Another cold day....

Good Evening, my dears.. 

A very cold day here in Eastern Canada .. 

The sun was shining, though and very beautiful with the snow and all.. 

Speaking of snow.. 

I hung my little garland of snowmen that I made out of Shonda's gift bag to me.. 

There is not a lot of blue here but in the back hall it looked fine and I needed something for a change.. 

I would like to make a couple of wee valances for the doors, too.. 

Soon.. smile... 

I have been working at rearranging the Sun Room... 

Most of my plants are in the there but I need to get them distributed about the house a bit more.. 

Besides which, I have been trying to grow some different from the usual ones.. 

If you live near me and have the plant called 

A String of Pearls then I would love to have a slip.. 

I cannot find one anywhere.. 

Do you have lots of plants?.. 

I have lots of geraniums as I bring them in from the Summer and keep them over the Winter  and then just put them out again in the Spring..

The benefit is that you save money but mostly that you have all that lovely color through all these snowy months.. 

I find they lift my spirits.. smile.. 

My sister-in-law gave me a small pumpkin before Christmas.. 

It was still good so yesterday I made a small batch of old fashioned pumpkin preserves...

I had saved a huge pumpkin to do these preserves but it started rotting before I had a chance to make them.. 

Today we had our town day.. smile.. 

I found this little cloth and bowls with violets on them.. 

Nice for Spring..

Also a book by Thomas Kincade.. 

Home Song.. 

I have not read his writing before.. 

Have any of you?  

It sounds interesting and my friend used to collect his work.. 

We stopped by to visit my Mom and her husband as she is quite sick with the cold but doing a bit better.. 

Bless her heart.. 

We came home and Terry made a fire.. 

After it warmed up a bit I made a fish chowder for our supper.. 

Such a cozy evening.. 

Eating chowder on a tray with a mohair throw over my lap.. 

Just like an old lady... grin.. 

I did make a couple of  Raisin Tea Breads, too.. 

Looking forward to having a slice with a nice hot cup of tea.. 

The breads were made with Earl Grey tea.. 

Should be interesting.. 

I am also trying to learn to do a bit of creative photo work ... 

Yup... 

The lights of home on a cold winter's night.. 

We are nice and snug in there.. smile.. 

This is not much of a post, I am afraid; but just wanted to keep in touch with you all..

I have put the Blessed Hearth on Face Book and need to find the time to put a button on the sidebar.. 

But if you are on FB please put the Blessed Hearth in the search engine and like the page.. 

If you don't mind, that is.. 

Well, good night for now, my dears and hopefully I will have something a little more interesting next time.. 

Keep warm and God bless... 

Linked TO... A TRAY OF BLISS FOR A FRUGAL LINKY PARTY... 

Joyful Spring Days...

Good Evening everyone.. 

Don't you just love Spring days?  

It doesn't matter to me whether they are rainy or sunny really.. 

I just love them anyway.. 

Everything is turning green and coming into blossom.. 

Outside on the deck the apple blossoms will soon be fragrant and their snow like petals will be everywhere.. 

The clothes line is always in use and Terry is busy with his little tractor again.. 

Cleaning up the orchard and getting the garden ready.. 

As you can tell he enjoys this kind of work.. grin.. 

Nice to have a happy man, eh!

We are working away on our taxes but we keep taking breaks to do something else.. smile.. 

There is just so much to do on a Spring day.. 

I am in the process of making dandelion jelly again for the shop.. 

It sells really well and is so good for you, of course.. 

It took several hours just to get the petals chopped of and now they are soaking to make a tea for tomorrow to turn into a batch of jelly.. 

Well, four batches to be accurate.. smile.. 

You can find the recipe HERE..

The violet oil is already, too.. 

I need to grate up some beeswax and get that little job finished as well.. 

While I was at it I decided to once again use my flower press.. 

I have been doing this since my older kids were young.. 

It must be 30 years since my first little violet picture.. smile.. 

Then of course, there are my herbs.. 

One of my great loves.. 

Today my special treat was a glass of tomato juice with a lovage straw in it.. 

It tastes delicious.. 

I have a whole crate of herbs to plant at my shop.. 

They were on special so we decided to get them and will take the load down next time and get them into the ground.. 

I noticed that my lovage came up again down there but it is not very big yet.. 

The plant here grows at least 5 or 6 feet tall.. 

I hope I get time to make some more pickles.. 

They were so different.. 

We had a tasty chowder made with the lobster which was left over from our little feast the other day.. smile.. 

Flavored with some dill..

Making some homemade bread and giving away a loaf.. smile.

All in all a busy day but a joyful one.. 

Thank you, sweet Lord.. 

I just wanted to tell you all how much I have been appreciating all of your sweet comments, lately.. 

I am glad you enjoyed my little story about the sweet couple in the last post.. smile.. 

Notice one of the comments where a lady actually knew these folks.. 

I think I know who left the comment but am not sure.. 

If you ever leave me a note this way please let me know some how who you are.. 

An email or something.. ok? 

Thanks.. 

You are an awesome bunch of sweet ladies and I thank you for taking the time to drop by and then leaving me a comment.. 

I am trying to respond to each right on the blog.. 

OK?

It really does make blogging much more interesting.. 

Take care, now.. 

LINKED TO...FROM THE FARM BLOG HOP

Weekend Memories...

Hello there everyone.. 

I am posting as you can see... 

A bit late and a dollar short but I am here.. grin.. 

That is an old saying but knowing me I have it backwards or something.. 

Bear with me..smile.. 

What a crazy wonderful weekend here in St. Martins during Old Home Week.

Simply beautiful weather, too..

Our company arrived on Friday..

But before they arrived Sammi and I went out and picked a few flowers to put about.. 

Consider the lily... smile.. 

That old mason jar had a water proof light in it and our company told me she wondered all evening what on earth was lighting it up.. 

smile.. 

We picked some roses and distributed them about the house..

Roses are my Mom's favorite so the vase with the rose painted on it was placed in their room... And a few for the Dining  table....

And this beautiful peony and such went into the other bedroom..

I love going out and about the yard and making little bouquets.. 

Do you?  

And then of course, there was some food involved...

Gotta love those Summer Salads.. 

Especially, when basil is included..  

I still worked in the House of Henry..... 

Although, I did wait until the Village Yard Sale calmed down.. 

My word.. I didn't think St. Martins could hold that many people .. 

Ann who was visiting from P. E. I. told me she had no idea.. 

Imagine ...smile... She was so thrilled.. 

So.. I opened the shop right after lunch... 

Main Street had cars parked on both sides and the Cruise Ship buses were trying to get to the Caves... 

Good bus drivers, I must say... 

Only heard the ambulance go once.... 

Oh, and the fire truck and police went once.. 

This is only a village, remember.... smile..

Here are a couple of Shop pics for you.. 

dear old hand hooked rugs...

vintage wares... 

I had one of my new customers back and she took a pic of this room.. 

So, I took one, too.. smile.. 

I am sure her photo is much nicer for she looked kind of like a professsional to me.. 

I am not sure.. yet.. grin... 

more vintage... 

It was exciting meeting other Summer people and especially seeing friends and family from away.. 

I even saw a couple of our grandsons and their Dad as they picked up Gramps in the early hours to take him to New Hampshire for the Nascar Race ... 

Also, our youngest son brought down a few friends and took dear old Sammi to the beach for a few hours.. 

He loved that...

The camp grounds were filled as were most of the Inns... 

Our friends that were in charge of the Bus Trip when we joined up with them in Lancaster County, Pa. came into the shop.. 

I was so surprised as they live in Ontario... 

She grew up in P. E. I. and just caught our friends leaving.. 

They had grown up together... 

A sweet reunion...

So great to see them..

And then there were dear friends  that I have had for 48 years and 30 odd years.. 

We tried to figure it out and started laughing about something that happened back then.. grin..

They are more like family, really.

And then there was Judy .... 

Our families have known each other since we were born.. 

When we started  grade 7 at the same school we became personal friends..

So long ago..

Imagine what Heaven will be like!!

Meeting all the ones who have gone on before..

 What a day that will be... 

On with the story....smile..

I tried to concoct  a few things between chats.. grin...

Like this..

A primitive stamped muslin ribbon garland... 

I love how it turned out.

I just need to make one and tea dye it first and see which my customers like best... 

And...

A bit of homemade Fish Chowder... Sprinkled with Dulse Flakes.. 

Do you know what Dulse is?  

The most delcious sea weed.. 

We buy huge bags of it and snack on it like chips or buy it in a bottle and sprinkle it on our chowders... 

ymmmm..

Well... 

All in all a wonderful busy weekend.. 

Poor old Sam has had the biscuit... grin.. 

He is not the only one...smile..

So thankful for all that God has provided for us this past week... 

His love.. family and friends..

His touch as I talked to Him... 

Health and strength and protection ...

And the sea... 

What more does a gal need.. 

And thank YOU  for the sweet visit.. 

Looking so forward to hearing from you all.. 

Appreciate every word you write...

Hugs from the Bay of Fundy...