Add to the Beauty: A Summer Visit

I took a short trip up to Minocqua to see two of my sisters and enjoy some time on the lake.

I saw loons and eagles and hummingbirds and deer.

But I will remember most, the remembering.

It's not easy to remember things from fifty years ago, but it's darn fun to try.

Thank you Cindy, Pat and Nancy!

Love you all so much.

“You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you...”

~Martin

****

“For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands”

~Rossetti

*****

“We hug, but there are no tears. For every awful thing that's been said and done, she is my sister. Parents die, daughters grow up and marry out, but sisters are for life. She is the only person left in the world who shares my memories of our childhood, our parents, our Shanghai, our struggles, our sorrows, and, yes, even our moments of happiness and triumph. My sister is the one person who truly knows me, as I know her. The last thing May says to me is 'When our hair is white, we'll still have our sister love.”

~Lisa See

******

I love this piece by a brother describing his sisters,

“My sisters were the coolest people I knew, and still are. I have always aspired to be like them and know what they know. My sisters were the color and noise in my black-and-white boy world-how I pitied my friends who had brothers. Boys seemed incredibly tedious and dim compared to my sisters, who were always a rush of energy and excitement, buzzing over all the books, records, jokes, rumors and ideas we were discovering together. I grew up thriving on the commotion of their girl noise, whether they were laughing or singing or staging an intervention because somebody was wearing stirrup pants. I always loved being lost in that girl noise.”

~Bob Sheffield, Talking to girls about Duran, Duran

Encourage one another,

Donna

 

Add to the beauty: memories

 

In the summer of 1975 (my seventeenth summer) I lived in a cottage on Lake Minocqua.  I had a job at DeByles clothing store and worked 5:00-9:00 Monday thru Friday.  The rest of my time was spent reading and tanning on the dock.  I fed myself ice cream and stayed up every night playing Yahtzee until the Star Spangled Banner came on the tiny black and white tv.  It was a little scary by myself but I bore it bravely.  I read Gone with the Wind that summer and remember reading until the sun came up and the loons called good morning.

Family (Nancy and Binky had a newborn and were parenting the twins, Cindy and Sue) and friends came and went that summer but I mostly remember being by myself.  

I drove a medium blue Oldsmobile 442 with an 8-track  in it.  (Hand me down car from Bink).  If you've ever driven a winding back lake road you will know the beauty of the dappled light flickering thru the leaves that cover the road like a canopy.  I had three 8-tracks with me.  This will tell you a lot about me.  First was Chicago.  Second was The Spinners and third was the That's Entertainment Soundtrack. 

When I hear the songs from that time I am transported back to that quiet, independent, winsome summer and those flickering drives on Country Club Rd.  

My seventeenth summer was different from Angie Morrow's. (book my Maureen Daly). (I did, however, five years later, meet and marry a baker who lived not that far from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. ) 

My seventeenth summer was slow and dreamy and hummed with lapping water, the wind in the pines and Chicago.

Much like Angie's.

~donna glyman boucher

 

Add to the Beauty: Lullaby

with Zeke

with Katie

James Taylor is really the chillest singer, isn't he?

His guitar playing is my absolute favorite.

with Griffin Reid

Our newest grandchild.

Patrick and Shelby, Dottie and Silas welcomed Griffin on July 5th.

So thankful and blessed to have another child in our lives to love.

Encourage one another,

Donna Elsie

and i still love you

 

Add to the beauty: Songs

I'm forever jotting down songs to sing to the babies in my life. When I am under pressure I sing a little song called playmate from the 40's.  Oddly, it is the number one song that is always on the tip of my tongue.  I have a tune that I add words to and ad lib.  It's not pretty but it's handy.

 'What'll I do" from the Great Gatsby once brought little Katie to tears.

 I can remember the words to "Many a New Day" from Oklahoma which makes a much better lullaby than OKLAHOMA or Poor Jud is Dead.

Yeah.  You're not getting anything normal around here.  haha

Who knows how long I've loved you

You know I love you still

Will I wait a lonely lifetime

If you want me to, I will

For if I ever saw you

I didn't catch your name

But it never really mattered

I will always feel the same

Love you forever and forever

Love you with all my heart

Love you whenever we're together

Love you when we're apart

And when at last I find you

Your song will fill the air

Sing it loud so I can hear you

Make it easy to be near you

For the things you do endear you to me

You know I will

I will

~John and Paul

I happened upon I will

 this winter and find the chorus is easy to remember and pleasing to the babies and me.

I wanted to learn this lovely song by Billy Joel but forget it when it comes to lullaby time.  But perhaps one day I get it down.

Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes

And save these questions for another day

I think I know what you've been asking me

I think you know what I've been trying to say

I promised I would never leave you

Then you should always know

Wherever you may go, no matter where you are

I never will be far away

Goodnight my angel, now it's time to sleep

And still so many things I want to say

Remember all the songs you sang for me

When we went sailing on an emerald bay

And like a boat out on the ocean

I'm rocking you to sleep

The water's dark and deep, inside this ancient heart

You'll always be a part of me

Goodnight my angel, now it's time to dream

And dream how wonderful your life will be

Someday your child may cry, and if you sing this lullaby

Then in your heart there will always be a part of me

Someday we'll all be gone

But lullabies go on and on

They never die

That's how you and I will be

~Billy Joel

Baby Beluga is pretty sweet and special too.

Love our Raffi.

But darn it, when the pressures on I go blank.

I need a setlist taped to my forearm.

I only solo for the babies....and their lucky parents if they are in earshot.

Love you whenever we're together

Love you when we're apart.

Yaya