Category: memories

Day 270: Peonies

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

How do you pronounce peony? I say PEE-own-ee. A long-ago teacher friend called them pee-OWN-ees. However they are pronounced, they delight me.

That’s just one memory I have of peonies. I also remember my mom’s peony bushes on the south side of her house. Their blooming meant that summer was almost here and school was nearly over. I regret that I didn’t try to take some of her bushes.

I also won’t forget the peony bushes that Bob Resnik gave me — those are still in my back yard and I cut some flowers from them each year and inhale their delightful fragrance whenever I am nearby.

Day 257: Garage Doors Redux

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

Something I still need to write about on CCL is about the year Jeremy painted the garage doors. I’ll eventually get there, but today’s delight can’t wait. I trust my brother does not read my blog.

So Jeremy’s been posting to Facebook status updates about artwork he’s been working on. Kevin asked if Jeremy could recreate the work he did on the garage doors and I suggested that he do that, but include Mom and Dad.

Jeremy said he’d give it a go after I sent him some photos of his work from decades ago. He’s been keeping me updated with Messenger and we hatched a plan to send the finished product to Kevin in time for his birthday later this month.

Below are images of the original garage doors and his new creations. I certainly hope Kevin likes them as much as I do. I’ve sent Kevin some frames so he can hang them on the wall.

Day 197 – 199: Springsigns

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

The weather is getting nicer (70° today) and I’ve been noticing signs of spring — daffodil and tulip leaves pushing through the soil, the crocuses popping up in unexpected places, birds calling to their mates (or potential mates), and of course the snowdrops. This reminded me of my teaching days and making my annual “Springsigns” bulletin board based on a book of the same name. I think I took a photo of it once, but have no idea where that photo is. And honestly, except for the name, I don’t remember much about it except the feeling it gave me knowing that spring was on its way.

Day 165: SIL Zoom. Also Baking

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

I spent about an hour this morning talking with my sisters-in-law. We are rarely ever together at the same time. Fifteen years ago we took a Caribbean cruise together. They are all quite delightful.

After the Zoom session I baked. I made a pullman loaf because I wanted a sandwich and a cake because I needed to use up some lemon curd.

The bread looked delightful, but I am not happy with the taste. The cake looked a mess, but it was delightfully delicious.

Day 150: Ploughman’s Lunch and an Apple Cake

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

My go-to meal at pubs the first few times I went to England was a ploughman’s lunch. Slice of meat, some hunks of cheese, pickle and pickles and a simple lettuce salad with salad cream. The last time I was there I was looking forward to a ploughman’s lunch, but couldn’t find any until we were in Glasgow. It was delightful.

I recently ordered a box of British food from Cost Plus World Market just because. We also had some leftover brisket so I decided to make a ploughman’s lunch for dinner. To go with that I made a delightfully delicious apple cake.

Day 106: Belly Laugh

~ Dona ~ 1 Comment

Until playing Drawful with Dean, Andrew and Alex on Black Friday I’d not had a good belly laugh in a very long time. Possibly over a year. I’d forgotten what it was like. It was delightful.

I had several more delightful belly laughs today when I was going through one of those CD/DVDs from my attic closet. This CD/DVD had some of Andrew’s projects on it. One that I barely remembered, although part of it was my idea, involved dolls.

The final project was, I think, a PowerPoint slide show (or a website — we did that occasionally and teachers were usually impressed) and about the amendments to the constitution.

I hope Andrew’s teacher got a belly laugh out of this.

Day 102: A Memory and a Squirrel

~ Dona ~ 2 Comments

I came across an old tube of Chapstick today. It brought back a memory of my excitement over the film version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Remembering the excitement was delightful, but not remembering the movie which disappointed me.

I was putting something away in the guest bedroom (Andrew’s old room) and looked out the window to see a squirrel munching on a walnut or some other tree nut. I snapped a photo with my cell phone through the glass. I think it came out nicely. Even through they eat my birdseed, squirrels can be delightfully cute.