

My family disagrees.

"How does it feeeeel...to be out at home."


Again, why I picked up the camera to express my creative side.


Where's the stapler?

I think it is in the corner cupboard in the kitchen or it is in the armoire in the living room.


What is your favorite really messy food?

My new favorite messy food is the Blue Moon Burger from the Blue Moon bar in Madison on old University.

It was so delicious and so messy. I can't stop thinking about it.

"Get in my belly!"


Why will this be a great weekend?

This will be a great weekend because I am determined to live right here, right now, in this place and moment.

The play that Katie has been preparing for since January will be preformed this weekend.

Saturday to be exact. We will go and see it twice. Emma is coming home just to see her little sister.

It's a big deal to Katie so it is a big deal to us!


I am determined NOT to think about Ree and the Ranch.

You see, this is the weekend Patrick and I were invited to go to The Ranch to meet Ree and MM and a few other bloggers.
I know you can imagine my despair when I saw the date of the get together and it was the exact weekend of Katie's play.
It never crossed my mind to miss Katie's play.

But that doesn't mean it doesn't haunt me just a little. Okay. A lot.


But I learned from the Audrey Woulard debacle, that it will all work out.
I can't fathom it. But I know it's true.


"Family First" as my mother use to say.
I didn't remember that until my sister Sue wrote it in the comments last week.
But, I remembered it in my heart, I guess.
There was never any doubt that we would be here for Katie.








Happy Friday All.


Encourage one another,

Donna

TEA party: Madison Wisconsin




We went to a TEA party yesterday!



Current and future taxpayers were there.



Some people wore tea bags.



Had something to say.



And made us laugh.



And dressed up their dogs.

But the best part was....



Nancy's daughter spoke before the great crowd of five thousand!

She was poised and articulate and inspiring!

The crowd loved her!

Lynn and I glanced again and again at one another in awe of this young lady!

Her parents must be so proud and from the video, you can hear her little sister is super proud, too!



******



At 5:30 this light was so gorgeous, I had to take a few shots of Katie.




Little poser ;o)



"Got a penny in my pocket,
got an angel on my shoulder..."


***

If you haven't seen the Susan Boyle youtube yet, head on over to youtube to watch it.
They have disabled 'embed' so you will need to watch it there.

I had seen this over the weekend and kind folks kept sending me word about it...
then Emma called last night after watching it. If Emma loved it, I knew I had to share it with you all.

She is pretty picky about her popular culture :o)

Susan Boyle sings


So there ya go...

a little protest, a pretty picture, and a song...


Encourage one another,
Donna

p.s. Faraday is evil! I just know it.