The Last Monday in April Ramble and Roll..

Happy Monday everyone!  

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth!  

So glad you dropped by.. 

I am once again apologizing for taking so long to get back here.. 

I am thankful to you girls who leave me wee notes reminding me that you are patiently waiting.. smile.. 

We are all fine and feel so blessed to live in this dear province of New Brunswick.. 

Thus far the virus has been low in our part of Canada and restrictions are going to slowly lifted as long as we all behave ourselves and take care to do the precautions... 

Life will be different from now on I am thinking but perhaps we have all learned some valuable lessons and will appreciate life so much more.. 

Our hearts go out to all who are suffering in other parts of our world.. 

Especially to our neighbours to the south of us.. 

U. S. A. has been in our prayers each day... 

Also our sister province of Nova Scotia are in deep mourning for their slain loved ones... 

Such a tragedy! 

 Our minds can scarcely comprehend the loss!

Praying for God's peace and comfort for them... 

Well, I am on a mission today to get this blog accomplished so I best be getting to it... 

A ramble and roll it shall be.. smile.. 

We will start in the kitchen with the peanut butter cookies...

My friend Faye gave me her recipe.. 

She is a baker extraordinaire! 

She used to own a Bakery and these cookies are excellent.. 

Peanut Butter Cookies.. 

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1 c. peanut butter

3 cups of flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt 

Mix up as for cookies 

375 degrees F. 

12 - 15 minutes.. 

Terry loved these.. 

I made big ones like my friend Barb makes.. 

I think they look so professional!  grin. 

Then I packed them in bags of 4 and put them right in the freezer.. 

A quick treat to take on a drive or when we are watching a movie or some such thing..

Then as I am trying to eat healthy most of the time.. 

I found this delicious and awesome salad on You Tube.. 

Jew Salad.. 

It does take some work getting the veggies all sliced.. 

But so worth the bother.. 

It makes a gallon bottle full of salad.. 

This lasted us a whole week and I gave a jar to my Mom... 

She loved it too.. 

I actually liked it for a snack... 

Very satisfying.. 

It does have sugar in it but when you think of how much salad you get then I don't think it amounts to much sugar per serving.. 

This is the recipe on the You Tube.. 

Here is the link.. HERE

And.. 

I found this one there too.. 

This is so good... 

Not good for you probably but satisfying and frugal.. 

It was something they served during the depression era when times were tough and not much money.. 

But they had potatoes and hot dogs were cheap.. 

I can't wait to serve this to our grandsons.. grin.. 

Here is the recipe.. 

As you can see my cooking is not exactly what it should be at the moment!  But this too shall pass and we will get eating more normal soon, I hope.. 

I honestly did not have any of these but Terry bugged me for a couple of weeks and I finally caved in.. grin.. 

We called them chocolate macaroons when I was a kid... 

My sister and I made them often... 

These go in the freezer also and really they are good frozen too.. 

Ask Terry!  grin.. 

And like the rest of the world I am baking bread...

The no knead bread I have been preaching about for years.. 

Now I bake it mostly in cast iron... 

Rolling along here.. 

Have been doing sprouts all along.. 

Our lettuce supply has not been great the last month... 

But sprouts are a very cheap and most nutritional substitute.. 

I love them on my hippie sandwiches that my friend Dawn taught me many years ago... 

I also love them on my Junkee Soup... 

I just tried to write the recipe for you but it is literally a pinch of this and a spoon of that.. 

So.. 

I will try to put the recipe to paper this week when I make it.. 

It is a broth, chicken or shrimp, rice noodle, green onions and ginger kind of soup with sprouts on top.. 

Soooo good!!  

Next time.. 

Just rambling along sharing our days with you as usual.. 

Terry is trying to get wood out for the next winter or two.. 

I will not let him go alone and be there with the power saw so I go and sit in the truck and do my thing.. 

I know I have shared this on here before .. 

But that is what we do some days.. 

Only for a few hours and I find it easy to while away the time.. 

Some days I make a wee type of craft, do a small Bible Study, crochet or read.. (my fave),,, 

I read this book for the second time and loved loved it.. 

Once again! 

It was so fitting for the last month of staying home which I love anyway and doing the homemaking thing kind of 1800s style.. 

eh? 

Homemade bread, candles and soup on the stove.. 

I actually ordered the next two that she wrote from Amazon and am looking forward to reading them.. 

Have you found any extra time to read.. 

I know a lot of you girls are homeschooling but if you are like me you find time to read somewhere in your day... eh!  

Rolling along.. 

We had Easter too since I posted last.. 

Imagine!  

It was just the two of us and we had a large organic chicken instead of ham as we did not want to go into the supermarket.. 

I love ham but it was a good dinner.. 

Just so different from years past but hopefully next year...

Rolling on...  

I have been trying my best to clean corners and closets and such.. 

Did our living room ... 

Took me ages.. 

Lots of stuff!  

Tried to weed some of it out but honestly I still love it all!  

A lot of it has been given to me from generations past.. 

And I cherish that fact!  

When I look at old silver and Flow Blue dishes then I think of my Great Aunt Emily... 

Old china Tea pots and lovely old dishes from sweet Julia.. 

The sofa table and dear things from Terry's cousin Marilyn.. 

How I miss these dear souls!  

Lovely treasures from my Mother and so on.. 

I choose to decorate our home with heritage... 

I have read where the things we surround ourselves with tell our story.... smile.. 

I saw a beautiful idea on the web.. 

It was a gorgeous garland of roses... 

So... 

I bought a bundle of the best I could find.. 

And tried to do my thing with them.. 

It just didn't come up to the standard that I had seen.. 

so.... 

I had redone the Dining Room table (from Aunt Emily) with an old tea set and linens... 

But just felt it needed something else.. 

Wasn't sure what... 

I was kind of tired of the previous flowers and such... 

But this did the trick.. 

For now anyway!  

We all have different tastes... 

This is mine for now... 

Me and old dishes!  sheesh!  grin..  

Rambling along.. Almost finished.. 

We of course go to the farm.. 

We are allowed!   

No one there except the stray cat and a ground hog... grin..

There is still snow on the Kent Hills.. 

As of yesterday... 

We hope things will be good enough so we will feel like we can stay at the farm this summer.. Some days there and some here perhaps.. 

We shall see....

I went upstairs to see what the bedrooms needed doing.. 

Brought home bags of bedding and laundered it and put it out on the line one of our lovely windy days.. 

All washed and ready... 

Packed and taken back till whenever... 

Lots of old stuff there, too!  grin.. 

Had a couple of country drives, of course.. 

Mostly in Albert County.. 

Always a few of those dreaded mud roads... sigh! 

He just can't help himself... seriously!  

Have also been trying to do some crafting.. 

Made this for a special girl...

Dug around in the basement and found a pretty old craft from my bye gone era days..  

fixed it up a bit and hung her outside the door.. smile..

While cleaning the living room I came across an album full of my grandmother's handkerchiefs..  

I wondered if my first cousins would like one and got in touch with them.. 

Most of them did so packaged them off and sent them in the mail.. 

So love my cousins!   

Just a little memory of our Gram... 

Well dear friends this is my ramble and roll for April.... 

Slow but sure!  grin..  

I do want to share some good news.. 

A lot of you girls have been with me for so long and probably feel you know our dear grandsons.. 

Well.. 

This is Matthew ... 

Our second oldest grandson and Shonda and Dave's oldest... 

He has just finished his Electrical Engineering years at UNB... 

And... 

Was accepted into Dalhousie School of Medicine!  

We will hopefully have a doctor in the house!  smile.. 

God is just so good!  

We are so proud of all of our grandsons and  celebrate all their accomplishments and hard work... 

And thankful!  So thankful!  

Love them all so much...  

So for now, lovies... 

I will say goodnight.. 

Keep safe and I pray all goes well in your world.. 

Where ever you may be.. 

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to your notes you leave me.. 

Here or on Face Book and so love that you are following my Instagram... 

God bless... 

Hugs from New Brunswick, Canada... 

A Sunday in April- 2020

Hello there everyone... 

So great to be back and chatting with you all.. 

It seems to take me awhile to get here and then the posts are so long.. smile.. 

Oh well.. 

Hope you are all doing fine in this world we are living in.. 

Times are topsy turvy aren't they?  

Everyday when we wake up I wonder what changes there will be today... 

Then I remember that there is one thing that is unchanging in my life every morning that I waken and that is the faithfulness of my Lord.. 

As close as the mention of His Name.. 

I must say that I have certainly been calling on that Name more then ever before..  

We have been pretty isolated here at home.. 

Doing grocery shopping on line and trying not to get too close to anyone.. 

Some days it seems that all is well .... 

Love being at home anyway ... 

But then there are times when I wonder if our life will ever be the same again.. 

Where is this going and what is going to happen... 

Then is when I have to pray for the peace of God that passes all understanding.. 

And as always He is faithful and the sweet peace comes my way..

We are trying to accomplish some projects and such.. 

I made some wipes the other day... 

There are many links for these on Google.. 

I made mine from an old flannel sheet.. 

They are 10 inches by 10 inches and I put in 8 drops of lavender, 15 drops of clove and 4 drops of bergamont essential oils.. 

3 cups of distilled water, 3/4 cups of rubbing alcohol 90 percent, 6 tsp. Dawn dishsoap... 

Place all in a glass jar and mix up mixture.. When dirty place in washer before putting back into liquid.. 

I am not saying this is as safe as it should be but better then nothing.. 

Especially for light switches and such.. 

Have you made anything like this.. 

Then I love this pillow spray from a Hibernate course I took last Winter... 

You can change the oils up to suit you.. 

I like more lavender and leave out the orange.. 

Of course, I need a bit of patchouli... smile.. 

I made a double batch and just put it in a mason jar until I could get a bigger spray bottle..  

Terry's Mom had a promise box that I was gifted when she passed away.. 

It was up in my cupboard and I kind of forgot about it until the other day when I was cleaning it out.. 

It was such great timing.. 

I really don't think there has been a time in my life when I needed this as much.. 

Each morning after prayer time I take out His promise for the day.. 

This was this morning's... 

So encouraging each one has been..

Here are a couple of pics from a drive up to the farm..  

There are literally herds of deer in the fields.. 

And our Canadian geese are back and in the fields too.. 

Spring is here and soon we will have flowers and the garden will be ready to plant.. 

Spring... 

So love it... 

As usual I am all over the map... 

Here are some food pics.. 

Comfort food for sure.. 

Cabbage Roll in a frying pan... 

Another batch of chocolate chip cookies.. 

I freeze them in small bags so we don't have them often.

I posted the recipe last post but forgot to say that I use butter instead of shortening.. 

Butter makes everything taste better.. 

This is my new fave recipe... 

And coleslaw... 

Terry bought 2 sacks of cabbage within a few weeks.. 

He made two big buckets of sauerkraut and it turned out lovely.. 

Then we have coleslaw, cabbage and potato soup, bubble and squeak and so on... 

And of course a Maritime favourite.. 

Potato Scallop..  

My Mother's signature dish.. smile.. 

And pickles.. 

And more pickles.. 

Mexican carrot pickles and dill beans.. 

Soup.. 

Can you imagine me making soup.. 

Soup... How I love thee.. grin.. 

I think this one is turkey and barley... 

Are you keeping busy with projects.. 

I have been cleaning closets, drawers, china cabinets and such.. 

Doing some crafts.. 

Journals and a poster for my fridge.

I do like to do paper crafts... 

And then my plants.. 

I do like working with them.. 

Terry has been planting tomatoes and stuff for the garden this Spring.. 

We are thinking we may need more then usual... 

Who knows? 

Groceries may get a bit pricey if this continues... 

Not worried but preparing how we can... 

And then this past month was our anniversary month.. 

Quite the year to have our 50th.. smile.. 

Oh well.. 

We were going to do simple monthly celebrations anyway... 

On the 26th day of March we were married 50 years.. 

On another Thursday night half a century ago we pledged our vows to each other.. 

I was 17 and he was 20... 

The world was our oyster... 

We couldn't imagine looking down the road this far.. 

Nor could we have imagined the state this world would be in... 

But the same God who had held our hands each day of the way is still holding them.. 

All will be well... smile.. 

We had planned to stay in an ocean side Inn and have a lovely gourmet meal and such.. 

but.... 

We took a picnic lunch and headed to the Bay of Fundy.. 

you remember my love affair for the Bay... right?  grin.. 

We went the long way through a little place where I was born.. 

Turtle Creek and up over the Caledonia Mountain where my grandfather was born and on to the Bay...

It was even my favourite kind of weather.. 

windy and rainy.... 

But the sun came out... 

There were only a couple of cars there.. 

Two families who stayed far apart and us in our red truck... 

Eating our picnic lunch and coffees.. 

Terry put his head back and had a nap and I listened to the wind... 

Lovely.. 

Thank you, Jesus... 

Then we took a selfie (which we never do) and picked up a few rocks and driftwood to remember... 

We wanted to have a nice pic taken for our kids but it will have to wait... smile.. 

This one will do for now.. 

and the days go by... 

finding joy where we can.. 

Crabbing at each other sometimes and finding a private place when we need to... 

Making special moments and memories.. 

Even if it is just a chocolate chip cookie and cup of coffee.. 

We are together and thankful for that.. 

I would not want to go through this without him... 

We miss seeing our children and hugging those darling grandsons but this is as good as it gets right now.. 

Our three vehicles parked at the parking lot and windows down enjoying their company... 

God is good.. 

He is looking after our precious boy out west.. 

Talk to him every day... 

I came across this on the Tumblr and loved it.. 

There is something so beautiful, so captivating, about a woman who remains positive, even in the worst of times. Who embraces her husband when trouble arises, who hugs her children and softly whispers words of positive wisdom that only a mother can give. Life can be difficult, but a woman who sees the beauty and light even in the darkest of times, should be celebrated. For she is the seed in the soil that blooms flowers.

Isn't this true, Mama?  

Just keep holding onto Jesus and speak promises from the Word to your children.. 

Let them feel secure in the faith of their mother.  

Make this a special time that when they read about it years from now in the history books their hearts will fill with the sweet joy that their mama introduced into their lives when they were living through these days..

Let their pages of memory be joyful and full of beauty.. 

Philippians 4: 6-8 

Psalms 91