Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Oh Sweet Lorraine

A fairy tale love story set to music. Please watch. You won't be disappointed.
(But do keep tissues handy.)
God bless you, Fred, and your sweet Lorraine.


Dedicated to my very own Fred and Lorraine...

I love and miss you, Mom & Dad...
Love, Donna

Now I need to head over to iTunes to purchase this amazingly beautiful song. Wish me luck as I'm pretty old school with my CD's, so buying music online will be a new experience for me!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

My morning glory experiment...

... gone awry...

At the beginning of the summer, I planted eight small morning glory plants in two large pots on the deck. I stuck small branches in the pots for the morning glories to climb. Some flowers were deep purple, like these...

...  and others were a deep pink/magenta, like these.

(The impatiens in the shed window boxes in the background are still going strong)

My favorite color is the sky blue.

I'd love to be able to show you the other five colors I planted...

... but I gave them the kiss of death (sigh)... Not sure how, but they did not bloom.
Not one to give in easily, I will try again next year!

I hope you're all enjoying the month of August! My hummers have been very active lately. I think they know their stay is coming to an end soon and they have a long flight ahead of them to reach to a warmer locale! Pix and movies to come of these sweet little birds!

I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday this week.

Donna

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Baby #1 and Baby #2...

 Sometimes I think we have two Baby's living with us...

Baby #1 is angelic...

She looks positively saintly while sitting next to the religious statues on the half wall...

The reflection of dining room lights even looks like a halo above her head.


 And then there is Baby #2...

...who makes sure that my work takes ten times longer than it should...

... because she is such a little camera hog! When she hears me start clicking away...

... she races in from wherever she is to be part of the photo shoot!

She thinks people...

 would much rather see her...

... than the items...

... I'm trying to photograph...

... for our Etsy shop.

But since she is so adorable...

 ... I usually end up taking lots of photos of her...

... while she inspects everything.

And sometimes...

... I just go with the flow and use her in the listing photos.

After all, she is such a regal model, and always so professional.
She takes her photo shoots very seriously.

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon!
Baby, don't you stick your tongue out at me just because I called you a camera hog!
You know it's true! It's a good thing you are SO DARN CUTE, you little clown!

I hope you're all having a great week.

I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday this week.

Donna

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

To everything there is a season...

... a time for every purpose under Heaven...
It's been two years since he's been gone...

 My dad.. my hero..

... who received the Purple Heart during WWII 
while serving with the Timberwolves, 104th Infantry,
and who was buried with military funeral honors.

The most surreal moment of dad's service was when the bugler went a distance away,
out of sight, to play Taps. I don't think I've ever had so many emotions playing out at one
 time and I don't think I've ever heard another melody so solemn, so profound, so emotional or so moving...

After the service, a gentle August breeze came through the cemetery and these wind chimes, hanging from a nearby tree, softly serenaded us as we left the graveside service.

I've been enjoying my evening walks now that the heat and humidity has disappeared from the northeast...

... and one of my favorite places to unwind and walk is in the cemetery.

Naturally, my dad is never far from my thoughts on these walks. Since I'm writing a short blog post and not a book, I'll just throw out a few words or phrases that are synonymous with my dad.

Patriotic.

Loyal.

Polish Catholic. 

Daily Prayers of Thanks.

Daily Rosary.

Daily Mass.

Great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus.

Compassionate.

Gentle.

Generous.

Kind.

Charitable.

Soft spoken.
Never left home without wearing a scapular (or two)...

... and carrying a pocket full of prayer cards in his shirt.

Devoted to Mom (who we lost in 1996)...
The kindest green eyes (so he could see like a cat at night! he'd tell us)...

... hard worker ... entrepreneur ... self-made ... a simple man of modest means ...

The fastest typist I've ever known (on a manual, no less)...

A trucker, who enjoyed nothing more than getting into his Ford pickup truck with his coupons and hitting all the supermarkets for the best deals.

A cat lover...

... a dog lover...

(saying goodbye to his buddy, our Mr. O'Malley, after the vet said no more could be done)

... and an all around animal lover.

 A jokester...

... who loved his family more than words can express...

To quote your favorite term of endearment, Dad...
"I love you very dearly."
You are missed every day.
You are my hero.
How I wish I had told you that, and so much more, every day that you were here.

Always and forever,
your Little Girl, your Donna Doo, your Ducky

COMMENT UPDATE: I have been visiting all of you to thank you for your kind, sweet words about my wonderful dad. Many of you do not have blogs so I hope you see this heartfelt thank you for all of the comments you have left. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... Donna