Queen Anne's Lace




Down in a field, one day in June
The flowers all bloomed together.
~Sarah Jewett


*********

I've been meaning to get to this list.
There are 100.
I have only listed the top twenty-five.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies -- 10th Anniversary Edition:


1 Citizen Kane (1941)
2 The Godfather (1972)
3 Casablanca (1942)
4 Raging Bull (1980)
5 Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6 Gone With the Wind (1939)
7 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8 Schindler's List (1993)
9 Vertigo (1958)
10 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11 City Lights (1931)
12 The Searchers (1956)
13 Star Wars (1977)
14 Psycho (1960)
15 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17 The Graduate (1967)
18 The General (1927)
19 On the Waterfront (1954)
20 It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
21 Chinatown (1974)
22 Some Like It Hot (1959)
23 The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
25 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

I have highlighted the films I have not seen.


But I find it odd that Vertigo is so high on the list.
I have never even heard of The Searchers!

My top five from this list would be:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Singin' in the Rain
Gone with the Wind
On the Waterfront
The Wizard of Oz



~On the Waterfront

What is your top five?

Happy Weekend!

Encourage one another,
Donna

Appetizer
How many pieces of jewelry do you wear most days?

Soup
What is your favorite instrumental song?

Salad
Who has a last name that you like?

Main Course
Name a popular movie you’ve never seen.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: Nothing makes me ___________ like ____________.


***********

Answers:

I wear two pieces of jewelry every day.
My wedding ring and my engagement ring.


Favorite instrumental song.
That's really hard.
The first 45 I ever bought was an instrumental called, "Love is Blue".
It is not my favorite but I thought I would jog a few memories with that one.
I really do love a solo guitar.
Folky or classical.

But, embarrassing as it is, my instrumental and classical loves come straight out of the movies and cartoon.

The Sabre Dance says to me; spin those plates!
(Ed Sullivan)

William Tell's Overture played at fireworks brings chills and tears.
The music from To Kill a Mockingbird is haunting and perfect.
The Nutcracker Suite is so pretty.
Antonin Dvorak New World Symphony #9 (Not as well know, but interesting and beautiful and dramatic listen


Last name: I have always liked Irish names.
Murphy

Movies I haven't seen and don't intend to see:

The Pirates of the Caribbean
The Lord of the Rings


Nothing makes me_____________like__________.

I can not think. Let me see what you think of first to inspire me :o)


**************

I am having major frustrations with printing my photos.
I try to edit and photoshop them to get a nicer clearer result...
And then when they are printed (the the best camera shop in Madison)
they turn out hideous!

I printed up three 5x7's of me and my sisters.
Our hair is so awful, they are going in the trash.
And they cropped the heck out of it!

The people at the camera store don't care.
They don't even say sorry.
They just take the $7.50.

I know I'm not explaining this well.

But I just want to say...it's not so easy.

My skillz don't match my vision at this point.

And I don't think I want to take a class from that camera store.




Click on that picture to see how very awful it looks!

If you look back a few days...you will see the picture didn't look like THAT on the computer screen!
What gives?

Ugh.

I'm trying Walgreens today.
I want to see how their quality matches up to my unretouched photos I have from the camera store.

I'm such a beginner at this...
with big dreams.

...Well I gotta run,
Lynn is getting a haircut today and her boys have just arrived!
See ya in the comments!

I can use a little distraction today :o)

Encourage one another,
Donna

Summer is also....









A successful lemonade stand!

(click on the picture to see it larger)

Back at home...

Summer is in full swing here in Wisconsin.

The nights and days are warm, the baseballs are flying and requests for friends and swimming, endless.






Katie's freckles have popped and they get darker every day.




My tomato plants are growing beautifully!
I can believe my good fortune in choosing those two tomato plants from the grocery store parking lot nursery!

You never know what you're gonna get.
~Forrest, Forrest Gump

My glass of pop is drippy and makes watery rings on the table.


What tells you it's summer?


Encourage one another,
Donna

My favorite part.

"We have prayed for Matthew for 20 years,
we just didn't know his name."
~Melinda's dad






Matthew and Melinda were married by Kevin Pringle.
Kevin is a good friend of Steve (Melinda's dad)
They are both involved in youth ministry.
Matthew and Melinda met one another working at a youth group.


So Melinda's family knows Matthew pretty well, which is very nice.
There is nothing worse than a wedding or a funeral where the pastor doesn't know the bride or the groom or the unfortunate dead person.

Well...there a lots of things worse...
But you know what I mean :o)

We were all ushered into the Ashland Methodist Church at 7:00pm.
The cold air was blasting, the candles were glowing and we were all ready to go.

Katie had the unusual job of pushing the flower girl up the aisle in a stroller.
(I think, Melinda thought the flower girl would be walking...and since she wasn't walking they had to improvise)

This wasn't really what Katie had imagined but we discussed that it is the bridesmaid job to help the bride, and this would help Melinda.

She was told to do this with a happy spirit!

And she did.

The crowd cooed a big aw!!!
And Katie didn't drop her flowers or bump into anything.

She made one funny face. But generally did a great job.

She wiggled and looked around and talked to herself during the ceremony.
But she didn't dance a jig...so it was also successful :o)

Kevin spoke directly to each set of parents.
I can't remember what he said.
I think he said we did well raising our children.

Then he spoke on Ephesians 5:21-33

When he started to speak about submission I thought I would hear some folks fall out of their seats...but Kevin did an excellent job of explaining what that word means.
And he was sure to explain the man's role.
Love your woman...to the death.

(my words, not his :o)

So that was cool.

Then Matthew and Melinda said their vows.
Traditional.

A song or two was sung.

And just when we thought we would finally watch them kiss....

They took communion.

And then they kissed.



Woohoo.

It was a very Christ centered wedding and I left feeling like their knot was firmly tied :o)


I turned around to smile at my sisters and Cindy was very teary eyed.
I think she out cried Sue.

So off we all went to the reception.

It was a reception of h'ors doeurves and wedding cake.
There was plenty of food and the hall was really packed!

Matthew and Melinda seemed very happy!




So were we :o)







Sue and her youngest son Jeff.




Cousins
Emma, Brandon and Jeff




Cindy and Brandon




Matthew and Matt...friends since kindergarten.




Matthew and Patrick
Patrick gave a very nice, sweet toast.
He gently teased Matthew and remarked that he was confident that Matthew and Melinda would be together forever. Very sweet toast!




New sisters.




He smiles!



My heart is full with gladness.
My heart is full of gratitude.


Be ye excellent to one another!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Questions?

The rehearsal dinner was scheduled for 6:42.
Melinda was just being silly with the time...but it actually turned out to be right on the money :o)

Now the rehearsal dinner is traditionally the Groom's parents responsibility,
but not this time.

Melinda wanted to invite all of the out of town guests and more.
She asked if we could just have a barbecue at their church (which is right next door to their home) They knew of a man who loved to barbecue and Melinda's mom had some friends who were dying to prepare the meal for us.

So, of course, I said it was fine.

We just sent a check to cover the costs. (I offered to cook and clean but they said no!)

Couldn't have been easier for all of us!

It was casual, and fun and the food was great!




Melinda and her only brother, Jesse.







Shelby, Patrick, Matt and Pete



When Matthew was a senior in high school he went to live with the Wilcox family.
Here are two of Matthew's other 'brothers'.
Bo and Peter.
You will notice,
Bo only smiles when he doesn't know a camera is near.



See what I mean about Bo.
Here are the rest of Matthew's friends from up north.
They went outside to play basketball after the meal.
The rest of us milled around outside.
And took photos.

I must tell you that Patrick's brother and his wife, Susan, were there and so was Patrick's sister and her son and Patrick's other brother, Paulie.

Oh! About Paulie.
He was kinda quiet for Paulie, but when we got up to introduce ourselves at the rehearsal dinner, Paulie told a few jokes. He loves the jokes.

He told about the three rings of marriage:
the engagement ring
the wedding ring
and the suffering.

It wouldn't have been the same if Paulie hadn't told his joke :o)

(The Boucher's would rather not be in pictures...but I took some really lovely shots of them and will send them off asap!)

We were delighted and grateful that they all came!
Really!




We were there :o)
Our nephew, Charlie, is interested in photography so he snatched the camera and took this really sweet shot!
Thanks Charlie!



As things were winding down, I snapped my favorite group of shots.
As the girls were building bouquets earlier in the day,
Patrick Sr. and our boys went golfing.
They had fun.
Matthew won :o)
And got a little sunburned.

The Wedding Day

I'm gonna warn you right now. I do not have pictures of the actual wedding service.
I thought I would not be in the moment if I had a camera to my face.
So, I set my camera to the side and took pictures before and after and let the professional photographer do his thang.
I hope to see those photos one of these days...
I will pass them along when I do.




Getting ready.













The bride.



The Groom.
Yeah. He slipped his suit on right before the wedding.
Not quiet as much prep time for this boy!

Just before the ceremony,
I peeked out the church door to see if my sister's and their boys had arrived yet.



My peeps.
Phew.






Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Boucher



Tomorrow I will tell you what I can about the wedding.
I wish I had a memory like Lynn, she can remember words verbatim after hearing them just once.
But I will do my best to tell you about the actual wedding ceremony and post the last photos...the reception.

Just before Matthew and Melinda kissed...
they celebrated communion.

It was very special!

Did you do something special like this?

Encourage one another and thank you for your patience.
Really, I'm not teasing...
I'm just doing the best I can to tell the story :o)

Donna

Is this heaven?
It's Iowa.
Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.



On the way to Nebraska we pass this utterly delightful water tower.
I love this happy face.




We arrived early on Wednesday so Emma, Katie and I could meet with Melinda, her mother, her brother Jesse ((man-of-honor), and Lizzy (friend-bridesmaid) for manicures and pedicures.


Katie chose pink with flowers :o)
Emma chose french tipped (is that right?)

Thursday we helped Melinda with a few last minute preparations.

The flowers.













A family friend stopped by (a one time florist) and she really spruced things up for Melinda.
We were doing a very nice, but amateur-ish, job with the flowers.
With Ronna's help they turned out amazing!




Matthew with his good friends Ben and Bo.




Pretty Lizzy




The look of love.




Sister's being patient.




Did someone say 'raise the roof?'
shake...shake...shake...




Let's kiss!

Not yet!


That's enough for today.
What time of day were you married?
How many people came to the wedding?

Thank you for all the well wishes!
I sure enjoyed them!


Encourage one another,
Donna

It was a dark and strormy night...






Naw!
Just Kidding.
It was perfectly wonderful.




Matthew and Melinda at the rehearsal barbecue.

More tomorrow!

I don't remember growing older,



when
did
they?



In the picture we have;
Patrick, now 25, Emma, now 18,
and the groom, Matthew, now 22.



Thank you for your love and encouragement
and prayers.

See you on Sunday!

Swiftly fly the years,
Donna