Invited out for dinner...

Good Evening everyone... 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

Don't you love being invited out for dinner or any meal, really... 

We received such an invitation yesterday.. 

Terry had business in town so he dropped me off at my friends for the whole afternoon.. 

I have posted about being at her house one other time HERE..

and it was mostly about her pantry.. 

They live in a very cozy log house in the country.. 

It has plants and books and old dishes and good food and company... 

I love visiting her as we both love the same things.. 

Yesterday was not any different .. 

The teapot was put on and old recipe books and new magazines brought out to enjoy.. 

Bekka was there, too.. 

She is their sweet daughter.. 

What a wonderful little chef she is.. 

Her specialty is Mushroom Linguine from Martha Stewart and it is one of the best pastas I have ever tasted.. 

Really.. 

Midway through the afternoon Bekka gave me one of her cakes.. 

Her Mom and I shared and it was a mousse filled delicacy.. 

They love animals and have quite a few..  

I also wandered around taking some pics I thought you all might like.. smile.. 

So many things to see.. 

Lots of preserves, old dishes, hanging herbs and such.. 

The food was being produced left and right.. 

Bekka's friend made some homemade ice cream with vanilla bean and an apple pie for dessert.. 

Then they made a glorious chicken pot pie to take to their friend's..

It was made with her Mom's canned chicken and veggies..  

After a bit the men came home and we sat down and had some great food and fellowship.. 

When we left I had gifts of  plants, homemade preserves and  books.. 

Friends are something that we need to treasure and be thankful for,m eh?

We want to have them over although it will never come close to that pasta.. grin.. 

That doesn't matter, though.. 

It is the fellowship that counts.. 

A little poem for you by my favorite poet.. 

Title:     The Making Of Friends

Author: Edgar A. Guest 

If nobody smiled and nobody cheered and nobody helped us along,

If each every minute looked after himself and good things all went to the strong,

If nobody cared just a little for you, and nobody thought about me,

And we stood all alone to the battle of life, what a dreary old world it would be!

If there were no such a thing as a flag in the sky as a symbol of comradeship here,

If we lived as the animals live in the woods, with nothing held sacred or dear,

And selfishness ruled us from birth to the end, and never a neighbor had we,

And never we gave to another in need, what a dreary old world it would be!

Oh, if we were rich as the richest on earth and strong as the strongest that lives,

Yet never we knew the delight and the charm of the smile which the other man gives,

If kindness were never a part of ourselves, though we owned all the land we could see,

And friendship meant nothing at all to us here, what a dreary old world it would be!

Life is sweet just because of the friends we have made and the things which in common we share;

We want to live on not because of ourselves, but because of the people who care;

It's giving and doing for somebody else--on that all life's splendor depends,

And the joy of this world, when you've summed it all up, is found in the making of friends.

[The end]
Edgar A. Guest's poem: Making Of Friends

________________________________________________ 

Well, dear hearts that is all for tonight.. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit along with me.. smile. 

Thanks for visiting and your lovely comments.. 

Take care, now.. xo

A few apple recipes and such...

Hello my dears.. 

How are you all?

We woke up to a snowy morn today.. 

Although, it didn't amount to much on the roads the fields were white.. 

I guess it is November and here in New Brunswick we can expect snowy days.. 

I think our lovely Fall is over and Winter is no longer waiting in the wings.. smile.. 

As I was saying in my last post I am preparing for a little craft show with Shonda.. 

I made these over the weekend.. 

Apple Cider Pantry Potpourri Bags.. 

Very simple to make and rather satisfying if you know what I mean.... 

You gather spices that you like.. 

Cinnamon, Anise, Cloves, Allspice, Cardamon and such.. 

Tie them up in cheesecloth squares and tie with grocery twine.. 

Then heat up a bottle of pure apple cider in a pot on the stove.. 

Slip the ties over a wood spoon and mull in the cider for a half hour.. 

Squeeze out the cider.. 

Place the bags on a rack over a pan to dry out.. 

Oh... and drink the lovely mulled cider.. 

When dry you can use them as gifts or use them for yourselves.. 

I am putting one in my pantry so that when I go in I will smell the scents of the season.. grin.. 

The rest will be placed in my apple repertoire for the sale..  

Terry has been busy hunting the last week.. 

He goes each afternoon and sits in a crow's nest for hours waiting for a buck deer to show up.. 

Every day he sits there and he has not seen one.. 

This afternoon we went to Sussex and just up the road from our house he saw these.. 

Yup... deer... lots of them.. 

He  stopped and backed up... I had the camera on my lap as usual. 

They are not great pics but you can see why he felt kind of sick.. 

I caught a pic of 4 of them but he says there were 5 and of course it was a big buck..  hahaha..

And no gun.. 

Poor guy.. grin.. 

I expect he will go out again tomorrow, though..

Oh well.. 

We came home and had supper..  

Fish Hash.. 

I wanted to include the recipes for the apple butter and jelly.. 

APPLE JELLY.. 

Place 20 large apples cut into quarters with seeds removed into a pot along with 6 cups of water and bring to a boil.. 

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.. 

Crush with a potato masher and simmer another 5 minutes.. 

Place this mixture into a jelly bag and hang for several hours or overnight.. 

Do not squeeze as you need the pulp for the Apple Butter.. 

For the Jelly.. 

Measure 5 cups of juice 

7 1/2 cups of sugar 

1 T. lemon juice 

1/2 tsp. butter 

Place in a jelly pot and bring to a full boil over high heat..  

Bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down and boil for 1 minute.. 

Take off heat and add 1 pouch of Certo.. 

Boil one more minute.. 

Take off heat and stir and skim.. 

Bottle into sterilized jars.. 

The following recipe is one that was given to me by a friend in 1974 ... 

It is an old fashioned butter like our Grandma used to make.. 

I love the taste of this so much better then the crock pot one I have made.. 

APPLE BUTTER.. 

Measure 5 cups of pulp that has been put through a food mill.. 

Make sure you have 5 cups of pulp.. 

7 1/2 cups of sugar 

1/2 tsp. allspice 

1/2 tsp. cloves ( I added this as we love cloves)

1 tsp. cinnamon 

Place in a large pot.. 

Bring to a full rolling boil for 1 minute stirring constantly..

Remove from heat and  add 1 envelope of liquid Certo..

Stir and skim for 5 minutes.. 

Pour into sterilized jars.. 

5 pints.. 

 Process the Apple Butter according to safe canning procedures.

Hoping you all have a blessed week.. 

I am preparing for Keepers of the Home this Saturday.. 

You are welcome to join us.. 

Just email me at houseofhenry@hotmail.com 

We would love to have you.. 

Thanks so much for dropping by and as always I look forward to hearing from you all.. 

Take care, dear hearts.. 

God bless..

The Closing Days of October...

Hello once again my friends.. 

Hope all is well with you .. 

What lovely days we are having here in the Maritime provinces of Eastern Canada.. 

Flowers are still in bloom and we only need to wear sweaters.. 

There have been a few colder days but this has been one beautiful Fall.. 

Thank you, Lord.. 

But.... they are calling for snow on Sunday.. 

Quite a bit by the sounds of it all but mostly in the northern part of our province so we will no doubt get rain.. 

I hope so anyway.. 

I do not look forward to Winter.. 

We have children who need to get to work no matter what the weather if you know what I mean.. 

At least, Terry is no longer traveling 30 miles to work.. 

One advantage of being retired... smile.. 

Now..

 I want to show you a lovely gift that my Mom gave me.. 

That is my breakfast early this morning.. 

Dark toasted bread with mayo, tomato and sprouts.. 

When I went over to make my coffee I noticed that the sprouts were ready..  smile..

And even though it was still a bit dark outside and much earlier then when I usually have my breakfast I couldn't resist.. 

So... 

I had this with a wonderful hot cup of coffee with milk.. 

We haven't had sprouts since Spring but now is when we start eating them again.. 

Anyway.. 

This is the gift Mom surprised me with.. 

A three layer sprouter.. 

Neat, eh? 

I had not seen one like this before.. 

And it only took 3 days... 

Tonight they are even bigger..

I love it... 

I think she bought it at the auction they go to each week.. smile.. 

She is a good Mama.. smile.. 

So thankful for her.. 

I think I will share a little funny story that happened tonight.. 

She had phoned me and left a message saying she wanted the recipe for making Naturism Vinegar.. 

I had helped her make it earlier in the Fall but she could not remember how to do it and her hubby had picked the rest of her Naturism so she could make more as she had given hers all away.. 

I gave her a call and she was telling me she had company this afternoon and she was showing them the vinegar she had made earlier and how impressed they were.. 

It has been a joke between us for years of how whenever I show her how to make something she doesn't let on to her friends that she learned it from me.. grin..

 Honestly, I do find it so funny.. 

She will just go on and tell them that she knows how to make rose powder, rosemary salt and flavored vinegar or whatever.. 

I will laugh and ask her if she told them your daughter showed you how to do it..

She says that she just tells them that she does it and then we both start to laugh.. 

I don't know why we think it is funny but we do.. 

Anyway, today her company loved the look of her vinegar (it is a pretty orange color) and asked her for the recipe.. 

Oh dear..

 She couldn't remember how to do it.. LOL.. 

I said to her that they must have thought it was funny that she made it but couldn't remember how.. LOL.. 

Poor Mom.. 

We must have laughed for 5 minutes.. 

After that I told her again and I am sure another bottle has already been created.. smile.. 

  

Today I made bread... 

It is the first time for a couple of months.. 

I have not been eating much bread at all but when the sprouts were ready  I couldn't help myself.. smile..

Homemade bread, mayo and sprouts are simply delicious or so I think.. 

This is pure hippy food.. grin.. 

I posted on sprouting.. 

HERE..

So... 

On with the story.. 

As I mentioned in another post I have decided to have a table at a Christmas craft show that Shonda is involved in at her church.. 

It is on November 15 in St. John... 

I will give more details if anyone wants them.. 

With that in mind I have begun... 

I am not doing all crafts but a mixture of things.. 

Apple things.. 

Homemade Apple Jelly 

which is not tagged yet.. 

Homemade Old Fashioned Apple Butter.. 

not tagged, either.. yet...

Lemon Peppermint Foot Soaks.. 

which needs tags and such also.. 

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I plan to make Lavender and Rosebud Soaps.. 

and 

Between the Sheets Lavender Powder 

and 

so on and so on.. smile.. 

Well, dear hearts this is all for tonight.. 

So thankful for your lovely comments and such wonderful emails.. 

I so appreciate hearing from you.. 

It makes blogging a pleasure.. truly... 

God bless you dear girls.. 

Days of our lives..

Good Evening, my dears.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

We are all well and like everyone else in this world; we are a tad busy.. 

Last week I had hoped to get all of my canning and preserving finally finished..

 I canned jars and jars of pears and carrots and such... 

Then today my sweet hubby bought 20 more pounds of beets.. 

We opened the jar that I made from a recipe from my UK friend and found them delicious.. 

So.. 

I guess we will be doing a few more.. smile.. 

Had a lovely cup of carrot and ginger soup for lunch one day but you guessed it.. 

Hubby did not want any.. 

Only ordinary soups for him.. 

There seems to be so much to forage for this time of year.. 

Rose hips again.. 

There is just so much to do with them.. 

I actually wanted these ones to put in the dehydrator and for a wreath I was making.. 

We were also blessed with some sweet company.. 

Someone had a birthday.. 

He received a Grandpa toy... 

That means he gets to leave it at our house and then they can play with Grandpa when they visit.. smile.. 

One of Mickey's favorites is a Caesar Salad.. 

Love my Salad Greens Dryer bag... 

I finally got to my Hydrangea Wreath that I had been wanting to make.. 

I added rose hips and they will dry on the wreath.. 

I noticed it is not sitting straight on the chair but it did turn out right..smile.. 

Such an easy and rewarding craft to make and will literally last for years.. 

I made the wreath from some grapevines someone snipped from their vines and wired it together to make an oval..

Then just glued on sections of flowers and rose hips with a glue gun.. 

Easy..  

Anyway.. 

Terry picked some High bush Cranberries, too.. 

For my friend, Cheryl who reads the blog...the cranberries are ready to pick... 

I am a bit late but there are still lots and I guess you can pick them all Winter.. 

We freeze them and make a lovely juice from one year to the next.. 

Even decorated the Supper table with them.. 

Trevor found the old bottle on the shore of the Belleisle Bay.. 

Notice the lovely beet pickles.. 

Love the old plates that I picked up at a thrift store a couple of years ago.. 

Do you ladies love old dishes?  

Well, this seems to be a long post.. 

Sorry about that.. 

Probably you have all hung up on me by now but I had a phone call today from one of my favorite wee blog followers who thinks I do not post often enough and can't imagine why I would only write one line.. (Last post) smile..

I think he misses seeing his pic on here, too.. 

So.. 

I have included another one.. grin.. 

His Dad sent it to me by email.. 

It was titled.. 

Want to be like Gramps.. 

How cute is that?

Mustaches... yeah!!  

Perhaps, I shouldn't say this but if they turn out like their 

Grandpa they will be wonderful men and their families will be blessed.. 

They may drive their wives and kids crazy sometimes but they will always know that they are loved.. 

They will also have their priorities in line.. 

Putting God and family above their own pursuits and no matter when they are needed they will be available.. 

Honest, faithful and hard working..

Just saying... smile.. 

Well, thank you dear hearts for listening to me one more time.. 

And Rafe I will try to do a better job and post more often.. 

Ok.. 

Grandma loves you.. 

God bless you all and I look forward to hearing from you .. 

Oh and welcome to the new followers .. 

I hope I can bless your life in some way.. 

Proverbs 17:6

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers..