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.)
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.”
(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!
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.
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.)
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!!
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
Thursday, June 02, 2016
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
I posted a picture of my taco salad on Instagram the other day and was asked how I make it.
It's so nice and easy.
The only difficult thing is remembering to buy all the ingredients.
I use Iceberg lettuce and cut it with a big knife. I like smallish pieces.
So I make fat shredded lettuce.
1 pound of ground beef.
1 packet Taco mix.
(follow directions on packet)
Shredded cheese. I bought the Mexican mixture this time.
Tomatoes or Salsa.
Black Olives.
Avocado if they have a ripe one at the store....They did not have ripe avocado so I bought Wholly Guacamole. It worked great.
Sour cream.
Tostitos or Fritos or Doritos. (As much as you like crumbled on top)
Sometimes the chips are crumbled up and almost a whole bag mixed in with the lettuce.
If you LOVE chips...you can try this.
Cilantro if you like.
Dressing if you like.
Dressing? Yes. I think this is how Nancy made it...I think it was French dressing.
I did not have any french dressing in the house but I did have Raspberry vinaigrette.
I squirted the dressing around the edges of the plate in case it was icky mixed with the meat...
but it was yummy. You may like your salad dry. But I like mine wet. So I like the addition of a little dressing.
****
I layer my salad in the order that I have written the ingredients above.
You may add or delete anything you like.
Use that delicious green salsa from Trader Joes, hot peppers, green onions, or how about some shredded carrots.
Would you like to know what Katie puts on her taco salad?
The wedding was at a lovely chapel and barn in Shelby Iowa. It rained...until about an hour before the service!
We arrived very early for pictures. The flowers were very pretty.
They men had different colored pastel ties.
Shelby's father carved flowers for each table. This most elaborate piece was on the sweetheart table.
Isn't this amazing...and so special.
Matthew and Ezekiel.
What cuties.
Emma preformed the wedding (beautifully) and Katie was a greeter.
Malachi and Asher had a long, long wait. Melinda took this picture cute picture.
Our first look at the bride before the ceremony. She looked so beautiful. Her dress was darling (dotted swiss). She made the pink bow...and maybe even her hair piece. (I didn't have a chance to ask.)
Picture by Melinda.
Patrick wore a tux. He looked elegant. I wore the shawl I knit last year and a black dress.
Patrick was more sentimental than I was I think.
My babies.
I repeat.
My babies.
Quick selfies before the ceremony. Or as I like to call them...
Weezies.
My and my big boy. So happy and proud of him.
My sister Nancy. She was such a wonderful help! It's her thing. :o)
We had a great time and were so delighted that she could come to the wedding!
These two look fabulous even tho they were busy with all three boys. At one point Malachi lost it and declared he would not walk down the aisle. He was done.
But walk down the aisle he did....and at the end of the ceremony he dashed out the back of the church.
Making their entrance as Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Boucher
Uncle Paulie could not wait to sing.
Oh look. There is Aunt Susan!! Behind Shelby.... I could just cry...at the pictures I did not take.
Matthew is the best dad I know.
Hi Joe and Susan....in the background!
First dance.
I hope I will be able to share the professional pictures with you all when they are available.
So there you go. Maybe Emma can share some of the vows with you in the comments when she has the time. They were lovely. There were no toasts but lots of dancing by just a small number of us. It was not a rowdy wedding at all. (Well except for the nine or ten small children.)
The buffet style meal was delicious...I love a buffet, don't you?
Shelby's parents were so sweet, they were perfect hosts.
I was so grateful that Susan and Joe and Paulie and Nancy made it all the way to Omaha and Shelby Iowa! It meant the world to us and we will cherish the memory forever!
