Heading North...

Hello my dears.. 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.. 

We headed up to the north of the province to spend the weekend with some lovely friends of ours.. 

We headed out early on Friday after we had taken Sammi in to my Moms.

It turned into a lovely sunny day... Mountains in the distance..

There are several big rivers ... 

We followed the St. John River most of the way and then the Tobique River..

After having a lovely evening with them and their family and a good nights sleep we went across the border to the USA...

Our friends told us that some Amish folks had moved into Northern Maine and that they had a shop or two.. 

We happened to be able to drive by ..

Be still my heart.... grin. .

I so love the Amish people.. 

Is this not a beautiful sight?? 

We pulled into their shop which sells steel roofing..

One dear lad came over to the car and invited the men in to see their work.. 

So kind... 

The men actually were more interested in the new way of collecting sap from the maple trees.. See the blue bags..

It was the first time that they had not seen tin buckets being used.  

The lad said that they heard that  the plastic type is coming in and will be used for collecting sap.. 

I wonder why....

In back is their sweet church...

It says FRIENDS over the door.. 

Lovely, eh....

We did some shopping and enjoyed lunch out and when we returned home this guy was waiting for us..

Such a pretty cat:-)

We were so blessed to attend two church services with them..

. 

We enjoyed it so much.  The music was wonderful and the presence of the Lord was awesome..

There were friends attending the church who I had grown up with and not seen for so long.. Such a joyous reunion.. 

Just imagine what heaven will be like.. 

Eternity with the One who died for us and glad reunions with dear ones who have gone on before.. smile.. 

They sang a song that has stayed in mind ever since.. 

I 've come too far to look back 

My feet have walked through the valley

I've climbed mountains, crossed rivers

dessert places Ive known

But I 'm nearing the home shore

The redeemed are rejoicing

Heavens angels are singing

I 've gone too far to look back....

So true....

That is only the chorus but you can look it up on YouTube..

The Hoppers sing it, I think.. 

Anyway, dear hearts have a blessed week and take care...

So glad you dropped by and looking forward to hearing from you all.. 

God bless.. 

Is it Spring yet?

Good Evening all.. 

Just a short posting tonight. 

It has been a long day.. smile.. My dear Mother woke me up this morning from a sound sleep to tell me to go and look at the sun..  

Can you imagine?  grin... 

I guess that is what mothers are for.. Keep us on our feet no matter how old we are.. 

Anyway, out I came.. Bleary eyed and staggering to look at the sun..  It looked the same to me.. Hardly up yet.. I had to walk around the house to find a window where there were no trees so that I could get a glimpse of it... 

It just looked bright.. smile.. 

It supposed to, though.. right??? 

Anyway, that reminded me of the time several years ago.. 

My dear Dad had passed away and my Mom decided she might get a TV just for company, eh? 

Well.. she calls me one night after supper and was almost hysterical telling me we were having all of these meteors coming from the skies and what should we do.. 

She said it was on the news on the television.. 

Well, I switch it on and walk over to the sink and look out the window.. (rolled eyes)... all the time I am listening to 

the NEWS..

  

Sure enough they are forecasting the end of time as we knew it..  As I walked back over to the phone I realized that it was a movie and my poor Mom thought it was real... LOL..

Oh my.. we laughed for days over that one..

Needless to say.. the television is  not one of my mothers 

past times.. Just the real NEWS... and the odd cooking show..

I hope I am not boring you to death but I still grin to myself every time I think about walking over to the window and actually looking out.. lol...

We are having a real wind storm here in New Brunswick.. 

Yesterday, we had snow and the poor crow was looking for some bread I threw out to him but tonight the snow is almost gone under the tree, there.. 

Our fields are like little lakes.. 

It actually felt very Spring like today.. 

When I mentioned last posting about Spring bringing work; I meant work for the shop.. 

Jams, jellies, pickles, salves, toiletries, crafts and such.. 

That kind of work.. 

Oh well, I have had a lovely long Winter just doing what I wanted..

Can't complain about that, I guess.. 

Do you girls ever make BUBBLE AND SQUEAK???

Just click on the above words for the recipe.. 

This one turned out pretty as I used a bit of red cabbage.. 

At the market last weekend they had big bags of cut veggies for stirfrys for only two dollars.. 

I made a large stir fry and a bubble and squeak with it.. 

Frugal meals... 

Well, I must go and get to bed.. 

I am kind of excited.. We are visiting some dear friends who live up near the Quebec border for a few days.. 

On Saturday we are planning on going ACROSS...(the border, that is to stateside...)

Thanks so much for your dear visit.. 

Looking forward to hearing from you all if I haven't put you to sleep yet.. 

Wakey, wakey.. grin... 

Love and Prayers 

Faye.. 

Waiting for Spring...

Hello ladies..

How are thou?  

Here we are half way through the week already..

It was a bit milder here today but still Winter..

I know a lot of you have flowers and leaves but we are excited to see open brooks and  dripping eaves... smile.. 

This has been a great season really.. I am not in a great rush to get by it .. When Spring gets here then I really need to begin working.. smile.. So what's the rush?  grin.. 

Today I made a couple of batches of Marmalade... 

Do you like it?  

I make it for my shop but it is so good on

HOMEMADE MILE HIGH BISCUITS.... 

 

Would you like the recipe?  

I used the one off of the Certo package... 

Except in one batch I substituted a lemon for half of a grapefruit.. 

A lot of work for 3 bottles per batch... 

Oh well no pain no gain.. smile.. 

Here are a couple of pics of herbs that I grow here at home.. 

I mentioned them in my last post.. 

Lovage ..

Great in soups, dried  or salted, use for straws in your tomato juice, or pickles... 

Sorrel... 

great in salads, soups and even pesto... 

Well, dear hearts that is all for tonight.. 

Hope you are all having a great week.. 

Thank you to all who signed up for the keepers journal.. 

Welcome to the new followers, too.. 

So.. I guess I will be like this little bird in our tree waiting for Spring..

And looking forward to your sweet comments.. 

God bless .. 

Just another Winters day...

Hello my dears...

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth this day..

How do you like the beautiful geese in the pic above?

Aren't they something? 

 Terry and I went for a drive up to check on our old farm and passed the dear things on the way.. 

Of course, the poor man had to turn around so that I could take a pic for you all..

They were quite a way from the road so I could not get a great one but you get the drift, eh?

Obviously, we are still in the Winter mode here in Eastern Canada.. 

I was listening to VOAR CBC channel and heard that Newfoundland is expecting a blizzard.. 

Oh well, that is what we all know and accept here.. 

I am truly Canadian and love the place.. 

We are so truly blessed..

I guess everyone feels that way about HOME..

smile..

Thank you to all of your dear girls and your sweet comments LAST POSTING..

I said that I would give you the recipe for the Apple Pie Cake.. 

Apple Pie Cake..

2 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp. salt

11 T. soft butter

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. whole milk

2 large apples peeled and sliced

1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon * I used nutmeg...

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.. Crumble in the butter and stir well.. Add the eggs and vanilla to the milk in a large measuring 

cup and whisk together and stir in dry ingredients..

In a large greased pie plate (10 inch) place about a 1/3 of the mixture and half of the apples ...

* I then grated a part of a nutmeg over the apples but the recipe did not call for it..

Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture over the apples and then another 1/3 of dough. 

 Then apples, cinnamon sugar and last 1/3of the dough...

Then I sprinkled some white sugar over that... 

Bake in 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until done... 

I think the girls really like this recipe..

One emailed me before I posted this wanting the recipe so I was glad that it went over well.. 

I try to have at least 2 new recipes for them each meeting.. 

She said she made the bread, too... 

Bless her..smile..

I have sent out the homework to you girls who wanted it.. If anyone else wants the info please let me know..

Or if you didn't get it yet..  

Here is our old farm brook that runs around our property.. Wide open but still lots of snow.. 

It will soon be Spring..smile..

Fishing season, fiddleheads and rhubarb..

Chives, lovage and sorrel... 

May flowers, violets and pussy willows ..

Clothes hanging on the line again..

Spending days together at the old farm.. 

Oh, and dandelion and apple blossom jelly..

Just a few of my favorite things..

Smile..

I hope to order some neat herbs next week.. 

Patchouli and soap wort and others..

Well, have a great evening ...

Welcome to all of the new followers.. 

So happy to have you aboard.. 

Looking forward to hearing from you all.. 

Love and Prayers..

Keepers of the Home meeting and a Home Challenge

Hello everyone.. 

Hope you all had a great weekend.. 

As you know we had our Keepers of the Home meeting on Saturday morning..

We had a lovely time and squeezed a lot in.. smile.. 

As usual we started out by making breakfast together.. 

One cooked the bacon and another the eggs.. 

Some sliced the OUR NO KNEAD BREAD .... 

And we all had sweet fellowship... 

We had a couple of sweet wee ones with us.. 

You all remember our dear wee Emily... 

Here she is last month chatting with Jackie.. 

It is a better pic of her and Jackie sat up by me and I missed getting her pic this time.. But she was there.. Bless her heart.. 

And here is our newest wee Keeper.. 

Isn't she beautiful?  

This is her mama...

I missed getting her pic, too.. Forgive me, girls.. 

Anyway... We had several new ladies and we were so pleased to have you all.. 

We hope you come back again.. smile.. 

Now.. 

What did we do? 

I demonstrated to the girls how to make a loaf of our famous no knead bread.. 

It only took 3 minutes, though.. 

And then after we ate we had a small lesson.. 

This year we are going to concentrate on making our homes everything that we have dreamed they could be.. 

In fact we are going to journal about it all year long..

The dear girls even have homework to do.. 

Besides decorating their own journals..

We are hoping to learn not only how we want to decorate our homes but how we can have the Lord as the head of each one.. We are going to concentrate on the difference that God can make and cultivate the sweet joy that our homes can bring to our families..

We are going to close our eyes and dream.. smile.. 

Each month we will look at something different from gardening to cooking a special family dinner.. 

Perhaps, you sweet ladies would like to come on the journey WITH US and journal your own dreams and hopes for a Christian home.. 

Then we made some homemade toiletries..

And they wanted to make their own

OLD BOOK PAGES TABLE RUNNER .. 

All in all we had a blessed time.. 

Thank you, dear Lord.. 

Such a faithful God we serve.. 

We prayed for a dear reader of the blog who needs strength and healing.. 

Tomorrow, Lord willing I will share the recipe for this apple cake that we had for breakfast.. 

I am kind of thinking that this post is long enough already.. grin.. 

Thank you dear hearts for dropping by.. 

I enjoy hearing from you all ... 

IF you are interested in joining us in this CHALLENGE to make the MOST IMPORTANT PLACE ON EARTH as blessed as we can please leave a comment or email me at 

keepersofthehome@hotmail.com

 and I can forward the homework to you all...

**Just a wee note.. 

The journal will be a private thing for you all to do.. 

This is just some inspiration for you all that I hope will be a blessing.. 

A bit of sharing with you after we have our meeting.. 

OK?

LOVE TO YOU ALL...

Vintage Dishes in the Bathroom

Good Evening everyone..

Hope everyone is having a happy Friday night.. 

I thought I would share a little bit of  decor tonight.. 

I was cleaning the bath off of our bedroom and thought that I should do a little tweaking..smile..

On the wall I have a little dress and shoes that my Mom saved that I had worn...

I love using antiques for decor and I think as these are over 50 years old then they must be antique.. grin.. 

I had a small collection of vintage type green transfer ware  dishes 

and decided to use them on the vanity to hold necessities..

I have been gathering them from thrift shops and of course my Mom gave me one.. smile.. 

The commode pitcher holds Terry's shavers and the old sugar dish holds my hair pins and brush..

There is a large mirror over the vanity but all you would see is me taking the pic.. grin.. 

An old depression glass goblet has Q tips...

I have been using the sugar dish to keep my homemade salt scrub for my hands.

The recipe is HERE

One of my favorite toiletries.. 

It is lovely..

Then the  old vegetable bowl holds a miscellaneous pile of toiletries..

Homemade oils, salves and lotions.. 

All of these recipes are on the blog here.. somewhere.. smile..

You can find vintage dishes at thrift shops or yard sales.. 

It is just a little different twist for old vintage dishes.. 

Tomorrow is our Keepers Meeting so I will get back to you all and give you an update... eh?

Thanks for the visit and I look forward to hearing from you all.. 

May God bless and keep you.. 

A Rosemary Kind of Day...

Greetings dear hearts.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth .. 

We have been having some Winter weather.. Snow ... Not a lot but a bit every day..Spring is in the air, though... smile.. 

I found this recipe on the web HERE.. I did not pin it as it was just so simple... 

I have had it going for two days now and I love it.. 

It is a Rosemary and Lemon stove top potpourri.. 

All you have to do is slice up one fresh lemon, a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and a bit of vanilla ... 

Fill your medium size pot two thirds full of water and add the ingredients and simmer on very low.. 

Keep adding water as needed and it smells lovely.. 

Kind of sweet citrus and herb... 

It lasts for 2 to 3 days.. 

Hope you enjoy it.. 

And....

I was trying out my new Kitchen Aid and decided to make bread.. 

This is a lovely recipe and Terry loved it.. 

Who doesn't love homemade bread, though, eh?

Here it has risen and is ready for the second rising..

I divided it into two loaves and on one I added chopped fresh rosemary and kosher salt.. 

and the other one I left plain ...

Here the bread is served with a bit of rosemary oil.. 

The recipe.. 

Homemade Bread with Rosemary... 

4 T. sugar

2 T. of butter

2 cups of warm water 

2 T. rapid rise yeast

3 tsp. salt

1 cup wholewheat flour

4 cups of unbleached white flour

chopped fresh rosemary

kosher salt

In your Kitchen Aid bowl or another bowl put 4 T. sugar and 2 T. of butter with 2 cups of quite warm water..Stir well with a spatula.. 

Add 2 T. rapid rise yeast and let stand for a few minutes.. 

Put 3 tsp. salt in with 1 cup of wholewheat flour and add to bowl and start kneading .. Keep adding until you have added 4 cups of white flour..

 Knead for 8 to 10 minutes..

Let rise until doubled in a warm place.. 

When doubled separate into two rolls.. 

Shape and place on a cookie sheet and let rise again..(doubled) 

Turn your oven to 375 degrees F ...

Put one egg white and 1 T. water and whisk.. 

Brush on your bread and sprinkle with chopped fresh rosemary and a sprinkle of kosher salt.. 

Or just brush with the egg white..

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes.. 

Enjoy...

AND....

a little something just for you.. smile.. 

Oatmeal and Rosemary Bath Bag.. 

In a piece of cheesecloth or muslin (or and old hankie)

place a handful of old fashioned oatmeal and a few sprigs of rosemary... 

Tie it up with a piece of ribbon or string which is long enough to hang from your bathtub faucet   ... 

This is a great skin softener and very frugal.. 

You could substitute the rosemary for lavender, too.. 

if you do not have a rosemary plant growing then pick some up at your grocers.. 

If you live here then you can buy a growing rosemary plant at Sobeys for $4.00..Keep it on your kitchen sill or counter and it will soon be time to plant it outside...

Just a little tip for you .. grin..

I WANTED TO THANK ALL  YOU SWEETIES FOR JOINING ME OVER AT LIKE A BUBBLING BROOK THE LAST TWO DAYS AND LEAVING SUCH LOVELY COMMENTS.. 

i appreciate it so much.. xoxo 

Don't forget about the Keepers Meeting on Saturday.. 

Welcome to all of the new followers .. 

As you can see I have installed the Linky thing... smile..  

May God bless you and protect you and keep you in the hollow of His hand.. 

Hugs.. 

LINKED UP AND FEATURED AT 

  INSPIRE ME FRIDAYS