Missing you all..

Good Morning, dearies.. 

Just a wee note before I am without Internet for a week or so.. 

 I thought I would leave you with a few pics of what we will no doubt be doing.. 

Getting the shop ready to open.. 

The House of Henry..

It will probably take another 2 weeks.. yikes.. 

Pray for me that I can get it done.. 

Thanks.. 

Then we will enjoy the lovely Bay of Fundy... 

Walk down to it at the end of each day..

 Go for a drives along side it.. 

Sit and listen to the waves...

 And dream.. smile.. 

Hoping to visit our lovely daughter and family, too, one evening..

Working on my herb beds and making a few concoctions, too, I hope.. 

Then back to the cottage and still working on getting it habitable.. smile.. 

And of course, we will still eat.. 

(my favorite lunch)

Anyway, we are now headed to church .. 

Having a bit of time with the family after to celebrate their precious Dad.. 

And a great one he is, too.. 

So thankful to God for the dear man I married and the wonderful example that he is of a true Christian father.. 

Our children have been blessed...

Thankful, too, for my sweet father who has gone on to meet the Lord 23 years ago..

I still miss him.. 

And Terry's Dad.. 

One of the sweetest men I have ever had the pleasure to meet and know.. smile..

Happy Father's Day to all of you dear men who read my blog.. 

I know there are a few.. smile..

Take care of yourselves and your sweet families and may the Lord be with you all.. 

I will check in as soon as I can..

I will miss you all.. 

Hugs..

Back to the Cottage...

Hello everyone.. 

Hope you all missed me.. smile.. 

We have been at the cottage getting everything back to normal for a couple of months stay.. 

The weather was fine when we left with the truck loaded on Tuesday but by the time we arrived it was getting ready to rain.. 

And rain it did!!

It is almost always the welcome we receive each Summer and as you know I love it.. 

The wind is awesome and the waves are huge.. 

I made up the beds and opened the window wide and when we went to bed it was lovely.. 

Nice flannel sheets and a duvet.. 

We are sleeping in a different room this year as we can't have the wind blowing on our heads anymore.. 

Old age and the old arthritis is being such a pain this year.. 

But this room has more advantages, though as it does not have the sun until the afternoon .. 

The other room is so bright in the mornings.. 

A little funny story for you.. 

The second night I was very tired when we went to bed.. 

About five in the morning I thought I heard the radio on.. 

I woke Terry (although, I don't think I opened my eyes) and asked him what the noise was.. 

He just sort of mumbled something.. 

I asked why the radio was on and he didn't say anything.. 

I laid there half asleep for bit until I realized it was a chorus of birds singing out back in the lilac bushes.. 

You would think I had never heard birds sing before.. 

That\s when I decided I needed a few more hours of sleep.. grin..

The next day was still rainy and very windy.. 

Terry worked at the shop and I worked at the cottage.. 

We went and got some lovely spring water.. 

Terry got ours hooked up but it takes a day or so to clear..

Then yesterday was lovely..

I even got a bit of garden work done.. 

Terry picked me some white lilacs .. 

Don't you love the smell through the house?

And we had a bit of company.. smile..

Now we are home for the weekend and as soon as we arrived I phoned to get our Internet and phone hooked up.. 

Oh Brother.. 

What a time..

 The Internet in St. Martins is almost all taken but thank the Lord we managed to get a spot and will have it in a week.. 

 I guess my blog will suffer a bit but I really do have lots to do so that is for the best I am thinking..  

At least the cottage is basically ready but the shop will take at least another week.. or two.... 

Well, dear hearts.. 

I am going to crawl into our water bed and have a good nights sleep.. 

I will get back to you once more, I hope, before we go back ... 

Thanks so much for stopping by and look so forward to hearing from you all.. 

God bless..

Just a little trip...

Hello my dears.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth on this lovely Friday evening..

We have been away for a few days and had a good time.. 

We just went down to Bangor, Maine and then came back via the coast road.. 

A beautiful drive.. 

I love seeing how people decorate their homes.. 

The pic above was of a day care that I thought someone might be interested in.. smile.. 

We stopped by a little goat farm to see if they were selling any of their soaps but the signs were down.. 

The goats were adorable as always, though.. 

Drove down to Bucksport and saw the bridge and Fort Knox.. 

We did a lot of shopping.. 

Then before we headed home we decided to go to St. Martins to check on the heat at the cottage and leave some stuff for the shop..

I took a few pics of my poor herb beds.. 

The Comfrey is up and doing great.. 

I brought some home to make my gardener's salve ... 

But the yard needs work as do the beds... 

I really do have to get busy... 

Yes, the panic is on.. 

While we were driving through the village I noticed how busy everyone was... 

Mowing their lawns, cleaning and remodeling... 

Getting their businesses up and ready for the season.. 

Then we ran into some friends who own the wonderful Bed and Breakfast up the street with the Mexican food .. 

They were wondering when we were opening the shop.. 

Gulp.. 

The rooms are not even finished let alone the shop ready to open.. 

Oh well.. 

Besides my heart rate rather high and running out of paper bags for me to breathe into we are doing fine... grin.. 

Just kidding.. 

This is when I do my best work.. smile.. 

So.. 

Next week we will be there for several days trying to get caught up.. 

I always dread getting the phone hooked up down there as they always mess up my Internet.. Dread.... 

I think I will wait until we are really there ... 

I did find a few lovely old and prim things while we were away.

I love the old Chicken Barn for finding some neat stuff..

Lots of antiques and books.. 

Two of my fave things.. 

We ate at some lovely places and just had fun, too.. 

Of course, we (Terry) did not miss the hockey games.. 

Little cousin (Brad Marchand) does pretty good most of the time.. smile.. 

Hope the Bruins win... 

I made a Shepherd's Pie for supper.. 

Different from my usual so here is the LINK..

I did not add the cheese as we do not need it and added a bit of garlic and herb to the hamburger.. 

Yes, Terry loved it..

He prefers simple food and this was simple but good.. 

That's me.. 

Simple.. 

Well, sweet ladies that is all for tonight.  

This time of year our kids start their travelling.. 

I know that is so nice and all but they are on my mind.. 

One is on his way to Old Quebec City tonight.. 

Praying that they get there and back safely.. 

At least she speaks French.. grin.. 

Thanks so much for your visit and I am glad you came.

Welcome to the new followers, too..

Love having you.. 

Take care my friends.. 

Country Style....

Good Evening everyone.. 

So glad you dropped by the Blessed Hearth .. 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend..

There has been a lot of rain and thunder showers here in Maritime Canada the last bit but we are so thankful that it is only thunder and lightning.. 

Our hearts go out to all the dear folks who have lost not only their homes but also their loved ones.. 

This is just a short posting tonight.. 

 I wanted to share the pics of our new floors.

I mentioned them a few weeks ago.. 

Hope you are interested.. 

I took the pics later on in the day so they are not as bright as they should be..

It takes us a bit of time to get things done as Terry does it by himself and I am not much help.. 

We just putter away at our chores of late, I noticed.. 

I guess it must be our age but anyway the pantry, laundry room and closet are not finished yet as he wants to make some other improvements with the back door and such.. 

But at least you get the gist of them ... 

Besides he has been busy trying to get the cottage up and running and doing the little things for the shop, too .. 

Poor man.. 

I really like them and have waited several years so I am very thankful.. 

We are just country as you can tell by our home.. 

We live here.. 

I love rustic and primitive but am not a purist at anything.. smile.. 

It has always been a comfortable feel and I am not the world's best housekeeper.. 

I find so many more interesting things to do then clean the same things all the time.. 

If you dropped by you generally would find me in a mess of some sort.. 

I wake in the morning and after the routine things I usually plunge into something that is messy.. smile... 

To be honest... 

I can't even clean without making a mess.. smile.. 

I love it tidy and clean, don't get me wrong but it seems to work it's way down the list of things to do.. smile..

The laundry, dishes and normal stuff generally gets done but in their own good time..  

I have always wanted to be a clean freak but it just is not in the genes.. grin.. 

My sister got those.. 

I am thankful for my home and so glad that the Lord has planted us here.. 

Although, for the next while it will soon be at our old cottage.. smile. 

Home is where you hang your heart, I guess.. 

Oh.. that rice dish is just what we had for lunch.. 

Rice, veggies and a lemon parsley vinaigrette .. 

Nothing fancy.. smile.. 

Well, dear ladies, I am so glad you dropped by and I look forward to hearing from you all.. 

Sorry that I did not reply to the last post but as soon as I get back from a wee trip we are going on for a few days then  

I will get right back to you.. 

OK?  

Please keep us in your prayers and I will pray for you.. 

God bless.. 

LINKED TO..FRIDAY LINK PARTY

Keepers of the Home Meeting for June..

Good Evening dear hearts.. 

So happy you dropped by.. 

Another first Saturday of the month here in New Brunswick and another Keepers of the Home meeting.. 

It was a lovely morning.. 

I must begin by saying that I kind of forgot to take pics most of the time but we do have a few.. 

Several had left before I remembered.. 

sorry.. 

There was a wonderful turnout for it.. 

Some new girls that we are so happy to have with us.. 

We started off by cooking breakfast together as usual. 

One Keeper blessed us with some homemade muffins which went lovely with our bacon, eggs, and toast.. 

Just an ordinary breakfast this time.. 

But very good..

I took a bottle of dandelion jelly for them to try out.. 

Susan liked it good enough to take the rest home.. smile.. 

Then I had to get them to try my lovage straws.. 

We put them in our tomato juice and it just gives the juice a nice celery flavor.. 

If you would like the herb then I  know you can get them at the Co-op in Sussex.. 

A few others took the leaves home to dry for their soups and salads.. 

There was lots of coffee and tea while we had another little lesson on our Christian homes.. 

We have ventured into the entry way or mud room or foyer... 

Whatever you desire to call it .. 

This is the room that says welcome and we used our 5 senses.. 

Looking the word entryway up in the Bible and in Exodus 35 -15 it talks about the entryway into the temple and how it smelled of incense and oils.. 

We discussed the sense smell..

And how it is the first thing that meets you when you open the door.. smile.. 

Every home has it own smell, eh? 

There are many ways to have a fresh smelling home.. 

You can find some tips HERE..

An entryway contains things like sneakers, hockey gear and such so it takes a bit of work. 

As for the pinterest board I will keep adding to it so keep checking.. 

OK?

We then chatted about our other senses and how they worked in our homes.. 

We talked about sight and how we would try to get some scripture up on our walls . 

Hopefully, in the Fall we will make some crafts with scriptures on them..

Our favorite is the verse .. 

As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord.. 

Joshua 24-15

A nice tidy entryway is certainly on all of our agendas... 

And organized, too.. smile.. 

Here is a link for way back when I first started my blog and it was not very professional, believe me..

Please excuse the poor quality pics and such.. smile.. 

But it is a few scripture decorating tipS and you might like it.. 

You can find it HERE.

The next sense was hearing and how lovely it is to come in and hear lovely music, the laughter of the family or just sweet chatter..

Not a blaring TV or family arguing..  

The entryway can be such a place of blessing as each morning we try and hold hands and pray a blessing for the day upon our children and even their friends as they stand in the door and wait.. smile.. 

I had to share about how touching it was for me to visit my daughter and hear her in her entryway praying a blessing of the day upon her boys.. 

In I Samuel 1- 12, 13 it talks of Hannah praying in the entryway of the temple.. 

Praying for a child.. smile.. 

The only thing we came up with for taste was to leave a bowl of mints somewhere. grin..

Perhaps you have one ???  

But really the one that is not so obvious but perhaps the most important is how your home feels when the door is closed against the world.. 

Do your children feel their mama's arms welcoming them home after a day at school? 

Does hubby feel the love from his family as he closes the door on another workday out there? 

Do friends and strangers feel the welcome of your home? 

The love and joy and peace that only God can bestow on hearts and homes can be felt first in your entryway.. 

Not a very deep subject but just a few thoughts.. 

So...

 That was that and we moved on to making some homemade cleaners.. 

Fabreze recipe 

In a spray bottle from the dollar store pour in a funnel 

2 cups of water

1/4 cup of Gain Fabric Softener

1 T. baking soda

Shake well.. 

It really works.. 

Homemade Spray Cleaner.. 

1/4 cup of dish soap  (Dawn)

1/4 cup of white vinegar 

2 tsp. Borax

3 1/2 cups of hot water 

essential oils of choice and amount to suit you.. 

I love lavender.. 

And perhaps a drop of tee tree.. 

Thyme Disinfectant.. 

2 1/2 cups of water 

handful of thyme 

vinegar

 a squirt of Dawn soap

Simmer the thyme in a pot with the water for a couple of hours.. Strain through cheesecloth or a coffee filter .. 

Pour into a spray bottle.. Add the soap and top it up with the vinegar.. 

I loved the smell of the house while this was simmering away.. 

Reminded me of an Italian Bistro.. grin.. 

It worked well, too which I found amazing as it is a tea color.. 

On one site they talked about the scientific proof of the disinfecting power of thyme.. 

Kind of good to know.. 

There was also a recipe for Homemade Laundry Powder found HERE..

And one for Laminate Floor Cleaner that I found Here..

And the Spray Air Freshner is on my Pinterest Board above.. 

Most of the girls made Fabreze and then a little stamped tag to hang on it.. 

We had also brought plants for an exchange which was a lot of fun.. 

There was all kinds.. 

Even white lilac bushes..  

All in all we had a wonderful morning with lovely fellowship.. 

Thanks so much for dropping by.. 

This is our last meeting for the Summer until we have our annual overniter at our cottage in St. Martins in July... 

Have a blessed weekend and thank you to all you girls who come and help so much with everything.. 

I appreciate you all.  

And thank you for your sweet notes.. 

Hugs.. 

LINKED TO..CLEVER CHICKS BLOG HOP