Getting to know your neighbors!

Tonight was our neighborhood BBQ and it turned out well. We only thought of the idea a few days prior, so we didn't give our flyers out until Monday. Still we had about 15 neighbors/families there... it was wonderful. We got to meet new neighbors that had just moved in, old neighbors that we have never met and then to re-visit with those neighbors that we already knew and loved. It was so much fun and how interesting to get to know more about them and their lives.
I went and got name tags so we could all call each other by our first names. It went well and we all were already planning our next get together! I am so grateful to live in a wonderful area with some incredible neighbors...what a treat tonight was!

I think we needed to do this BBQ get together... so we could all at least take the time to get to  know each other. I laugh when I remember how my grandmother used to tell me about neighbor's life, just by watching their laundry. Too funny, true but funny non the less.
But since most of us don't have a laundry line any more, I thought it would be nice if we shared a meal together and...we did!

 

A CLOTHESLINE POEM
A clothesline was a news forecast
To neighbors passing by,
There were no secrets you could keep
When clothes were hung to dry.
It also was a friendly link
For neighbors always knew,
If company had stopped on by
To spend a night or two.
For then you'd see the "fancy sheets"
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths"
With intricate designs.
The line announced a baby's birth
From folks who lived inside -
As brand new infant clothes were hung,
So carefully with pride!
The ages of the children could
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
You'd know how much they'd grown!
It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
Haphazardly were strung.
It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged, with not an inch to spare!
New folks in town were scorned upon
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.
But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home
Is anybody's guess!
I really miss that way of life. It was a friendly sign.
When neighbors knew each other best by what hung on the line.

 http://lyle-lylesplace.blogspot.com/2011/03/clothes-line-history.html

" Don't buy the house, buy the neighborhood."  ~ Russian proverb

"Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise."
- sent by Steve

"Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life."
- (sent by Dior Yamasaki)