Cindy and Dad

 

Cindy shared this picture recently.

It brings me so much joy.

I have two quotes that swirl in my brain about reminiscing and memories.

"Remember When is the lowest form of conversation."

~Tony Soprano

AND

"Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories."

~An Affair to Remember (1957)

I'll go with Debra Kerr's line in An Affair to Remember any day and every day.

(And not because the movie is from the great year that I was born)

Things I most remember about summer vacation in Hayward Wisconsin:

Swimming.

Dad Fishing.

Cleaning fish in the tiny fish house.

Mom frying perch.

Outboard motors.

Bull frogs.

Chipmunks.

Snakes.

Rocks.

The long drive.

The quiet contest on the long drive.

Being car sick.

Coasting on dusty gravel roads.

Little cabins.

One big cabin for our big family.

Bear hunting at the dump.

Ken's Milwaukee Inn.

The Irvings.

A drive in movie. 

Pink Panther.  

(I bet I'm the only one who remembers this)

and 

fireflies.

Mom and Janice

Esther Jean.

Nancy in front of our cabin.

Jimmy and Cindy and Dad

Truly the highlights for me were swimming

and coasting up and down the hills as dad put the car in neutral.

We would pick up speed as we rolled downhill and and scream with excitement as we neared the top of the next hill.  

"I blinked and the images were gone. But I remembered how the laugh and the howl and the splash would ripple and echo in the stillness of our lake, and I wondered if ripples and echoes like those ever fully die away, if somewhere in the woods my father's joyful yelps still bounced quietly off the trees. Silly thought, but there you go."

~Coben

Hayward was cooler than Elmhurst.

Every moment was spent outdoors.

I swam and swam and swam and then

enjoyed the late nights checking in on the fish cleaning shack;

totally grossed out by the fish guts.

The smell of Off was strong.

I remember the sound of lapping water and frogs croaking.

Visits to Paul Bunyans were yearly. The donuts a highlight.

The donuts that would make our dad mad.

He wished he had seven boys to get his money's worth at all-you-can-eat Paul Bunyans.

But the milk was cold in the metal cups and the donuts sweet. 

Who can blame us?

We couldn't eat like boys.

As I imagine what my days were like,

I envision myself a wee bee visiting flowers.

Casual, quiet, simple

visits around the resort

with a lot of swimming.

But bees don't swim.  hum??

Otter.  I'll be an otter.

I will see some of my sisters in a few weeks. 

I'll ask them what their main memories were of 

our vacations in Hayward.  It's fun to hear the totally different experiences!

Cindy will have boat memories. (there is another smell, outboard engine gasoline)

 I may have one early morning boat memory, if I squint real hard.

Did you go somewhere every summer?

I was a little fascinated by families that would take long car trips.

It's a really nice tradition.  I tried to implement regular summer vacations. I managed four-ish to  little cabins on lake Minocqua, but I went alone with the children.  We visited sisters in Missouri and took a trip or two to California and Arizona. 

I'm thankful for all of it.

Reminiscing is good.

What does Tony Soprano know?

Encourage one another,

Donna aka Otter. 

haha....

The most August of August updates.

 

Oh gosh. A month skips by and I didn't post.  I'm not sure how interested anyone is in the stuff  I'm doing.  But, I'll share some pictures of recent events and if while I am doing that I think of something to talk about...well, that will be swell.  

I'm feeling well.  My checkups have all been positive!  

Here is my hair.  It's easy to take care of and I like it.  It's still super curly in the back!

I have gotten it colored and I'm really happy to be doing that.  

I actually do not think I will go back to long hair again.

I am headed in this direction.  When it gets to this length and I try it out I will keep it if it's cute and easy.

If not, maybe I will go back.  

It's my big hair experiment.  

I've been cooking most of my food from scratch. As little processed as possible.

I am desperately waiting for the good tomatoes to come in.

But here is some chicken, grapes, celery, almonds, honey and mayonnaise.

It was very good.

This is a Lou Malnati's salad.  Lou's is a famous pizza place in Chicago.  I love their salad too.  I buy the dressing on Amazon.  

This salad has lettuce, salami,  black olives, tomatoes, parm, blue cheese and mushrooms.

And of course the Lou's dressing.  It's a sweet italian dressing.

I love this salad.  

BTW. Black olives (ripe olives) must have gotten rid of their black dye!  They are not so black anymore.

I never realized they were being dyed!  

Here is some focaccia I made.  This was a BIG deal for me to use yeast. I was assured this was a no fail recipe.  It did not fail.  However...I had to eat it alone and it goes 'bad' after the first day.  So this needs to be made for a group.  Not a single. (my husband won't even try most of the things I make.)

I had it with some nice olive oil and parm.

I use those Maldon salt flakes. Look at those fun crystals.

The salt I have in the house in extensive. I'm very weird like that.

The Boucher boys are growing up so fast.  Asher is going to high school.  

For fun, he has decided to take all of the hardest classes he can take, including numerous AP classes.

The boys are all so sweet and fun and active.

I've been knitting a little bit while watching my kdramas and Dodgers baseball games.

These cute little pocket crosses knit up super quick.  Now I need to drop them off at a clinic or old folks home.  

Do you want one?

We love to walk around Epic Systems campus, which is ever changing and growing and absolutely incredible.  It is a mile from our house so we keep an eye on it. *wink *wink

Olbrich Garden is another lovely place to walk.  I hadn't seen the lily pads before.

Aren't they beautiful?  They take them out in the winter and replant them in the spring.  Isn't that interesting?  There are some other tropical plants on the site and I wondered how they managed in the winter.  They are moved inside.  Amazing.

Here is our front yard.  Our neighbors have a nice new mailbox.  All the rest of us look a bit shoddy now.  oh well.  haha

(they are wonderful neighbors who take lovely care of their house and yard.)

The plant on stump can not make it thru the hot summer in that spot.  We have replaced this one with some pretty pink zinnias.  These zinnias are thirsty flowers.....even with a morning water they are wilting by five on a hot day!

They flowers out back had to be replaced too!  

We do not have green thumbs.  But our lawn is gorgeous!

I have had hummingbirds pretty regularly this month and I am super happy about that!!!

There is one now!!!!!

Oh! And this Chippie.  Filling it's cheeks.  I buy safflower seeds cause the black birds and squirrels don't like them.  But this chippie is a big fan.  The other birds that visit are doves, cardinals, sparrows, chickadees, and finches.  

One last picture.

Katie is at a Kentucky Derby party. Look at her hat!

The horse on her hat cracks me up.  So clever.

Katie started a new job today!  She is a TA at a school in Madison.  

I think it will be a great fit for her! 

Go Katie!

Emma's River will enter kindergarten this week.

Oh my goodness!

School days.

School days.

Dear old golden rule days.

Encourage one another!

Drop a comment if you want a recipe or link.

Donna Boo