Backyard Neighbor

OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY - LETS GO TO HOLLAND

Hello my dear blogging friends I am home and very happy to be on my computer.

My trip to Florida was 10 days of...

'FUN IN THE SUN'

I will be trying to visit as many of you as I can.

    I HAVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH

Today I am sharing a beautiful neighborhood in Holland that literally does not have a road to connect them to each other.  Just boats.

CAN YOU IMAGINE LIVING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?

A Village in Holland ... With no roads AT ALL!

I hope you enjoyed these beautiful homes in Holland.  

Imagine the money you save in gas consumption.

Susan at, A Southern Daydreamer, Is our host for this event.  Please visit her blog for wonderful outdoor posts.

Hard to believe such tranquility!!

This is Earth, I can't imagine what Heaven will be like

Love, Jeanne

PINK SATURDAY -A PINK BIRTHDAY PARTY

Hello Beverly, I am posting this party after midnight because I don't want to disappoint you when you look at my blog in the morning.  You have that power over me. HA!  OK, all of you Pinkies, this post is all about a pink Birthday party.  I know you have been anxiously waiting for this event.

Claudie at, Bubblin' Over, is the birthday girl.

For those of you who do not know Claudie, she has traveled from Ottawa, Canada with her dear friend Julie, all the way to Florida in a BIG blue truck.  They stopped along the way visiting bloggers and having the most fun.  I was lucky enough to be one of their stops.  (See my previous post.)

First of all Cheri' fell in love with Claudie and visa versa

Cheri' loves the pink toy Claudie gave her.  She also gave her some delicious doggy cookies and some little balls to chase.

She is with me in Florida and winning over all who meet her.

Can you blame them? 

NOW FOR THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Our host and hostess was Mr. and Mrs, Magpie at, The Quintssential Magpie.  Oh, what a party!!!

Everything was FABULOUS!!!

First the guest of honor

CLAUDIE

The decorations were to die for.

 

Everything is beautiful.  Party favors and the most darling dishes.  Mrs Magpie decorated and gave gifts to each blogger who attended.  I will feature the gifts another day.  Several gifts were shared that day and if I shared them now this post would be endless.

 

Look who else came to the party

STELLA!

Claudie gave each of us lots of gifts, including these chicks and bunnies.

ADORABLE!

We all walked to a nearby restaurant for a fabulous lunch.

 

Lisa, Deborah and David (not very visible) and Claudie.

Claudie and Teresa at, Cherry Checkers.  Teresa drove down from Georgia to attend the blogger celebration.

She is absolutely delightful and full of fun.

Pink drinks are so fitting for the occasion.

Claudie and Julie having some fun at the restaurant.

Julie at, How I See the World is Claudie's longtime friend and her blog is her take on what life is all about.

Deborah at, Vintage Soul  and her friend David drove from South Florida to attend Claudie's party. She loves to make crafts and brought a basket of her creations to share.  She is having fun with Stella.  Stella was complaining that she wasn't able to see all the blogging friends at the table.  She loved her vantage point on Deborah's hat.

 

Stella wanted a drink.  She felt left out.  Ohooo, not too much Stella!!!

After a wonderful lunch we all headed back to Mrs. Magpie's lovely vacation home and had birthday cake and ice cream and cheese cake and candy. Mmmmmm. Delicious.

In case you didn't notice, we all had beautiful flowers for our hair.

Mmmmmm chocolate ganache cake and it was sinful.

  Lisa hiding behind the balloon, Becky at, Holiday in the Sun, and Claudie looking lovely with flowers in their hair.  Becky drove up from Deland, Florida to join in the fun.  She is as bubbly as Claudie. 

Teresa having some fun, showing her easy smile,   Lisa at, AKA West, lives only about 30 minutes from Mrs. Magpie;s vacation home.  She is great to talk to and has a wonderful sense of humor. As you can see, everyone loved the flowers and wore them proudly.  Thank you Mrs. Magpie.  BIG smile.

REMEMBER

There were many gifts shared that day and I will post them at a later date.

One last photo of Claudie and Becky.

Claudie put on Mrs. magpie's garden boots just for fun.  I think they look lovely with her beautiful Pink dress.  Can you tell Claudie LOVES pink?

 

A wonderful time was had by all.

Thank you Mrs. Magpie for a wonderful day and a party to die for!!!

Please be sure and visit Beverly at, How Sweet the Sound for lots more wonderful PINK.

Love and hugs to all my blogging visitors and new found friends.  Please visit the blogs mentioned in this post.  You too will love the new friends you will find here today.

Jeanne

OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY - A MOUNTAIN VISIT

A visit to the mountains was the most delightful sharing of blogging friends last week.  Claudie at Bubblin' Over and her friend Julie made the long drive to our home in the mountains. They stayed in our cabin for a couple of days on their way to Georgia and Florida to visit blogging friends along the way.

We had a wonderful time and I have to say, Claudie and Julie are definitely 'Bubblin Over' with love and friendship.  They came bubblin' over with gifts and laughter.  The gifts, numerous gifts, I will share later.  It will be a long photo shoot!!! Smile!

Now some photos that tell the story of the most fun two days in the mountains.

When we drove to town to lead them to our mountain home, this was my greeting.

It was friends at first sight.

The next several photos tell the story of sight seeing, shopping and eating.  Well, eating was first!

A celebration photo in Caff'e Rel.

The food was delicious.

Meeting two of my sisters.  More about the jug my sister is holding on Thursday.

Introducing Julie, Claudie's long time friend. This gun shop was close to Caff'e Rel and the girls just had to see what a gun shop is all about.  The owner loved it!!!

NOW FOR THE SHOPPING

We headed to Highlands, NC, and some fun.  The drive to this town would scare anyone half to death. A 'winding' road for about 15 miles and it looks so dangerous.  We laughed away our fear and stopped here.

Claudie loved this!

So did Julie. I should mention it was very chilly that day.

Highlands is the most charming town.

An old hotel in highlands.

A charming old church.

Claudie loves pink but she didn't buy this.

She did buy the cute yellow dress...and she wore it!  Smile!

This sums up Claudie's delightful personality.

On our way home we stopped here.  This is called the Bridal Veil Waterfalls.  The photo is my sister and 'me.'  Did I tell you she went shopping with us?

A closer look.  This falls is so pretty.  Yes, that is snow that hasn't melted yet.

Back home to the cabin.

The end of a lovely day in the mountains.

Thank you Susan for a wonderful way to share our Outdoors.  Please visit Susan at, A Southern Daydreamer.  You will love what you see.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Julie was the photographer for these awesome photos

Love, Jeanne

BLUE MONDAY - BLUEJAYS

Sally is our host for this event and since she loves blue jays I am sharing three of my own. Just for you Sally. I hope they make you smile.  Please visit Sally at, Smiling Sally, for lots more blue.

These blue jays are part of a pretty big bird collection of mine.  I display them in my great room A Frame windows.  I took them down to dust them and paint the wall a lovely gold color.  Laura Ashley gold # 3.  

This photo I am sharing next was taken for a special window  event last year.  It was hosted by Cielo at, The House in the Roses.  Today I am reposting this photo to show you my birds in the windows and to join Cielo's 'Show off your Cottage' event.  Next week when I am back home, I will share the painted view. 'The after.' 

Those birds get very dusty up there.  My recent spring cleaning and painting gave me the opportunity to take photos of them all.  I will share more of them later.  The new gold paint looks amazing, but you will have to wait until next week to see the new painted room.

I am in Jacksonville, FL. with my daughter this week.  We had the blogging party yesterday.  More about that later.

The reason I am still in Fl. this week is a joke on me.  The wedding I thought was on Sunday turns out to be next Sunday. Cheri and I decided to stay for the week instead of making two trips to Florida in a week.  I hope my hubby is missing me.  I KNOW he is missing the puppy.  HA!

Love, Jeanne

PINK SATURDAY -ARE YOU READY FOR EASTER?

Beverly at, How Sweet the Sound. is celebrating pink every Saturday.  Since it is getting close to Easter I am reposting this sweet bunny.  I am in Jacksonville, Florida celebrating a Blogger's party for Claudie's birthday.  You can find her post at, Bubblin Over   I will post more about this blogger event later.

I am so sorry I have been unable to visit this week.  I will be visiting everyone when I am home again starting next week.  I think there will be 8 or more bloggers at Claudie's birthday party tomorrow in St. Augustine, Florida, hosted by Sheila at, The Quintssential Magpie

FUN! FUN! FUN!

LOTS OF PHOTOS AND STORIES ABOUT THE BLOGGER'S CELEBRATION WILL BE SHARED AS A RESULT OF THIS BLOGGER GATHERING.



Be sure to visit Beverly to share the color pink with the many others who are participating in today's fun.

Happy Pink Saturday

Blessings and love...Jeanne

BLUE MONDAY - STOP HUNGER NOW

Sally at, Smiling Sally, is our host for Blue Monday.  Thank you Sally for keeping this fun event going in spite of your surgery and recovery.  You are the best.  You are a dear blogging friend, whom I hope to meet one day. 

Sally is having surgery again today.

My advice is...

Prayers, blessings and love to you Sally.

My title might throw you today but I want to share a most heartwarming day in my life with all of you.  This past Saturday Bill and I volunteered to help a 'Stop Hunger Now Project.'  It involved the Rotary Clubs in our area as well as several local churches.  Seven hundred and fifty people of all ages joined together to reach a goal to feed the hungry in Haiti.

The following is a quote from Julie, the coordinator of this project:

Julie Voorhees

"Stop Hunger Now. We packaged 100,224 meals for Haiti today, at a cost of 25 cents per meal. We raised all of the money we needed, and we had 670 volunteers sign in and help pack. What a day!'

HERE COMES THE BLUE

Bill and I wearing blue hairnets because we were handling the food packages.  Everyone handling food wore a blue hairnet

THE NEXT PHOTOS ARE THE PROJECT IN ACTION.

First the instructions. This guy was standing on bags of rice.   We all had jobs that worked like clockwork.  Food had to be packaged weighed, sealed and packed in boxes.  Basically the food packages were dry food supplements which included soy, dehydrated vegetables, added nutrients and rice.  Each package fed six people.

We all gathered in the Armory.  The cooperation and camaraderie was wonderful.

The machine you see in front of the rice is the sealer.  That was my job.

Even the kids were involved.  This gong rang every time we finished 5,000 bags of rice.  The whole room would cheer in unison.  What a feeling.  The children took turns hitting the gong.

Several Rotary clubs and churches were volunteers.  This group is filling the packages.

Did you know Sylva is my first name?

This is how they counted  packages to be packed in each box.  Each square on the cardboard would hold two packages of food.  When each square was filled it totaled 36 packages.  Then a box was packed and the process started over again. It was imperative that just 36 packages went into each box.

This box was being packed.

Boxes are then packed in this truck to be taken to the airport.

This is a photo I saved  to share next to last.  On the right is my little great niece Amber.  My nephew, her daddy, is holding her hand.  Her brother, Coulter, not pictured because he was home sick with the flu, collected money from the kids on his bus for the children of Haiti.  She turned it in for her brother that day.  That guy pointing his finger at Amber is my hubby.

These photos are not mine.  My battery died and Tammy combs gave me permission to use her photos.  Thank you Tammy you made my day.  Tammy is one of Bill's math students.

Tammy

Tammy is the girl in red filling a package of food.

I was so thrilled to be a part of this project.  This is what Americans do.  Pull together in a crisis. Even for another country.  I am proud to be an American.

Blessings to each of these wonderful volunteers.

Jeanne

SPIRITUAL SUNDAY - A WONDERFUL FACT YOU MAY NOT KNOW.

THIS IS LONG BUT SO WORTH READING.

YOU WILL LOVE THIS.

 One detail that is never mentioned is that in Washington , D.C. there can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument . With all the uproar about removing the ten commandments, etc., this is worth a moment or two of your time. I was not aware of this amazing historical information.

On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. , are displayed two words: Laus Deo.

No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally unaware they are even there and for that matter, probably couldn't care less.


Once you know Laus Deo's history , you will want to share this with everyone you know. These words have been there for many years; they are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia, capital of the United States of America.

Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed words.. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.

So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply,

they say " Praise be to God!"

Though construction of this giant obelisk began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States , it was not until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took twenty-five years to finally cap the memorial with a tribute to the Father of our nation,Laus Deo. "Praise be to God!"

From atop this magnificent granite and marble structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments. From that vantage point, one can also easily see the original plan of the designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant...a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the north. The Jefferson Memorial is to the south, the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west.

A cross you ask? Why a cross? What about separation of church and state? Yes, a cross; separation of church and state was not, is not, in the Constitution. So, read on. How interesting and, no doubt, intended to carry a profound meaning for those who bother to notice.

Praise be to God! Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings. As one climbs the steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message..

On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore;
on the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians;
on the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!

When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy "One Nation, Under God."

I am awed by Washington's prayer for America Have you ever read it? Well, now is your unique opportunity, so read on!

"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Laus Deo!


When one stops to observe the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation's capitol, he or she will easily find the signature of God, as it is unmistakably inscribed everywhere you look. You may forget the width and height of "Laus Deo ", its location, or the architects but no one who reads this will be able to forget its meaning, or these words: "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." (Psalm 127: 1)

PLEASE VISIT SPIRITUAL SUNDAY FOR BLESSINGS AND INSPIRATION

Blessings and love,

Jeanne

PINK SATURDAY - A SEWING BOX

Pinkie day is here again so soon. My weeks go by in a blur of pinkness and I love every minute of it!  Our gracious host at, How Sweet the sound, spends hours of her time on this event.  Many thanks to Beverly for giving us Pink Saturday every week faithfully. 

I have a pretty hand painted box that I decided would be a great treasure to keep some sewing items in one place.  Mostly embroidery things such as;  thread, hoops, magnifying glasses and work to be embroidered.  You might have seen it in a photo I have shared on the floor by my desk.  I have not featured it though.  I love it because it has a green background (my favorite color) are you surprised?  Nope, it isn't pink although, I do like the color pink as well.

It looks black in this photo, but it is a very dark green.  I love the flowers.

Have a wonderful Pink Saturday and don't forget to visit Beverly to enjoy lots more pink today.

Love, Jeanne

FOODIE FRIDAY - FIVE MUNUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE -I'm serious!

This recipe was sent to me by Email from a friend who knows I love chocolate cake.  (The photos are not mine)  This individual serving took five minutes in a coffee mug.

GENIUS!

WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?

I can't believe someone thought of this!!!!  But OH how SWEET it is!!!!!

THE 5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE FOR ONE PERSON.......HOW NEAT

THE RECIPE

 5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.  Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day
 

Be sure and visit Gollum at, Designs by Gollum  for lots more wonderful recipes.

Love, Jeanne

I'M BACK...I MISSED YOU

THIS IS ME SMILING AT YOU FOR VISITING ME ON MY BLOGGY BREAK.

I will be coming by to say hello as soon as I can.  I have missed you all so much.  However, I really needed this bit of time to finish some projects (like painting my great room) and spring cleaning.  I also planted a few flowers and pulled some darn old weeds.  It was a wonderful week.

THANK YOU for all your faithful visits.  I will see you soon.

Blessings and love, Jeanne