Backyard Neighbor

GIVE ME LILIES

Today is lily garden day.  I couldn't resist showing off these beautiful blooms.  Some of these blooms have been shown before and I hope you will enjoy them once again.  Actually these blooms are different because now they are in 'full' bloom.  For all you lily lovers and or just flower worshipers in general, I have a question for you.  Look at the close up photos very carefully.  Do you know which two photos are hybrids worth $200 each?  They were given to me as gifts.  Lucky me!!

I haven't been able to capture the true beauty of this lily garden taken up close.  The next photo was taken from my deck and it is somewhat better.   The truly beautiful lilies are shown at their best in the closeups.  What do you think?  Don't forget to look for the hybrids.

The deck view.  Now for the closeups.  I don't know why they are so much prettier than last year, they just are.  This is the second year since we planted them and we have had more rain.

This is all there is.  This lily garden is the first thing we planted before we moved here two years ago last May.  Our house was finished but Bill had one more year to work before he retired.  Just by chance we stopped at a flea market and a lady had lilies in grocery bags with a root ball.  She dug them out of her own garden and was selling them for $5 a piece and I knew absolutely nothing about lilies, but they were blooming and beautiful.  We bought eleven lilies, all different varieties.  I am sure they have names but I haven't looked them up to see what they are.

God made the flowers to beautify
The earth, and cheer man's careful mood;
And he is happiest who hath power
To gather wisdom from a flower,
And wake his heart in every hour
To pleasant gratitude.

William Wordsworth

Thank you for visiting my post.  I truly enjoy your comments and interest.  Don't forget to tell me which two lily photos are the hybrids of value.

LUSCIOUS LEMON CREME CAKE

This lemon cake is easy and delicious.  I am delighted to share this recipe with everyone.  A big thank you goes out to Kathy at Kathy's Cottage, for a terrific idea we can all enjoy.

The best part of this cake is the lasting power of staying fresh.  I can keep this for a week and it is still moist and luscious.  Here is a piece cut just for you.

This recipe below is so easy.  You have to try this today. Smile!

1 c. butter, softened - or margarine
2 c. sugar
3 lg. eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
3 1/2 c. cake flour or plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. sour cream

*Please see note on the size of pan used.

Grease bottom of 3 (9 inch) round cake pans and line with parchment paper and grease again. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating after adding each one. Add vanilla and lemon peel. Sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Divide batter among three pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until tests done. Cool.
(Please note)  I made this recipe in a tube pan instead of layer pans.  It baked approx. one hour.  Please keep checking with a baking stick because of the different style of pan used.  The icing is one cup sifted powdered sugar, three to four teaspoons lemon juice, mixed together to a drizzling  consistency.  Pour over lemon creme cake.

Enjoy!

THE VOICE WITHIN

We are all safe and sound and home from camping.  We thank God for a beautiful week with our children and grandchildren.  The following is a poem to live by from a book by;  Don Tuthill, called 'Waiting for Spring'.

The Voice Within

Wordsworth had it right you know,
     About the daffodils...
A beautiful thing in nature
     some deepest need fulfills.
Have you heard the mockingbird
     that sings in your own backyard?
Perhaps you need to concentrate
     and listen very hard. 

All nature may be singing
     some beautiful song for you...
Be it daffodils or warblers' trills,
     it's meant to change your view.
forget the raucous music,
     violent films and all the sports,
And turn your heart to life's sweeter things...
     you'll find there are many sorts.

There are scents, and sounds, and sights to see
     you'll remember as you grow old.
and some truly beautiful things to recall
     when days are gray and cold.
These things are there in nature,
     just waiting there for you.
So look around and they'll be found;
     they're sure to come in view.

And when you find that special thing
     that makes your heart grow still...
Now listen deep inside you...
     You'll hear it if you will...
It's God's own voice...but it''s your choice...
     to show you a better way.
You'll be fulfilled and truly thrilled,
     and you can do it this very day.

Thank you everyone who visited my posts. I will catch up as soon as I can.  I sure did miss you all.  Have a blessed Sunday.

PINK ROSES, HOW DIVINE

Pink Saturday and I'm in the pink because I'll be home from camping today. Hurrah!  I love going and I love coming home.  I'll be stopping in to all my blogging friends as soon as I can; I hope you didn't forget me.  Just for Beverly at HOW SWEET THE SOUND, I am posting ahead to "Pink Saturday"  The following photos of my rose prints are vintage.  They are in my master bedroom now, but they were hung up my staircase where I used to live.  I framed them myself, so it is only the prints that are antique.

I had trouble photographing these prints and I think they could be better.  However, 'haste makes waste' and I am out of time.  I hope you enjoyed them and thank you for stopping by.

Do you remember my garden books?  One of those books gives a garden prayer for every day of the year.  This poem is dated June 28th by;   Sarah J. Day

JUNE TWENTY-EIGHTH

A stately row of maidens tall
     Within my garden stood,
And bowed their snowy foreheads all
     In gentile sisterhood.

And often as I loitered near,
     In joy of their pure grace,
Strains of a chant I seemed to hear
    that breathed about the place.

POEM FOR THE DAY

ONE MORE DAY OF CAMPING

JUNE TWENTY-SEVENTH

Open afresh your round of starry folds,
Ye ardent marigolds!
Dry up the moisture from your golden lids,
For great Apollo bids
That in these days your praises should be sung
On many harps, which he has lately strung.

John Keats

LETS GO TO IRELAND

Come with me to Ireland, the land of my father's ancestors.  Thank you Holly at MOMMY HOLLY and Heidi at Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly!! for the fabulous idea of a virtual vacation /dream vacation to share with our blogging friends.  My bags are packed and I am heading for the airport.  Ireland, here I come.

Summary Itinerary
Day

     1 Depart USA

    * 2 Galway, Ireland : Ardilaun House Galway
      Meals: 1D

    * 3-4  Galway : Ardilaun House Galway
      Meals: 2B

    * 5 Galway/Killarney : Killarney Towers
      Meals: 1B, 1D

    * 6 Killarney/Ring of Kerry : Killarney Towers
      Meals: 1B, 1L

    * 7 Killarney : Killarney Towers
      Meals: 1B

    * 8 Killarney/Cork : Imperial Hotel Cork
      Meals: 1B, 1D

    * 9 Cork/Cobh : Imperial Hotel Cork
      Meals: 1B, 1L

    * 10 Cork/ Waterford : Fitzwilton Hotel Waterford
      Meals: 1B, 1D

    * 11 Waterford/Glendalough/Transfer to Dublin : Mont Clare Hotel or Camden Court Hotel        Meals: 1B

    * 12 Dublin : Mont Clare Hotel or Camden Court Hotel
      Meals: 1B, 1D

    * 13 Return to U.S./ Begin Post-Trip Extension in Dublin
      Meals: 1B

Join with me as we take a two week tour through one the most interesting countries in the world.

For a small island with a population less than a tenth of England, Ireland throughout her centuries has made a contribution to the world out of all proportion to her size and numbers.  From her four Provinces have come world leaders in poetry and literature, painting and sculpting, theatre and music, politics and war.

To name a few: George Bernard Shaw,  Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Jack Yeats, a fine painter, the poet, William Butler Yeats, brother of Jack Yeats,  The list goes on and on.....

Now for some photos that will amaze you and keep you wanting more. 

Belfast City Hall

The Rock of Cashel.  This a 12th century round tower and a Romanesque church.

County of Cork

Dunbrody Abbey

Irish Inn. It is said to have the best food in Ireland.  We will be eating there for sure.

Muckross Abbey

Fine Dining

Kylemore Abbey

Man making thatched roof.

Thatched roof house.

Fairyland display.

In case you think Ireland is behind the times, look at this.  Old generation meets new. Smile!

Our trip was fantastic.  I hope you had fun along with me.  Now I am dreaming up my next dream vacation.  I can't wait.   Can you?

POEM FOR THE DAY

Camping!!!

JUNE TWENTY-FIFTH

And sharpen was this arbor, roof and all,
     As in a pretty parlour; and also
That hedge was thick was as a castle wall,
     That whoso list without to stand or go,
Though he would all day pryen to and fro,
     He should not see if there were any wight
Within or no; but one within well might
     Perceive all those that went there without
Into the field, that was on every side
     Covered with corn and grass.

Jeffrey Chaucer

Note:  some of these words were used in the early 1900's when this poem was written.  Look them up!  smile!

POEM FOR THE DAY

CAMPING STILL!  Smile

JUNE TWENTY-FOURTH  ( my oldest daughters birthday)  Happy birthday Andrea!

God may have bade the earth bring fourth
     Enough for great and small,
The oak and the ceder tree,
     Without a flower at all.

We might have had enough, enough
    For every want of ours,
For luxury, medicine and toil,
     And yet have had no flowers.

Mary Howitt    

POEM OF THE DAY

STILL CAMPING! Smile!

JUNE TWENTY-THIRD

Now is the high-tide of the year.
     And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Come flooding back with a ripply cheer,
  Into every bare inlet and creek and bay.

We sit in the warm shade and feel right well
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell;
We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing
That skies are clear and grass is growing;
The breeze comes whispering in our ear,
The dandelions are blossoming near,
That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing,
That the river is bluer than the sky,
That the robin is plastering his house near by.

James Russell Lowell

GOING CAMPING FOR ONE WEEK

This is  a camping trip a couple of years ago. Our children and grandchildren go camping every year. it is a family thing and it is a wonderful week together.  This photo is of a bike ride seventeen miles, all down hill.  I can't believe we did that!

The following photos will give you an idea of all the fun things we do on a camping trip.   I am encompassing  the last few years.  I won't try to identify everyone because there are too many different shots.  When you see these photos, think of me having a great time with my darling family.  Also, think of me without a computer for one whole week!  I will definitely think of all of you, and will be very anxious to catch up on our return.

This is me telling you goodbye for a week.  I'll miss you!

Camp site somewhere.

This is  Roxie and Roger, They will be our step grandchildren on July 26th.  They already are members of our family and loved by all.

Babette camps, but doesn't love it!

We visited an Elk preserve.
This is part of the Smoky Mountain National Park, few people know about it.

The end of the day.  This will have to last the whole week.