Lately

I had a family photoshoot last Saturday.  Before I went, I had to practice on Katie a little bit.

I bought strawberries at the farmers market a few weeks ago.  The seller tricked me and the berries were not sweet and they were old and mushy.  So I made jam with them.  It turned out pretty good.

Katie loves succulents.

And one more thing..

My tomatoes are growing like crazy with this warm, sunny weather!

I may have a red one in August...or even July!

I'm so excited!

Have you made any jam this summer?

What kind of jelly did your mom put on your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

We always had grape.

Patrick always had Strawberry Jelly.

I don't eat them very often (almost never) so our children have been raised with Strawberry Jelly.

I also caved on the toothpaste.

Bouchers used Colgate.

Glymans used Crest.

We have Colgate.

(We also have Toms and tooth whitening kinds from time to time.)

Anyway.

Happy Thursday.

Love ya

Donna

Why I adore Prince Harry.

Because he is the life of the party.

Because having a baby sit on his lap is the most natural thing ever.

Because he always reminded me of Matthew.

And when he hugs....he really truly hugs.

He likes being the Spare to the Heir.

Because, unlike other royals, he is all about the  PDA!!

He is self-deprecating.

And even when he was a little Prince he had boo-boos...just like Malichi and Ezekiel.

He loves little ones.

And I bet he makes the Queen happy.

Prince Harry.

The People's Prince.

XOXO

Donna

Happpiness comes from Snapchat.

Well...maybe not exactly.

Snapchat has silly filters and you can apply them to your face.
They go away in ten seconds or so...but you can take a screen shot of the really good ones for safe keeping. haha

A few weeks ago my brother in law Paulie came to town.
I wanted to make him laugh.
And I did.

He LOVED Snapchat and laughed so hard.

Me too.

Here are Katie and I on regular Instagram.

We were waiting for Paulie to arrive on the bus.

She makes me laugh.

********

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” 

~Marcel Proust

Encourage one another,

Donna

Where does happiness come from?

Wisconsin, of course :o)

If a man can't be happy on a little farm in Wisconsin, 

he doesn't have the makings of happiness in his soul. 

-Nick Engelbert (1881-1962), farmer-artist 

xoxo

Donna Elsie

Prayer requests from Di and Stephanie.

Di's son Rex and Stephanie's dad Buzz are both having procedures tomorrow.

They would love prayers for their loved ones.

thank you so much

The Summer Before the War: Section Two

The Summer Before the War

Section Two.

(I have not read the third section so I do not know the answers to some of these questions.)

 How did you feel about the way the villagers reacted to the refugees? 

 Is Helen Simonson able to pull off both the comedy of polite society manners of the time

and the reality of war? What were your favorite comedy scenes and what were the most

touching war scenes?

Hugh and Daniel.  The odd couple.  What do you think about those two?

Is Daniel in love with Craigmore?

 What Rye happenings seemed the most humorous to you? The “Board” meetings, the

repartee between the characters, the fete/parade….?

Good quotes:

Lord North;  "Writers," he said loudly. "Always writing instead of doing.  And then they have the most extraordinary opinions."

"A man of action is always to be preferred," said Mr. Tillingham.  

"Of course all such heroes require a scribe to record their great deeds, and I am your humble servant, Lord North."

I like how Mr. Tillingham did not take offense.  I suppose his ego did not allow it. :o)

***

Hugh to Daniel:

"But meanwhile, Daniel, you simply must recover your composure.  No good can come from physical or emotional dishevelment."

"I'm not sure I can face anyone." (Daniel)

"For goodness' sake, it's only Beatrice and Celeste," he said.  "You and Miss Celeste can look pale and interesting together.  Of course, she's come from a war zone.  Perhaps her situation will help your sense of perspective."

(I thought this picture from Downton Abbey would remind us of the WWI uniforms.)

***

These two make me laugh.  They are a little like the odd couple aren't they?

I like that the author included refugees in the story.  This is not something I have read much about.

Daniel is the wrong person to go to war.  I can't see him surviving it.

As section two ends...I wonder who will die in the war?

I wonder if Hugh and Beatrice end up together.  I hope so.

Please share you thoughts about this lovely book in the comments!

Quotes too.

xoxo

Donna

thank you jep for the questions

Letterpress love. Twin Ravens Press.

I have always loved my logo.  I think it is perfect and beautiful and cute and fabulous.

A wonderful letter artist named Crystal Kluge created my logo....and the talented Kristin Walker from Twin Ravens Press pressed it onto sturdy paper.  

http://www.crystalkluge.com/about/

http://www.twinravenspress.com/

Well...last month Kirstin got ahold of me to say she found a few of my pieces.  Did I want them? Free of charge?    I said, of course I do.  She sent them to me right away.  But in my busy-ness this past month I set them aside and did not get a chance to thank her....AND I wanted to tell you about her once again...all these years later.

Such gorgeous quality and fantastic customer service!

I highly recommend Twin Ravens Press for your letter pressing needs! 

Thank you Kirstin!

***

You might wonder if I have a photo business anymore...

I do very little.  Senior pictures mostly. 

I am a terrible business woman. If you were sitting next to me and said you needed pictures taken, I would not say, "Hey, I take pictures.  Here's my card." 

It was all too awkward for me.

So even thou I had the best business cards and logo around...haha...

I was happy to fade into the background.

Just for fun, here are some of my most recent seniors to graduate....

This is my niece, Sydney. She will be playing volleyball in college!

She is a very talented athlete.  

headshot for Katie's friend...he's going to film a movie this summer

I have taken pictures of this young man's older brother and sister.

One more to go....another darling red head.

Another cute red head.  

I attract red heads.  What can I say?

Too bad they are only 1% of the population!

hahaha

 xoxo

Donna Boo

p.s. Is ahold not a word?  

Tony Red Carpet

My favorite award show of all is the Tonys.
I love getting to see the nominated shows!

I will never be able to see the Pulitzer Prize winning Hamilton in real life.
But watching the Tonys I get to see nice long segments of the play....live.

There is lots of singing and dancing...from all the nominated plays....and from the host.

It's so fun and entertaining.

I was not home for the red carpet but thought I'd take a peek on the internet to see if anything was pretty...and I found lots of lovely dresses to share...

so here we go....

James Corden and his pretty wife.

Anna Wintour.  Vouge editor.

Flowers must be in :o)

Most of my favorite dresses were flowery.  

But that's not really new.  I like femmy.

Aren't those nice!?

The final three are my favorites!

Which dress do you love the most?

(sorry I don't have designer's names or actors names....im slacking.)

xoxo

donna boo

Dunzo!

The sun was glowing and I asked Katie to take a break from studying and take a few pictures.

She had her final final today.  woo.

This summer she will be working part time at a local Mexican restaurant just down to road.

She will be taking health in July...to get it out of the way in one month....and she will be playing lots of volleyball; Beach volleyball and indoor volleyball.

My job doesn't have any summer opportunities...but I guess that's okay.

I will be driving Miss Daisy.

Oh wait.

Miss Daisy drives herself.

Speaking of cars....

We share cars around here.  

Last week I went to Target and when I came out of the store the car would not start.

I had not left anything on, like the lights, so I was stumped as to why it would not start.

And let me tell you, there is nothing more bewildering to me than what to do when my car does not work.

Fortunately, Patrick answered his phone and was able to rescue me.

We went into Target and bought jumper cables and Patrick jumped my car.

This may seem like a small thing to some....

But to me, it was the world.

He told me not to turn the car off and to get to a shoppe to get a battery. 

(That was his guess...and he was right.)

So I did get to a garage...and I got a new battery in time to pick Katie up from school.

I realized NOW how totally and completely lost I'd be without a car.

Is there anything that makes you feel like a little child?

Because this sure made me feel so little and helpless.

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

I love her pink lips in this picture.

Another thing to thank my hubby for...

my children did not get their beautiful lips for me!!

p.s.  I LOVED your poetic comments about summer!

Summer's a comin'

For those of us with school age children, summer starts when school gets out.  I imagine Memorial day is the beginning of summer for everyone else.  But however it begins...it's here!!!

You might find this surprising since I do not sit in the sun and get hot easily.

But I dearly love it.

I think my favorite thing is a warmish, coolish breeze...the feel and the sound.
And tomatoes.
And the bird sounds.

What do you love most about summer?


Encourage one another,
Donna

June

The sun is rich
And gladly pays
In golden hours,
Silver days,

And long green weeks
That never end.
School's out. The time
Is ours to spend.

The playground calls,
The ice-cream man,
And, after supper,
Kick-the-Can.

The live-long light
Is like a dream,
And freckles come
Like flies to cream.

John Updike