A Winter Saturday..

Hello ...

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth ... 

So glad you dropped by.. 

We have had a few beautiful days here in Eastern Canada.. 

We still have lots of snow as you can see but the promise of Spring has arrived.. 

In spite of snow banks that are as high as any I can remember a person can feel the difference in the air.. 

Even if it takes pay-loaders to push the snow up into banks.. 

The day comes when you just know that there is a difference.. 

I could hear birds this morning outside my window when I awoke.. 

There are no snow drops or crocuses yet by a long way.. 

But... 

The days are so much longer and the sun is up around 6:30, I think..

We went for a drive up to the old farm just to see just how high the snow would be.. 

There is usually more snow up there in those Kent Hills.. smile.. 

I packed some books in case Terry was into the farm for a bit.. 

But... 

The banks were pretty high and the lane is long...

He decided not to bother going in.. 

I can't imagine why... 

Can you? smile.. 

On the way we passed this abandoned old house that I posted about last July...

You can hardly see the front door.. 

But come Summer these lovely old moss roses will be back.. 

Kind of hard to imagine today, though, eh?  

Oh well.. 

We had our coffees and decided to go home the long way around.. smile.. 

Down the road a bit were some snowmobilers ..

They were headed to one of the trails that are abundant in Albert County.. 

So beautiful this year.. 

They sure can't complain about lack of snow.. 

I have decided not to bore you with any more snow pictures.. 

But we did come back out into civilization.. 

Lots of cleaning up going on... 

Then we arrived home to enjoy our chicken supper.. 

I am trying to make sure I am using up food that we put away for the Winter.. 

Bean salad.. So good.. 

It won't be long and we will be gathering rhubarb and chives.. 

Thank you all for dropping by on this Saturday evening.. 

So nice to have you.. 

Tomorrow is once again the Lord's Day.. 

So blessed to still have the freedom to attend church and to worship the Lord.. 

These are perilous days and we gather strength when we gather together.. 

Looking forward to a lovely day.. 

God bless.. 

Give-away winners and a breakfast recipe..

 Good Evening everyone.. 

Just a short post for tonight to give the names of the two winners of the little give-away.. 

Thank you all for joining in the fun and for your wonderful comments.. 

Terry picked the names.. 

Winner number 1 is Cathyjo.. 

and 

Winner number 2 is Carol Eagles.. 

Please email me at keepersofthehome@hotmail.com or message me on Face Book with your addresses and I will get them out to you both.. 

Once again, thank you, dear hearts for being so faithful in following the blog and welcome to all the new friends.. 

I have included a little recipe for a little breakfast recipe.. 

Lovely to have on a Saturday morning.. 

Saturday Morning Breakfast..

This will serve 2 people.. 

Just double it for 4... 

Peel a small potato for each person who is having breakfast.

In a medium size frying pan add a tablespoon of oil and fry up the potatoes..I usually put a cover on for a bit..

 While they are cooking whisk up 2 or 3 eggs in a small bowl..

Add salt and pepper and some chopped herbs.. chives or parsley or whatever..

When the potatoes are tender add the egg mixture..

Kind of pull the mixture back a bit like you do an omelet..

Put on a cover and cook on medium heat until eggs are set and cooked..

Turn onto a warmed plate and enjoy..

Lovely with home made  ketchup or Heinz if you are one of my grandsons. smile... 

Or salsa... 

Have a great weekend everyone.. 

And if you are on March break enjoy your time with your family.. 

Make lots of memories and stay safe... 

Blessings.. 

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 

A Winter Sunday... .

Greetings everyone.. 

So glad you dropped by .. 

Today is Sunday and another week soon will begin.. 

But for today we are having a day of rest.. 

This morning we gathered at our little church and was so happy that the huge storm they had forecast did not happen..

Although, the roads were messy because we did get some snow there were folks who made it there.. 

I so love walking through the doors of this wee church.. 

My heart swells with the love that I feel there and the Spirit of the Lord is real and genuine.. 

There were songs of praise and then Pastor preached another message that spoke to our hearts. 

Afterwards the coffee was perked and we had a bit of fellowship.. 

I love this time because we get to catch up with everyone's week especially since we had the huge storm last Sunday.. 

We came home and had our Sunday dinner.. 

Sorry, no pic.. smile. 

Fish... Mashed, veggies and a salad.. 

Just ordinary food but it tasted very good on this Winter's day.. 

Terry was busy doing his thing so I thought I would take a few pics and have a chat with you all.. 

I have a sweet cousin who lives just up the road a ways from us .. 

He is from my Dad's side of the family.. 

His Mama is my first cousin.. 

Almost all of Dad's family are horse people... 

They love and own horses... 

Although, Terry was brought up on a farm and had horses and my Dad had horses we do not.. 

I seem to have missed that gene even though I went riding a lot as a child.. 

Well, this dear lad has a sweet wife and two little ones who all love horses and have such beautiful pics on Face Book that I asked if I could borrow a few just to show you .. 

I have received several emails and comments of girls who live in far flung parts of the world who are mesmerized by Canada's snow.. 

I thought you might like to see these beauties outside on a Winter's day.. 

My cousin has a wee wee lad who is already learning to hold the reins.. grin.. 

Isn't that adorable?  

Just imagine the creak of the sleigh and the bells jingling.. 

Lovely, eh?  

I know it is cold but they are bundled up and having a blast... 

We Canadians are a tough lot.. eh?  

Anyway.. 

For the rest of the post I just took a few pics from my lazy boy looking into the Living Room.. 

Lots of snow covered apple tree branches.. 

The lamps are lit on this late afternoon... 

An old tea set... 

I bought this many years ago at an Antiques Flea Market.. 

Lovely old pattern sitting on a sweet patchwork runner that a dear friend made for me.. 

Also, many years ago.. 

Looking outside to the apple trees and hydrangea bush.. 

All sound asleep but hopefully will start to awaken soon.. 

I love Spring..  

That is all I am going to say.. smile.. 

So now.. 

I think I will go and make a hot cup of tea and have a cookie or two.. 

I made these yesterday for our fellowship at church ...

But I kept a few to have with our tea today.. 

Would you like the recipe.. 

It is from our daughter-in-law, Tammy who is an awesome baker.. 

Sugar Cookies.. 

1 c. butter or margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups of white sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 tsp. vanilla 

I add a grate or two of nutmeg.. optional

1/4 cup sugar for rolling cookies.. 

Oven 350 degrees F. 

Cream together butter and sugar until light. 

Add egg and mix well.. 

Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla and nutmeg. 

Scoop out cookie dough and roll in small bowl of sugar..

Set on cookie sheet and press down lightly with fork or your two fingers.. 

Bake for 10 minutes or until just lightly browned.. 

Leave them on the tray for a few minutes then transfer to cooling rack.  

Tammy found this recipe on the internet.. 

That is all for today except to remind you all of my little give away that you can find HERE..

Thank you, everyone for your kind responses and comments.. 

I had to clarify a few things in the comment section so hopefully you won't find it too complicated.. smile. 

I wanted to explain that on the top part of my sidebar is my Face Book badge.. 

You do not need to belong to FB to be able to read this .. 

You can just click on the badge and check to see if there is anything new. 

I am trying to put some small thing on or bring up a past post.. 

Ok?  

God bless you all on this Winter Sunday.. 

xo

Linked to HOMEMAKING MODAYS...

ALSO

WITH STEPHANIE..HERE...

A Vintage Give-Away Post ....

Hello everyone.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth.. 

It is time to thank you sweet people for following the blog.. 

There are now over 500 Google Followers along with Email, Networked Blogs and such.. 

This makes me happy, of course.. 

It is rewarding when you take the time to post and you realize that there are lovely ladies somewhere in the world who are interested in this ancient  older keeper of her home and what she is puttering away at... smile.. 

Thank you.. 

So... 

In return for your faithfulness in reading and commenting I would like to give away a few little things.. 

Nothing much, mind you but just a thought as my Mom would say..

Let's get started... 

This is what I have put together thus far.. 

A couple of drawstring bags made out of vintage fabric and doilies.. 

And... 

A bottle of my home made Between the Sheets Lavender Powder and a few of my Mom's doilies... 

A bar of my Patchouli Soap and a Cider Soaked Pantry Potpourri.. 

And... 

Some little thing will be made out of this Anne of Green Gables fabric.. 

Since her province of P. E. I. is next door to us here in New Brunswick.. smile.. 

Also ... 

Not shown but a few tags and who knows what else.. 

This is not just one prize.. 

I will break it up into 2 or 3 and add a few other little bits.. 

OK?  

Now.. on with the show.. 

In order to win you have to.. 

1. Most important you have to be a follower of my blog.. 

If you are not then just go to the sidebar and sign up with Google or whichever way you like best..  

2.. Leave a comment and tell me something about yourself and what is your favourite topic on the blog. 

3.  For an extra chance you can like the page on Face Book.. Or if you have already then just share this post and mention this in your comment.. 

The widget is at the top of my sidebar and you do not have to be a Face Book member to read that page as I often add other things that are not on here.. 

Sorry if I have confused you all.. xo

Make sure to leave your first name if you do this through Anonymous so I can contact you if you win.. 

It is open to all and I will announce the winners on Feb. 28.. 

That's that ... I think.. smile.. 

 We are still in big time Winter here in the East of Canada.. 

Terry and I took a little trip out to check on the farm and he had to wear snow shoes in order to get in ... 

He actually had to take one off to beat the snow away from the back door as the shovel had blown away.. 

All was well and Spring will come again... 

Thank you so much for your many comments of sympathy last post.. lol.. 

But really... we are fine..

The power has not gone off at all and our son got his driveways done and our other son drove home in the blizzard for a couple of hours but arrived safely.. 

Our daughter is getting in shape to head to Florida next week by helping to shovel the snow away from her deck.. grin.. 

Life is good.. 

And there is always soup.. 

Right??? 

And even if you can't see out your windows there is still light and one can craft... 

 and when you go to the city there are new mountains that reach above the trees.. 

Man made snow mountains made by trucks carting the snow out of the city and blowing it into huge mountainous  piles.. 

Unbelieveable  ... 

 Even when you are Canadian there are still some things that amaze us.. 

Oh well.. 

We can have some company over for dinner.. 

And have some home made no knead bread.. 

I now have a link on the sidebar with the recipe as people request it quite often.. 

This loaf was made in a casserole dish and sprinkled with dill seed.. 

And... 

Just in case you don't believe me here is another pic copied from  Twitter.. 

Now, that is hilarious, eh?  

Seeing is believing.. grin..

We may as well laugh even if we have what I call a wallowing day.. 

The thing is that it can only last for one day... 

Grin.. 

Thank you sweet friends for all of your visits and lovely comments.. 

Looking forward to you all signing up for the give-away.. 

God bless..