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Thursday, March 30, 2017

Thank you...


Thank you dear hearts for your lovely anniversary wishes... 
Love and Prayers, 
Terry and Faye.. 
xo

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Forty-Seven Years....


Hello there everyone.. 
Terry and I are celebrating our 47th anniversary today!  
Well, actually we celebrated on Friday with a little day trip to St. Martins and dinner out and such.. 
A lovely day!  

The photo above seems like a lifetime ago in some ways but yet I can almost feel myself standing there holding onto his hand as he guided the knife in the cutting of our cake.. 

I doubt if we could have imagined this day on that night so long ago.. 
It would have seemed like aeons away and we probably would picture ourselves as terribly old and feeble.. smile..

It was a sweet wedding with all of our family and friends and then I put on my going away outfit (as it was called then.) and had this sweet pic taken with our precious parents.. 

Doesn't Terry look like his Mom?  
My mother is only 36 year old.. Imagine!  
Now she is 82 and my darling Dad has gone to be with the Lord as has both of Terry's parents.. 
We were so blessed to have all of our parents in our lives for many years.. 
They gave us encouragement, advice and love .. Then covered us in prayer everyday... 
So thankful for all of the blessings that our marriage brought.. 
Our precious family.. 
Children and grandsons... 
And dear friends... 
And a love that has endured ....
God has been so good to us.. 

So, my dears I am happy you dropped by... 
Hope you have a great week and God bless... 


Here is a little something to think about.. eh? 


Hugs...

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Homemade Cling Wrap, sort of and soup...

Good Evening my dears.. 
Welcome to the Blessed Hearth on this cold day.. 
At least here in Eastern Canada! 

It was beautiful this morning looking out the window, though.. 

Terry is keeping our Sun Room a bit warm as we have a bunch of seed pots in there so the window was a bit frosted.. 

But so beautiful looking through.. 

I think the temperature was -21 degrees C. but there was a fresh snowfall and a beautiful sun early this morning.. 

On my last post I mentioned that I had done a little project.. 
I had visited one of my favourite health food stores called the Sequoia in Moncton and was entranced with a product they had there.. 
You can find it HERE..
They had a little bowl on the shelf with the organic type cling wrap covering it.. 
They call it Beeswrap.. 

I couldn't wait to get home and see if there was a homemade version that would be simple and cheap to make.. 
And yes there are many DIY versions out there on the web.. 

So... 
I gathered up some fabric.. 
The ones on the web are square and flat and reusable.. 

I liked the one that I had seen at Sequoia so I made mine round.. 

This is the shelf of bowls that I use mainly for left overs.. 

Small, medium and large.. 

 I found a tinfoil rectangle shape container that you can buy at the dollar store with covers.. 
Fill a pot with several inches of water and bring to a boil.. 
Place the foil tin over the top or an old foil bowl..
Whatever... 
Add a bit of  the wax and let it melt.. 

Now I am going to be truthful here.. smile.. 

The Sequoia covers were made from beeswax.. 

I decided to use Preserving or Paraffin Wax.. 
It is cheaper and I wanted to see if it would work..
I used it for years over my jams and such so it was worth a try..  


Put in a block at a time until when melted, it is just halfway up the container.. 
Spread out a sheet of foil or parchment near the pot and with a pair of tongs put the edge of the fabric in and slowly pull through the wax.. 
Be careful as wax is hot and will flame up ... 
Let it drip for a minute and then just place it on the size bowl you want to cover and with your fingers press around the edges.. 


And then set aside until you make as many as you like.. 
I just put the bowls in the dishwasher and any wax that had collected on the bowl just washed off.. 

Use different size circles to fit whatever bowl you intend to use.. 
You kind of have to guess how big a circle to cut.. 


There was a cover for the little tinfoil container so I just covered it until I need it again for candles or whatever.. 


I forgot to take a pic but I use an old flour canister to store them in... 

Next time I will do square ones with beeswax and see how it goes.. 
I think we will make these at our Keepers Meeting next time.. 

If you have any questions you can leave it in the comment section..

This morning I was chatting on the phone with my friend and she was making a big vegetable soup and it inspired me to do the same...  


Since it was such a cold day and I did have extra veggies that could be used up... 


Bear broth, canned tomatoes, leeks, carrots, cabbage, grated turnip, peppers, zuke, celery and parsnip... I think that is all.. 
You can use chicken broth, though!  grin.. 

I am trying to save my Soup Base as I only have a few bottles left that I canned last Fall.. 


Salt, pepper, chili flakes, ground lovage, frozen pesto cube, bay leaf and lots of chopped parsley.. 
Simmer... simmer... simmer.. 


This is for my sweet friend Cheryl S. from Rothesay... 

I guess this is all for today, lovies.. 
Not too much happening on the home front... 
The first day of Spring is here, though!  Yeah!!  

Hope all is well in your world and may you keep the Lord close... 
He is just so precious!!  

xox


Saturday, March 18, 2017

Saturday Night Catch Up....


Hello dear hearts... 
Welcome to the Blessed Hearth on another Saturday evening.. 
This seems to be the night that I post this Winter.. 
Just doing a run down of our week and what we have been up to.. 
Come on in and sit a bit... 
I will tell you all I know so we know you won't be here long.. grin.. 
We started the week on Monday with our town day... 

We went across town to my favourite little apple market.. 
Sterlings.. 
Bought a big bag of Honey Crisp for seven dollars.. 
A ten pound bag, I think.. 
We had a good day.. 
Perhaps some time I will do a little shopping day post with you.. 
Probably be a bit boring as I am not your normal mall shopper.. 
Thrift and book stores are where I always shop.. 
Anyway.. 
Made some soup again this week.. 

I don't make soup daily (although, I could if Terry liked it as much as I) but I do make it a few times a week.. 

I was trying to remember which one this was then remembered it is a Rabbit Stew.. 
Dear son brought me a rabbit and it was delicious!  
See the bit of yellow peppers and tomatoes at the top ... 
That is half a pint of the soup base that I canned last Fall..

We bought some seeds to get in when we were in town the other day... 

The Celeric and Parsley Root is for a different soup base Carman is going to show us.. 
Getting excited about the garden!
Kathy, I told Terry to get them peppers in.. grin.. xo

Terry saw this idea on the web and told me about it.. 

Save the covers off of your Parm cheese and use on a mason jar.. 
Great for flour when making pastry, etc.... 

Or for flouring your bread board when you are making bread.. 

This is the no knead bread and I made a small loaf and pizzas for lunch... 

One day I made a few Chocolate Banana Breads as we had a surplus and they were getting pretty ripe.. 

The recipe is excellent and they went over very well.. 

The link for the recipe is HERE
I doubled the recipe and it made these three breads...

Trying to find a place to put my bottle of dolls.. 
Here.. 
Or here.. 
Or here... 
Or even here.. 
Well, I am leaving it here as I am not sure yet... 

Made some of these this week, too.. 

Love them.. 
I hope to do a post on them next week... 
Do you know what they are? 

While I was pottering around in the living room I could smell a lovely smell... 

I finally tracked it down.. 


My box of Hippie Wild Flower Potpourri that I made at the farm last summer.. 
A whole lot more of this in the plan of things to make this summer.. 
Sandalwood and Patchouli .... 

I wanted to welcome the new followers that have come along lately.. 
I had not read my stats for ages and did so tonight and I thought I would like to say welcome to the dear ones who come on from Five Islands, Nova Scotia and St. Johns, Newfoundland... 
Elgin, New Brunswick..

Perhaps every once in awhile I will mention an area.. 
I don't know who you are.. 
Only that you visited from the place I mention... 

Most of the visitors are from our neighbours in the U. S. A. 
So whoever you are from Middle River, Maryland thanks for dropping by.. 
Thank you each and every one of you where ever you are from.. 
So happy to have you.. 

Well sweeties, this is once again all for tonight.. 
Just a little Saturday catch up for you all.. 

Enjoy the Lord's Day tomorrow.. 
We have such a faithful God .. 
Just keep a holding onto His hand... 

Hugs.. 

Saturday, March 11, 2017

A very cold Saturday...


Good Evening everyone!
My word but it is cold here in New Brunswick on this Saturday and the wind is fierce! 

Come on in!!  

We were so happy to spend today with a couple of our grandsons who didn't mind the weather at all.. smile.. 

They put their order in for lunch... 

Their favourite.. 
Broccoli and Spaghetti with mushrooms and lemons.. 
Garlic bread and such..... 

They hooked Netflix up for their grandpa and then they all went to the woodlot for some target practice... 
None of them seemed to mind the cold and came back with big appetites for Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Dills and all.. 
So love having them.. 

The March break is almost over for another year... 
How the years have come and gone!  


I wanted to show you a pic of the doll bottle I shared with you last post..  


I have them squeezed in there but still want to organize the lace bits some and I found a couple of old roses to put on the bottle also.. 
You are getting the drift, though, eh?  

Terry loves parsnips... 
He brought a bag up from the basement fridge and asked me to do them up... 

I guess he had a craving for them.. smile.. 
I think he was expecting a stew or such but I had noticed this recipe on the web one day ages ago and thought it was a good time to try it out.. 


Parsnip Cakes.. 
4 or 5 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
2 floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 
1 T. flour 
1/2 diced onion
1 clove minced garlic (opt.) 
chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper
3 T. oil for frying.. 
Cook parsnips and potatoes until tender and then mash well.. 
Mix in remaining ingredients and form into patties.. 
Fry until golden brown on each side.. 
Serve with a bit of sour cream and a salad on the side.. 
A lovely lunch.. 

We have been pottering around here the past week... 
I cleaned up some old silver spoons that I had ..

I think that is King George on them.. 
My Mom had one when we were growing up and I always loved that spoon.. 
She said when she was little she would cry to use it and when she married Gram gave it to her.. When I saw these ones at Value Village hanging up in a plastic bag for a couple of dollars I was so happy..  
We had her and my step-father over for supper last night and I showed them to her.. 
She was amazed at how pretty they were.. 
When I bought them they needed a cleaning rather badly and every once in awhile I will give them a rub and shine..  
Love cleaning silver.. 
Like finding buried treasure! smile.. 

Mom loves Won Ton soup... 
She worked in a Chinese restaurant for years!

I made some for supper.. 
Along with some Bubble and Squeak.
Everyone always wants to know what that is.. 
This is how I make it but it is not the real English stuff..   
Fried bacon, sliced potatoes and onions and lots of sliced cabbage.. 
Salt, pepper and lots of fresh parsley and lemons squeezed on.. 
I know that the soup doesn't go with Bubble and Squeak but it was what they like... 

Otherwise, everything is normal around here.. 
Buying and sorting seed stuff and thinking about our garden plans.

I certainly was a bit lackadaisical this week.. 
I hardly accomplished anything and feel like I am in a huge
rut... 
Guess it is the Winter blaas...
I need to get my act together and get a few more Winter chores done.. 
Things like getting the woodwork painted and my linen closet a good do over.. Also, my lace cupboard need to be gone through..
And so on and so on... 

Anyway, dear hearts tomorrow is the Lord's Day.. 
The weather is to be fine so that is a good thing.. 

Take care of yourselves and your sweet families... 
God is good... 
xo 

Monday, March 6, 2017

Last days of Winter....


Hello dears.. 
Another week has come and gone and Spring is just that much closer.. 
We can smell it in the air and the evenings are beginning to stretch ahead a bit.. 
The sun sets later and I notice the sunlight on the kitchen wall much later in the day.. 

I mostly love that part of Spring except that now Terry begins to work outside after supper and I really prefer that he come in and relax.. 
Like I do.. 
I don't why but I always feel guilty when he is working and I am not.. grin.. 


Last week we had our town day.. 
I picked up one of my UK magazines..


I so enjoy them.. 
They are beautiful and not a lot of adverts and even the ones they have are lovely to look at.. 
Found some books at the Thrift store and we stopped by to visit my Mom.. 


She had a little present for me.. 
This is a beautiful handkerchief she wanted me to add to my album of Gram's hankies but this one is from her.. 

Terry dropped me by one of my fave health food shops.. 


Sequoia  .. 
I wanted some onion sprouting seeds.. 
They gave me 3 recipe booklets that are very interesting.. 
I would like to make the seed treats in the pic above.. 
I think I actually get a high from the wonderful aroma they have going on there.. 
smile


Another day is over and the lamps are lit.. 
The days just seem to come and go so quickly, don't you think? 


I decided to try another new bread recipe.. 


It is really delicious and so different.. 
I love it toasted with a few different spreads..


I love dolls.. 
Do you?  
I have a collection of small bisque ones and such.. 

Saw a neat idea in Pinterest and decided to try it.. 
I just needed an old bottle (this is one my Dad bought me at an auction years ago) some vintage laces and the dolls.. 
I forgot to take a pic of it finished... Sorry.. 
Next time.. 
Love fresh herbs... 
Thyme, Basil and Rosemary are my 3 most used ones, I think.. 
Are you ladies using fresh or dried through the Winter.. 
I have certainly enjoyed the ones I dried at the farm last Summer... 

Then I messed around with some old florals I found in the workshop..


Not a great work of art for sure but I did not have a lot to work with.. 
Adds some colour in there, though.. 

Another view from one of our drives.. 

We went to Calais on Saturday just for fun.. 
Love looking at the fabrics and such.. 

We took along a couple of these muffins to have with our coffee on the drive there.. 


They are the banana ones I shared a post or two ago but I only used 3 small bananas and 1 cup of blueberries..  

Yesterday we had a lovely worship service with our church family and then a supper meal at St. Huberts with our family celebrating March Break.. 
I was thinking that it will not be very long and our March break days will be over even with our grandsons.. 
They are growing up so fast.. 
Two more are graduating this year and there will only be one left to finish school... 
There will be four of them in college for a few years anyway.. 
Darling boys.. 

Well, this is all for tonight.. 
Not much really ... Just a little catch up with our days here.. 
Hope you are all enjoying these last days of Winter ... 

Thanks so much for your sweet visit!  

God bless.. xo