Loving the Weekend..

Hello girls.. 

How art thou? 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.. 

Our weather is simply glorious for over a week and still going.. 

My sweet husband has been very busy putting down new kitchen, family room, pantry, laundry room and hall floors...

What a time finding the one we liked that would suit our open concept here.  

Then we finally picked something after several trips to the city to buy it and then had to go again to get more in case we didn't have enough.. 

Then the poor man spent quite a while planning on how to lay it and such just to start laying it and discovering a flaw... groan.. 

He then had to again carry out and load the truck with about 20 boxes of heavy flooring and return it to the hardware store.. 

Then we had to find another one we liked and repeat the whole 

process.. 

Oh well.. 

It is about 1/3 done I would say.. 

This includes putting in new heat rads and cutting around all the stone on our fireplace which runs for a corner and one wall.. 

I love it, though, so I hope he thinks it is worth all the work.. 

I will be sure and share pics with you when we get there... 

Now for the pics above.. 

They were taken Saturday as we again spent a day at the old farm..  

Made some soup on the wood stove for lunch and enjoyed eating it along side of my current book..

 Also baking some bread and having fun with it.. 

It is our no knead recipe found HERE..

We were expecting our son and family and so I thought I had best make something sweet.. 

As I mentioned before there are only limited pantry supplies so the cinnamon buns came to my mind.. 

I was sure there was a way to turn the bread into something sweet.. 

They turned out lovely.. 

Terry was even telling people at church yesterday how good they were.. 

If you are interested I will try and post the recipes next time..

The other rolls were great, too. 

I saw the idea in an UK Country Home magazine but just used the same recipe.. Let it rise and then shaped it to fit a 9x13 pan. After it rises you just score it  and cover with poppy, cumin, fennel and sesame seeds and ground cumin..

The magazine mentioned that one shoud  brush milk on to hold the seeds there.. 

So good with soup.. 

There are also a few pics of thrift store finds that I found .. 

A cast iron pan to match my tea kettle along with a rooster cushion and blueberry hot pad.. 

A new cook book from a favorite cook book line.. 

Moosewood Restaurant is in the state of New York and someday I hope to go there.. 

We go through New York every year or two so it is one of the points of interest that I think would be so much fun to do.. 

I love their cookbooks as they are mostly vegan but delicious and easy to make.. 

Not completely up Terry's alley mind you but certainly up mine.. 

He is still working on that far room in the kitchen picture.. 

It is our back porch and it seems like it has been taking years to finish.  We can't get the time to be there long enough to accomplish much.. 

All in good time, I guess.. 

The ceiling is all torn out and a new higher one is now in and the floor has been replaced with a new underlay.. We bought the flooring and that needs finished next and then the walls.. 

We are actually looking for a good second hand window to put at the back so we can see up into the hills at the back and another to replace the kitchen one... 

Oh well.. All in good time, I guess.. 

Would you waste your time doing something like this? 

A trip far away is probably something most people would prefer.. 

Takes all kinds, eh? 

I do want to go to Newfoundland this year.. or next...

This week we are getting ready for our Keepers of the Home Mother's Day Breakfast.. 

The men of the church are cooking it for us.. 

Bless their hearts.. 

We are getting together Thursday night at the church in Salisbury to make favors, door prizes and centrepieces.. 

Should be fun.. 

Then Saturday at 9 am is the breakfast.. 

If you live near the Salisbury area here in New Brunswick then please feel free to join us.. 

Just email me at houseofhenry@hotmail.com and I can give you the details.. 

We are having a penny auction, too along with a lovely speaker... 

We would all love to have you.. 

Thank you so much for your visit.. 

I hope you enjoy coming by as I love having you.. 

If I didn't hear from you then I would  not continue blogging but  you guys are great and leave your sweet comments so onward we go..

Thank you.. 

Welcome welcome to the new followers, too.. 

I find it hard to get the time to join many linky parties and such to get new followers so I really appreciate you girls who have found me and joined.. 

Very happy to have you.. 

I must go for tonight..

 I think I got carried away and wrote too much.. sorry.. 

I hear my cousin's name being mentioned a lot on the hockey game again tonight.. 

He is Brad Marchand and plays for Boston Bruins.. 

A great Canadian lad.. 

I know I am bragging again.. grin.. 

God bless you all.. 

LINKED TO AND FEATURED AT...

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AND

TITUS 2SDAY..l

These Spring Days..

Hello my dears.. 

Here we are into the second day of Spring here in Eastern Canada.. 

This is what the first day looked like here.. 

A snow storm moved in over night and we woke up to this.. 

Typical March weather.. 

But that is fine.. Warm temps today ... 

We had some sweet company after church on Sunday.. 

Someone had a yen for looking at Mom's photos.. 

smile.. 

And someone else has lost a tooth.. 

They are getting to be such big boys... 

They enjoyed the ribs and rice and salad..

Salads go over well in this family..smile.. 

Then one day this week Terry and I had our town day.. 

Look what I found.. 

Several crocks from the Thrift store again..

Please note... Laurie..

 One for you.. smile.. 

And two heart molds which I love.. 

This is what I did with one.. 

I love the new look in kitchens of hanging tools and pots and pans.. 

So like the UK mags.. smile.. 

I put up a tension rod above the stove and hung utensils on it..

Terry put a hole in the heart mold so I could hang it.. 

Then I have one to sell in the shop this summer.. 

Doing some planning these days for the shop and Keepers Meetings, of course.. 

We have another meeting in 2 weeks.. 

How are you girls doing with your homework? smile... 

Have you done a back to basics chore for your home and family yet?

Here is mine... 

I will share what is in it later.. 

And give you the recipe.. 

Here is another pic of a visitor we had over the weekend.. 

Dear old Charlie.. 

All decked out and ready to visit.. 

I am so glad you dropped by.. 

We have had quite a week.. 

My sweet Aunt Eva was put to rest today.. 

She had a lovely funeral and everyone was so kind.. 

I will miss her... 

Life is full of saying good-bye, isn't it? 

But some day we will all say good night here but good morning up there... 

Thank you for your visit and I look forward to hearing from you all.. 

I see I only need one more person to join this site and we will have 400 followers... Neat, eh?  smile.. 

Oh and thanks so much for your sweet emails wondering if all is well.. 

I finally figured out my problem with the computer pic thing..

And Sammi is stable for now.. 

He is not well..  

It has just been that kind of week.. 

I will try to get and comment on your lovely blogs now that the worst if over.. 

Take care sweet friends.. 

A Week of New Recipes.#2 Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil and Olives.

Hello my dears..

How are you all doing?

We spent the day in the city and so I am a bit late posting.. 

Just wanted to share new recipe # 2 with you tonight.. 

Here it is..

PASTA WITH TOMATOES, BASIL AND OLIVES..  

Doesn't it look delicious?  

We both loved this recipe except Terry does not like olives so I only put them on mine... 

Here is the recipe.. 

14 ounces of pasta.. fettuccine or ziti.. (I used spaghetti)

1 T. olive oil

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic crushed

2 x 14 ounce cans of peeled tomatoes

1/3 cup of roughly chopped basil

1/4 cup of sliced black olives

cracked black pepper and sea salt

pinch of sugar

Parmesan or goats cheese to serve. 

We had Parmesan...

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain..

While the pasta is cooking heat a large frying pan over medium heat.. Add oil, onion and garlic and cook for 4 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and crush lightly with a fork and add sugar and simmer for 4 minutes.. 

Stir through the basil, onions, garlic and olives, salt and pepper. 

Toss the sauce with the pasta and serve with the cheese.. 

Sooooo good.. 

As I said we spent the day in the city.. 

Tuesday is our town day.. smile.. 

We go for breakfast at the Big Stop and then head for the city.. 

Today our first stop was to pick up my UK magazine that the little book store puts on hold for me every month... 

Actually, I splurged on two today.. 

They save the Country Living but today they had the 

Homes and Antiques which I could not resist.. 

The UK mags have hardly any adverts and the ones they have are as interesting as the articles.. 

The lady who runs the bookshop and I were actually discussing this.. 

She said that when her magazine comes in that she does not like to flip through it.. 

I said I just love to savor every page and that they can talk about the Internet all they like there is nothing like a book in my hands.. 

I thought we were there by ourselves and as Terry had gone to the bank and was not back yet I headed for their lovely wing back chairs to wait for him.. 

Sitting down I happened to notice a gent sitting in another chair.. 

He was smiling kind of like... 

I guess we were amusing.. 

Brother..

 I thought we were just two old ladies chatting on but he must have thought we were funny.. 

Yeah.. hilarious.. grin.. 

On with the story.. 

We then stopped at Habitat for Humanity.. 

They have a whole book room and the books are only 50 cents for soft cover and $1.00 for hard cover .. 

Along with furniture and housewares.. 

A regular thrift shop.. 

I found these on a bottom shelf.. 

French ivory handled knives for 10 cents each.. 

Imagine!! 

I also bought these books.. 

Cookbooks and a Christian novel that I don't recall reading.. 

Every Tuesday there is an auction.. 

We  used to go sometimes but we have Bible Study now on Tuesday nights and don't go.. 

We know the owner well, though and each Tuesday we stop to see what will be on sale that evening.. 

My Mon and Step-father attend and they will get me something if the price is right.. smile.. 

Today there was a wonderful box of old linens.. 

I made Jim an offer for them and he sold them to me instead of me having to get Mom to bid on them.. 

I love old linens.. 

Do you ladies have something that you collect?

Then we visited another couple of thrift stores and I found this wonderful piece of pottery.. 

A honey pot made by Peter Powning .. 

He is a local pottery artist who has become famous and even made a piece for the Queen... 

We did a little grocery shopping and had lunch.. 

The day just seems to fly by .. 

We had a great time..

Retirement has it's perks.. smile..  

I guess this is all for today.. 

Hope I didn't bore you all.. 

I hope to post about the Keepers Meeting tomorrow.. 

Thanks for visiting.. 

Take care and God bless... 

I know I have been here before..

Good evening my dears.. 

You are very welcome here at the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

Hope everything is going well in your part of the world... 

Have you ever had a day when you have a sort of anxious feeling but you have no idea why?  

I ask myself is this an age thing?

No, I have had this happen many times over the last 20 years.. 

Perhaps, my head knows something that my heart doesn't or visa versa... smile... 

Many blogs sound as though life is a merry go round but actually life for everyone is normal.. Even when you know who holds your hand..There are times when you feel lonely... 

There... 

I said it... lonely...

I have been missing my kids for a couple of days.. 

I know it and Terry knows it but what can you do? 

They are grown up and gone and all there are now are visits or calls to and from them..

 Not quite the same as tucking them into bed or accepting a handful of dandelions or those precious wee hugs...

 If you know what I mean... 

Anyway, I need to make a nice hot cuppa tea and my stomach will get back to normal... I think..

Actually, I  spoke to all 3 of our children today...

But the empty nest is still the empty nest...

Still after all these years.. My word..

Anyway...

I know I have so much to be thankful for.. 

So much.. 

Thank you, Jesus...

On with the story... smile.. 

Just showing you a few things I have picked up for the shop ...

Just a few little finds... 

I have been busy getting ready for Saturday.. 

A little breakfast for the sweet mamas of our group.. 

Take care, dear hearts.. 

Enjoy your sweet days of family under your roof... 

Talk to you all later.. 

God bless... 

Weekend Snips..

Hello to all of you ... 

Hope you had a good weekend.. 

We woke up each morning to skies like this.. 

As you can see we still do not have any maple leaves..

 Which of course is normal for us here in Maritime Canada.. 

We received our much needed rain and our lawns have greened up amazingly in just a couple of days.. smile.. 

The photo of the barn up above is one that we pass on our way to the farm.. 

That is a genuine bonavide Canadian barn, eh!  smile.. 

Just a few pics of snips of our weekend.. 

One of Terry's favorite meals.. 

Stir fry and rice.. 

A quick stop at a thrift store...

I found these lovelies...

3 x pewter candle holders.. 

a prim picture

a carved wood hen which I need to repaint.. (someone tried to paint it silver..???) 

several metres of check fabric.. 

a couple more of a tartan.. (I think) which will become an apron.... 

Really pleased with all this stuff for the shop... 

Although, the pewter candlesticks are now on our mantel.. smile...

A batch of bread...

A recipe from Pinterest ...

Amish Bread, I think... 

We were not as fond of it as others, I make.. 

Dear Son said it dried out in only a day... 

That is the thing with recipes.. 

You have to try them out.. eh? 

Yesterday, we went to church in the morning and then headed to St. Martins ..

We made a quick trip past the old cottage..

Tomorrow we will stop in for a bit as we need to go down again..

 It was lovely seeing all of my family... 

Well, it is ten o'clock here and I need to get to bed.. 

A very busy day tomorrow.. 

Thank you for taking time to visit.. 

As you know...

 I love reading the notes you leave me...

Remember.. 

Serving God is beautiful.... 

God bless...

Saturday night dinner...

Hello my dears.. 

Here it is Saturday evening again.. 

I wanted to thank all of you dear girls for signing up for my little giveaway.. Click HERE to sign up if you would like to.. 

Anyway, tonight I am making a special dinner for Terry and I.. 

I thought I would share the table setting with you.. 

You probably saw these dishes before when I did a guest posting for Like a Bubbling Brook.  They are a thrift store find.. 

We have a little bouquet that is our very first flowers to bloom.. 

They come early every year and my Mom calls them Heather.. 

I don't know what the correct name is.. smile.. 

They are pretty, though and so Spring like..

The colors are lovely, eh? 

We are having Ham slices baked in milk and brown sugar, mashed potatoes, sauteed green peas and onions, salad and such for dinner.

Just an old fashioned meal.. 

I remember the first meal that I made for Terry 42 years ago..

. 

Potato Scallop, sausages, peas and chocolate cake.. 

I loved to cook even at the beginning of our marriage and thought he would love the meal. 

I did not know that the temperature of the oven was way off and the cake fell and the scallop was rather crisp.. grin..

He still liked it, though... 

And he fixed the stove.. smile..

And a bit of candle light.. 

The candle is one that I modge podged a toile napkin on.. 

That posting is on HERE for the how to..

Well, dear ladies... He will soon be in .. With this lovely weather it is hard to get him in before 7 o'clock at least.. 

He has so much to do outside this time of year.. 

Although, it is much sooner than usual.. 

Thank you all so much for your sweet visit and welcome to all the new followers.  I look forward to hearing from you all..

Tomorrow is the Lord's Day..smile.. 

Have a blessed one.. 

Hugs..