The last part of June...

Hey there everyone... 

Happy Canada Day!  

And a lovely one it is here in New Brunswick.. 

A bit hot but I am not complaining! smile... 

We have had such a cold Spring that we are all welcoming the heat wave, I think.

Hope all is well in your part of the world and am so happy you dropped by for a few minutes... 

Just a post of a few things we have been doing.. 

Last week we went to the farm for a couple of days.. 

Trying to get through the mayhem of the selling of our places in St. Martins.. 

Accomplished quite a lot.. 

Have the kitchen pretty well cleared and the pantry almost finished.. 

While we were there the second day I made dinner.. 

I think a lot of us Maritimers still cook according to Marilla's Table.. 

In the last post I posted of a culinary class in P. E. I. and it was just down home food, really.. 

One of the dishes I grew up with was called Codfish Gravy.. 

Nowadays, I use whatever fish we happen to have.. This was actually Sole... 

It is just a white sauce with fish fillets and I usually add a bit of shrimp or scallops unless it is actually cod... 

A sprinkle of chili pepper flakes and some chopped herbs.. 

We always serve it over mashed potatoes... 

Notice the new cut on my carrots.. grin.. 

And a simple cucumber salad.. 

Nothing fancy but good for a rainy day there.. 

My rhubarb was getting away on me so took a couple days and preserved some..  

A Rhubarb Cordial type of juice... 

Pour a bit into glasses with ice and top with Sprite or Soda water.. 

Very refreshing and with it canned it will keep all winter.. 

Lovely for punch, also... 

Then I had to try out a new BBQ sauce.. 

This was so good that I made 2 batches of it.. 

Terry ate half of a bottle instead of just having it on the meat.. smile.. 

A lovely plant that Trevor and family gave me for Mother's Day is so pretty this morning that I had to take a pic... 

The rain the last few days has really perked the outside plants up... 

Love my inside plants, too...

Geraniums in the living room... 

And this huge one in the spare room on the window seat.. 

When we move to the farm I will put them on the deck out there... 

I didn't post the pics we took of our day trip to the Fundy Trail with our friends from Arkansas... 

St. Martins is as beautiful as ever.. 

And the Fundy Trail is amazing.. 

You cannot imagine the rock they had to get through to make this beautiful drive.. 

And the hills were a bit scary for my friend.. 

We are used to it as we try to visit every summer once at least.. 

Love the Bay of Fundy and when we get to the farm we will only be a half hour away once again... 

Received some pics and recipes from the Table in my email this week of the classes we took.. 

I am learning the chopping skills right here.. 

Must have been concentrating... 

Anyway, dear hearts that is about all for today.. 

Although I do want to mention that it is our youngest son's birthday!  

This is one of my fave pics of him.. 

It was taken several years ago.. 

With dear old Sammie.. 

Dustin lives out west now and we couldn't really share the day with him except through calls and texting... 

We are so thankful for this dear son of ours.. 

He is such a blessing and we all love him so much... 

He does read my blog or at least look at the pics so I wanted to wish him Happy Birthday here, too... smile.. 

Thank God everyday for our sweet family... 

And thank you sweet friends for your visits and comments.. 

I love hearing from you and on Face Book page I try to comment back.. 

If you have a question I will try to answer it here.. 

To be honest it is easier on FB because I can do it through my tablet.. 

Here I have to get on my laptop and it is a pesky thing as if I move it turns off sometimes.. grin.. 

I should get a new one someday but I love this one as I am so used to it.. 

Anyway my friends have a lovely weekend and may God bless and keep you and your families... 

xo

The last days of March...

Good Evening everyone.. 

A little bit of our last days of March post for you tonight.. 

We had quite a storm here yesterday in the Maritimes .. 

High winds and snow.. 

Last week it so looked like Spring but now we are back to feeling like Winter.. 

Just what is expected for this time of year, eh?  

There are a couple of pics looking out of our windows at the weather yesterday and then the beautiful morning that we woke up to... 

Snow is beautiful but cold.. smile.. 

As you can see I try to brighten up the house with geraniums and herbs of course.. 

The wind chime there is something I picked up at the Thrift store.. 

Terry hung it for me outside our window on the pine tree.. 

Our bedroom window is open at night and I love to hear it heralding in the wind that blows.. (you know me and the wind) grin.. 

It is not quite loud enough so I will continue to look for the right one.. 

We have a big wind chime at the cottage but sometimes it can be a bit much so I want something a little less subtle shall we say.. smile..

Terry and I took a little trip across the border to Bangor, Maine last week.. 

I had so much fun at the Thrift stores.. 

You might note the big tea pot on the mantel.. 

It is pewter and one of my finds.. 

Also found some nice linens and lace curtains and such.. 

Some sort of ivory handled cutlery, books, a lamp for the farm, a glass vase of the Eiffel Tower, 3 wee antique dolls, an old hard cover Louis L'Amour book,  hand knit dish cloths, fabrics and such.. 

There are two wonderful Good Will shops there and I always find such neat stuff... 

I know..

 I don't need any of it but really I didn't pay hardly anything for all of it.. 

When we came across the border we were under... 

Of course, we went to the Christmas Tree Shop and found a couple of things... 

We had a lovely Chinese meal where a chef cooked my Stir fry for me.. It was so good.. 

We were celebrating our 46th anniversary which is on Saturday.. 

So nice to celebrate, don't you think? 

Anyway, on with the show.. smile.. 

We had some sweet company at the farm last week for supper..

The pic is of  one of our dear grandsons enjoying a bite of bread before supper.. 

They had all been outside and worked up an appetite.. 

They enjoy their salads and home made bread.. 

Pasta is a favourite with the whole family... 

What do your family enjoy when they get together? 

This weekend hopefully we will be able to celebrate Easter together.. 

The greatest day in all of history.. 

I made a craft today of  the 3 crosses .. 

I will try and post a pic for you tomorrow.. 

That is all for this evening my dear friends.. 

Thank you for your sweet visits and comments both here and on the Face Book page.. 

Just click on the badge at the top on the sidebar and you can read it even if you are not on Face Book..

Thank you, too for following the blog.. 

I lost so many due to the Google change and it is a bit disheartening but nothing I can do about it all.. 

So glad you all are aboard for sure... 

God bless you sweeties.. 

xo

Geraniums and Pewter...

Good Afternoon, my dears.. 

Here I am posting in the afternoon for a change.. 

Normally, I don't get to it until after supper but this is another very snowy day in New Brunswick.. 

My get up and go seems to have got up and gone.. grin.. 

So, I thought I would do my post now and perhaps do something else later on.. 

Terry is out on a mission..

Snowblowing.. 

The dear man loves the challenge of  just finding enough room in our drive for our vehicles .. 

 Well, not really.. 

The challenge is in finding the vehicles after the storm is done.. 

No ... just kidding.. grin..

It is bad but like I said before this is not a new dance.. 

Anyway.. 

Here are some pics of our mantel that had a little facelift.. 

Not much but a change none the less.. 

Pewter, geraniums and an old picture..

Pretty simple.. 

I may have told you that I bought this picture at the Museum yard sale in St. Martins several years ago.. 

All it needed was a new glass ... 

It is called.. 

WAIT FOR ME.. 

She is tying her shoe and you can see the shadows of her friends leaving her behind.. 

Did that ever happen to you?  smile.. 

The cast iron candle holders were a gift for Christmas one year and I love the battery operated candles.. 

Much safer and a bit prim looking.. 

I must admit that I have this love affair going on with geraniums lately.. 

They are just so cheerful and we kind of need it here in the Winter..

I have been enjoying going into my Sun Room and watering them all.. 

My Gram always had geraniums and I often think of her.. 

She was such a dear thing..

I decided to put a primitive string of lights up for the Winter months.. 

I am sure they help Terry see his tablet and brighten up the evenings..smile.. 

You girls said in your comments that you like posts about our home and the old farm.. 

 You also mentioned the soups... 

Here is one I made on Monday.. 

Irish Stew.. 

One of our favourite meats is Lamb..

Many years ago when Terry and I were in our twenties we lived on a little hobby farm.. 

We raised sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks and turkeys.. 

Not very fancy farming but I loved the sheep and still do.. 

We had 2 ewes and an old one eyed ram..

I went to a farm auction one day by myself and bought them.. 

Terry was a bit surprised.. grin 

Every Spring the ewes both almost always had twins... 

That is when we began to eat Lamb.. 

It costs a lot here now and we do not get it very often.. 

Our son found some on sale and brought us up a bunch of chops.. 

So... 

I used a few of them instead of stewing meat and it was delicious.. 

So easy to make .. 

I just put the chops in a stew pot along with onions, carrots and celery, a couple of handfuls of barley, bay leaves, salt and pepper and let it simmer for a couple of hours and kept adding water..
Then just added chopped onion, carrots, potatoes and celery and herbs.. 

Simmered away until lunch time and voila... 

If my friend Christine from Ireland reads this she will no doubt have a chuckle as I am sure it is not a bona fide Irish Stew but it is my Canadian version.. smile.. 

Yesterday, we  went to St. John.. 

That is where our daughter and her family live as you know.. 

They are leaving for Florida for March break once again so this Mama wanted to see them before they left... 

It was  a lovely time with them .. 

Shonda made us Supper.. 

It was all lovely but her Dad delights in her Apple Pie.. 

Her brothers tell her that she makes a mean apple pie.

It was so so good.. 

 I will be glad when they get back home once again.. 

I hope they have good weather and have a break from shovelling snow.. 

Their decks have at least 5 feet of snow on them as do most of us.. 

Well, dear hearts that is all of today.. 

Not very interesting, I know but will come up with something better next time, I hope.. 

So nice chatting with you and receiving your lovely emails.. 

One dear girl from SC made my day yesterday by sending me the funniest email.. 

She had taken a pic of the snow they received there and figured I would get huge enjoyment from the chaos it had caused when we have so much here.. 

It was really funny and I so enjoyed it but I do understand that this is normal for us and not normal for you southern ladies.. 

It is beautiful, though but still... 

I will admit to being very tired of it all.. 

Come on daffodils... 

God has been good though and we are all safe and well.. 

So blessed to have a roof over our heads and wood in our furnaces.. And faithful road crews who clear our highways and byways.. 

Take care and don't forget the give-away HERE 

Looking forward to all of your sweet comments.. 

I read and cherish each one.. 

xo 

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... 

A Lovely Day....

Hello everyone... 

How are you all dear hearts?...

Just wanted to share with you the perfectly lovely Saturday we had..smile..

We woke up to such a wonderful and glorious winter's day here in New Brunswick.. 

I was up a bit early and made coffee and talked to the Lord for a bit.. 

Then Terry came out and we chatted while we had our coffee and he had his breakfast.. (I don't eat it ofttimes... )

Anyway... I jokingly said to him what I would like to do today.. 

He said that it was fine and for me to go and get ready.. smile.. 

What a dear, eh!!

So... We headed to Moncton and went straight to the City's Farmers Market.. 

Oh.... I love that place.. 

He told me we would just take our time and we did.. 

I found a girl (in her twenties, I think)  who sold sprout stuff... 

Wheat grass... ($15.00 a bunch).. Imagine.. 

She used an old fashioned grinder and sold the juice right there..

I can do that at home.. Grow my own wheat grass and have our own juice.. It is so good for you..

And she told me about a store in town that sells all this neat kind of stuff like grain for sprouted bread.. I didn't even know it was there.. 

She was making these neat sandwiches with crisp lettuce leaves and veggies.. They looked so good.. 

And then there was a lad selling all these Middle Eastern Salads.. 

We bought a quinoa one with sun dried tomatoes and feta and pine nuts.. Oh.. it was so good.. I brought it home and tried to figure out how they made it.. grin..

A guy that Terry grew up with had a stall and he was selling his homemade sauerkraut and sauerkraut juice in bottles.. Neat, eh!

People were buying it left and right.. 

Let's see... Oh, yes the homemade soaps.. 

The dear man bought me 3 bars.. 

2 patchouli and 1 lavender.. 

I can smell it right now.. It is sitting on the table.. smile.. 

What else? 

There were birdhouses that Terry enjoyed looking at.. 

He needs to make a few for the shop.. 

Everyone had samples.. So much fun.. 

I loved the lady who passed out wee slices of a wrap ..

Humus and veggies.. Good.. 

I had one and then made Terry go back and get another.. 

He loved doing that for me.. rolled eyes..

He hates humus... grin..

I just feel like I learned so much.. 

I love being inspired, don't you?

Are you all bored yet?

Sorry...

On with the show.. smile.. 

He then dropped me off at Chapters and he went to the  Canadian Tire (every red blooded Canadian man tries to go there every Saturday) .. That is what my son-in-law told me anyway.. grin..

I enjoyed myself there for awhile and found a new UK magazine to bring home.. 

Then we went to Costco where I bought a big bag of organic quinoa , lettuces, olives, wraps, and oh yes... Greek yogurt... 

(how's that, Paula?)grin... She said she would enjoy reading my grocery list.. smile..

We met a friend there that we had not seen for a long time.. 

It was so good to see her.. 

We had lunch and then we came home..

Shonda called and we chatted for about an hour.. 

Sweet girl..   

Do you see the herbs in my kitchen window.. 

Basil and Rosemary..

Well, dear girls that is all for tonight.. 

I know you all won't read this but the pics are pretty..

I did not know that I had the white geranium until it bloomed.. 

It was lovely chatting with you all tonight..

I am just so thankful for all the blessings of this day..  

Looking forward to tomorrow and the Lord's Day... 

God bless you all..