Delicacy

Good Morning!
I hope none of you, humans, thought I was calling you creeps!

The bots are creepy.

You, my dear friends, are a true blessing to me.

Here is a story 60 minutes did on the Data Brokers.
This is the huge business.
This is why Facebook and Instagram and Twitter can charge billions of dollars for their Internet companies.  Because of the data that is gathered on their sites...and sold to advertising.
It baffles my mind.  But it is the truth.

the-data-brokers-selling-your-personal-information/


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Delicacy with Audrey Tautou

















Delicacy is a charming French movie.
I absolutely adore Audrey Tautou.
I could watch her in anything.


But here is my confession. 

I have a hard time watching subtitled films.

I want to watch.  I don't want to read.  It does not come naturally for me to do both at the same time.
This must not be hard for all people.  Or maybe it is.

But oh my goodness....how I wish these movies were dubbed into English for me.



The foreign language films I am attracted to are visually gorgeous like Amelie.
The fact that I can not be looking the whole time frustrates me.

It's work.

I'm gonna keep practicing tho.  Maybe it gets easier with practice?
Do you think that is possible?

I'm gonna try!


Bonjour!
Donna

Robots...or something....

Every once in a while I check my stats to see how many people are stopping by the blog.
For a very long time I had a consistent number of around 1500 visits a day.
Then the number jumped up to around 2000.
A week or so I checked again and I was hitting 2700 visits a day.

But the weirdest part of it all....the pages that were being visited were not recent ones.  The pages were the same old posts, over and over.

They are random.

I can only guess some computer robot....thing... is automatically visiting my website.

One post had so many that I just deleted it.  It had over 29,000 visits.
Isn't that creepy?

So yeah.  Some machine is visiting and I know not why.





I don't really know how many people visit the blog.
I do know the numbers are way out of wack.
There is really no point asking Blogger about it.

It's just creepy and weird.

And I have one more creepy weird thing.

On Monday Katie and I picked up some items at Target. I bought some Honest Co. dish soap.
I have never bought it before.  I have never seen an ad for it.  But I think it is Jessica Alba's company.

When I got home and opened up Facebook the first sponsored Ad in my stream was for Honest Co.

This is no coincidence.

Facebook knows what I bought.  I have no doubt.

Target has a app called Cartwheel for coupons.  I DID NOT get Cartwheel on purpose because you have to sign up thru Facebook.  I thought...I don't want Facebook to have all my purchasing information.

Well.  Seems they have it already.

Now.  I have nothing to hide.
But one day it could be a problem.

Read any Dystopian novel.

It could get dangerous.


Hide yo kids.
Hide yo wife,
Donna

Pretty Milwaukee Night

Some things are just so much prettier at night.


Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas. 
~J.K. Rowling


 So dear night the half of life is,
And the fairest half indeed.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


 Day hath put on his jacket, and around
His burning bosom buttoned it with stars.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., "Evening"



Love
Donna

Good and tired.

We had all sorts of weather.




The girls played Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.  They played well when you consider they just became team mates on Monday prior to the tournament.  That sounds odd but there are not a lot of players around here and Katie's team mate was a great sport to step in and take on this big challenge.
They did not win much but Katie loves to play.  I mean it.  She really loves it.  With only two on a team you get to hit the ball every single play.  For Katie this is the best part!
So it was a fantastic experience!




She was so hungry.




She is so nutty.





It's sure a nice play to play.


Happy Monday friends!

Donna

USAV Junior Beach Tour Championships.

For the next three days...
this is were Katie and I will be.

Katie is playing in a big beach volleyball tournament.  She plays all three days.
I'm exhausted just thinking of it.

Off to Milwaukee before the sun is up tomorrow morning.

It's a big adventure for the two of us.

I'm nervous about all of it.

Breath in.
Breath out.

Encourage one another,
Donna

Five years ago.

I'm crazy about these people!




 

The magnificent seven.




Our guardian angels.



Our angel in heaven.


Love you.
Mean it.

Donna Elsie

ahhhh

It was a beautiful July night at the ball park.
Big shade trees and a very fine breeze made it just gorgeous.

Would I get tired of this kind of weather?
I really do doubt it.

Spring flew swiftly by, and summer came; and if the village had been beautiful at first, it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now burst into strong life and health; and stretching forth their green arms over the thirsty ground, converted open and naked spots into choice nooks, where was a deep and pleasant shade from which to look upon the wide prospect, steeped in sunshine, which lay stretched out beyond. The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green; and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigour of the year; all things were glad and flourishing. ~Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

Another windy, gorgeous summer day.
Remembered.
The feeling I get looking at this picture is peace.
ahhhhhhhh


Encourage one another,
Donna

XOXO

Is there anything  better than baby kisses?


Baby coos.
Baby smells.
Baby heads.
Baby fingers.
Baby eyes.


All.... pretty darn wonderful.




Love
Donna

Bono talks about Jesus

I couldn't like this chat more.


There is something special about people talking in this way about what they believe is true.


XO
Donna

Don't mind me.

So. Here is my funny black purse story.
Well. You can decide if it is funny.

I needed my phone to take a picture of a special picture at the wake.  Janet had my phone/camera in her purse.  Her black purse.  Both Cindy and Janet have black purses.  Janet said her purse was on the couch, over there.

So I made my way to the couch and sat down to root thru her purse.  There were two of them sitting there so I picked up the first one and dug around for a bit.  I didn't see my wallet and keys so I set it down and grabbed the next one.  I picked this one up and set it on my lap and procedded to dig thru it.
Nope.  It was not in here either.

That's weird.

It was then that I spotted two purses on a chair about 15 feet from me.

I gently set the black purse down that I was holding and went over to the chair...
 I peeked inside and found my phone.

Yep.

I was digging thru the wrong purses.

Can you imagine!?!?

Love
Me

Diving Miss Daisy. Sister Edition.

On Saturday I picked my sister Janet up from O'hare. She flew into the city for our Uncle Mel's funeral.  Janet has been living in Arizona since college so she hasn't really had a chance to see the places she lived when she was little.

Above is our house in Elmhurst.  Janice and Janet only lived in this house for a year and a half.
We had nine Glymans living in this little ranch.

We drove to downtown Elmhurst, which I was not very familiar with.  I was too young to go to movies and shop around town.  Jim and Nancy have more memories of town than I do.



Cool.



Sunday morning I drove Cindy and Janet out to Wheaton.

Everything looked so pretty.

We went thru town and tried to find a place to eat breakfast.
When we couldn't really find a spot in Wheaton we headed to the Seven Dwarfs on Roosevelt Rd in Glen Ellyn.
After basketball games the cheerleaders would head to Seven Dwarfs for ice cream.
I haven't been there since.

It was a perfect place to get eggs and hash browns.





Why don't I wear my sunglasses?   I want to be cool like Cindy and Janet.



Fabulous signage!!!


I was so glad to be able to bum around with Cindy and Janet in our old neighborhoods.



I kept in touch with Katie by way of Snapchat.  She screenshot this picture of me and Janet.
Thanks Katie.  Janet.  Busted.


Happy Wednesday!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Wings

I am posting this picture as big as I can so you can see it better.
My chest and throat are full of feelings as I share this astonishing picture.

Pictured are from left to right.

Dad, Grandpa Glyman, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Mel.

I saw this picture for the first time on Sunday night at Uncle Mel's wake.
We sat, cousins and siblings, watching a delightful slide show of pictures from Mel's life.

This picture flickered past and I was charmed by our dads darling little face and posture.
I went looking to see if the picture was on one of the many posters full of pictures around the room.
When I found it I went looking for my cell phone so I could have a copy. (Janet put my phone and keys in her purse for me.  I will tell you a funny story about this in a day or two.)

So I stood among the flowers and snapped many pictures. I tried  to stand very still, holding my breath,  to get a crisp image.  I teetered a bit...but did the best I could.

Last night I uploaded the picture and ran it thru photoshop.
In photoshop I could enlarge the image and see it better.

I think behind the car may be an airplane.

Do you think that is what that is?

And in the small image I noticed our dad's hand was funny.  What was he doing with his hand?
As I enlarged and messed with the contrast I found that dad is holding a toy or something.

By the way he is holding it and from the best I can surmise... I think it just may be an airplane.

Serendipity.


****

As much as Uncle Mel was a blessing to his family,
he was incredibly blessed by them.  His sons, daughter in laws and grandchildren adored him and took beautiful
care of him as she aged and eventually became ill.

He took care of them.
Then they took care of him.

The boys, Richard and Paul, are both pastors.
They are both remarkable men.
The funeral service was extraordinary.

I wish you could have been there.
My heart was broken and my soul was assured and comforted.
And we laughed.


"Laughter thru tears is my favorite emotion."
~SM

We laughed.
We cried.
We mourned.
We loved.


They boys will be okay.  They will miss their dad greatly.  But they know where he is and that one day there will be a very precious reunion.


Thank you for your prayers.  They were felt and appreciated.


With love,
Donna

find on etsy.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/emilymcdowelldraws?page=2

Encourge one another,

Donna

Our Uncle Mel.

Richard, Uncle Mel and Paul

We had a very close family growing up.  We spent a lot of time with our Aunts and Uncles and cousins.  Richard and Paul lived very near us and we were very close in age....so we did fun things together.  They are the funniest guys I know.  They loved Monty Python's Flying Circus and when Monty Python and the Holy Grail came out we went to Chicago to be there opening night.  We have a life time of memories.

Their dad is our dad's brother.  They worked together and we spent many holidays together.
Uncle Mel and Aunt Sunny came to tell us that mom and dad had died in that terrible car accident.

Uncle Mel was a radio operator (crew member) on B17's in WWII.
He took up flying after the war.   He and my brother Jim had a great bond as they are both passionate pilots and spent many hours in the air together.

Yesterday Paul called to tell me his beloved dad had died.

Uncle Mel was our last living relative on the Glyman side of the family.
We loved him and treasured him and it is sad to see him go.
Although my mind can't quite grasp it....I hope Grandma and Grandpa and sitting at a table playing cards with Mel and Sunny and Jimmy and Esther and Dorothy and Marv and Donald and Lola.  Wouldn't that be something!?


Richard and Paul have lost their parents and three siblings in the last seven year. (about)
They have borne it bravely but that is an enormous about of loss for anyone.

Would you say a prayer especially for Richard and Paul as they mourn the passing of their remarkable father and for my brother Jim, as he was very close to Uncle Mel, too?

Thank you!

With love,
Donna

p.s. When we would part and say goodbye, Uncle Mel always said, "God Bless You."

Emmett and Erling

follow the link below for the story....this video was causing troubles...


I hope you can see this story.
It is very sweet and wonderful...but it does break my heart.

Gosh it reminds me of the Mr. Putter and Tabby books by Cynthia Rylant.
I can't wait to show Katie this story.


Link to story if this video does not work;

Emmett and Erling

Friendship wins,
Donna

Firefly July

Firefly July

When I was ten, one summer night,

The baby stars that leapt

Among the trees like dimes of light,

I cupped and capped, and kept.

J. Patrick Lewis

image. grave of the fireflies.



Thank you Jep.


Encourage one another,
Donna

The Lunchbox.

Katie and I watched this movie.
It was wonderful.

The ending drives me a wee bit crazy.
But other than that it was great.


Here is the trailer.




Encourage one another,
Donna

zoom

zoom
zoom


I say Chips.

But in Wisconsin I suppose they would be Whips.

I had fun sitting on the curb taking phone photos.






boom
boom


Music in the background.

Baby you're a firework.

BOOM


Happy Saturday.
Glad to hear that many of you are celebrating with lots of loved ones!

Lots of love,
Donna

Happy 4th of July!

We love to sit up close when we watch the Elver's Park fireworks.  The finale is spectacularly loud.
Why do I love loud things so much?


Wishing you a wonderful day!

XO
Donna

Pimento Cheese, Please.

When I was still in high school I visited my sister Nancy at college in Missouri.  She had a care package in her room from our mom.  In this package I remember seeing a little jar of pimento cheese.  Huh....I thought...Nancy likes pimento cheese.

Mom knew this.

I did not.

Then a few years ago my friend Dana posted a recipe on her blog for pimento cheese.

Homemade.  She is from the south.  Pimento cheese is a big deal in the south.

So I bought a jar of pimento cheese.

It was blah.

In the last few years I have seen pimento cheese on hamburgers at fancy hamburger places.

I tried one.  It was delicious but the chef put something REALLY hot on that burger. 

It killed my tongue.  (I have a condition on my tongue that makes me very sensitive to hot spices. Yes.  It's true.)

So last week I had a hankering for pimento cheese.

I searched the handy dandy internet for Dana's recipe. 

(It was from 2005.  We have known one another for a long time.)

Link to Dana's blog.

http://hiddenart.blogspot.com/

So here is Dana's recipe.

White Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 18 oz grated (Cabot)
Diced Pimentos, drained (canned veggie aisle - usually) 9 oz
Garlic, freshly pressed -  two cloves
Sweet Onion, finely grated - one heaping tablespoon
Mayonnaise (no sugar - look for Duke's) - probably a full cup, but start with 2/3 C and add until mixture stirs easily (that will make it easier to spread when chilled)

Up north we do not have Dukes.  I used Hellman's.

I halved the recipe.

I did use white cheddar.

Our pimentos come in smaller jars. 

It is easy and delicious.

The garlic has a real kick, but gosh, YOLO.

Yesterday I made a grilled pimento cheese sandwich.

I heartily recommend this recipe.  Good on crackers and celery and burgers and sandwiches.

A taste of the south.  Thank you Dana!!!

Encourage one another,

Donna

Fake.

I got this in my email this morning.

It looks very official.  BUT.  It is not.  It's a scam.

Before you click on ANY emails that look official but are unexpected do a quick search to see if this is a common scam.

I googled "google suspicious sign in prevented".

I had my answer immediately.  It's fake.

I have also had two or three emails from the post office saying I missed a package.
This is also a scam.



Some people are crooks.
Be careful out there.


Encourage one another,
Donna

You, wonderful you.

Thank you for sharing your vacation stories yesterday!  They were charming and fun!


****

We have had storms and basement runs two days in a row.
Our particular street seems to be missing the worst of it.

Thirty houses were hit and damaged from a tornado last week just eight houses away from us.
I still can't believe it.  Tornadoes are so random.


Last night Patrick called for me to come outside and see the sky.

This is looking west.  Behind me was a huge rainbow that made the whole arc.

It was spectacular.

*****

Katie and I watched part of Summer Stock last week.  This perfect dance shows the genius that is Gene Kelly.

To me, he is perfect.

Enjoy!

Encourage one another,

Donna