Nothing as sweet as...

Hello everyone.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth tonight.. 

We have had a wonderful long weekend and today was a lovely busy day.. 

I thought you might like to share it with us.. 

On Mother's Day our youngest son was not able to get out to see us although he called several times.. smile.. 

His plan was to get together with us today as he worked all week..

Anyway, what a wonderful day we had..

They were up early and called to make sure we were going to be home and said they were going to Alma.. 

(For you who are not from here then it is our National Park which is located on our Bay of Fundy and is a fishing town).. 

Just down the coast a bit from St. Martins where our summer cottage is.. 

They called around noon and asked me not to make any supper that they were bringing it.. 

I mentioned it to Terry and said perhaps they would be bringing some kind of fish..smile.. 

Well, in they came with a lovely present and card for me along with a bag of the wonderful sticky buns that I mentioned a post or two ago.. 

Oh my.. 

Then in comes Dustin with a huge box of lobster for supper.. 

My word... 

They wanted to thank Terry for helping them out a few weeks ago..

We had so much fun.. grin.. 

 Veronique is a French Acadian who grew up on the ocean shore and does she know how to eat lobster!!.. 

She does not waste a speck of it and we finally learned the perfect way to eat one..

Terry was much impressed.. grin..  

Thank you so much kids.. 

We loved it all.. 

The wee boys are so much fun, too.. 

They brought me a bag of dulse, too.. 

I guess it is really seaweed but it is delicious.. 

Someone got a new scooter for his birthday and they had fun with the jumps that Dad and Grandpa made for them.. 

The rain didn't slow them down a bit.. smile..

Even the dogs had a great time.. 

Now if they could only teach me to speak French.. smile..

There really isn't anything as sweet in this world as our families, eh? 

We are so blessed.. 

Thank you, Lord.. 

I am so glad you all dropped by.. 

Your comments on one of my previous posts is so appreciated.. 

I am trying to reply to each one as often as I can. 

You guys are great.. 

Hugs.. 

A rainy day trip...

Hi all.. 

Want to come along for a drive in the country on a very rainy day?

By the time we returned home the evening sun appeared.. 

Beautiful Spring how I love thee.. 

Have a blessed Sabbath tomorrow.. 

God's promises never fail.. 

Thanks so much for your lovely comments and advice last post.. 

Love you all..

A few work details and a question or two...

Hello... 

Here we are at another weekend ... 

Spring is passing and the changes are very obvious here in New Brunswick, Canada.. 

We are, of course, much slower then our southern neighbors but that is fine.. 

It is so appreciated when it gets here in all it's glory..

As you know we will soon be heading to our old Summer cottage for a few months..  

Yesterday, we took a little trip down to start getting things in order.. 

Not to complain, mind you, but there is a lot of work to moving down there... 

As I am (now complaining) now in my dotage my bones act up to the dampness so we turned the heat all on .. 

That way it will be all dried out in a few weeks time when we actually get there.. 

The water pump needs hooked up again and the whole house needs cleaned.. 

Then we are planning on a few improvements to the cottage and shop so Terry had to measure and such... 

The pantry in the cottage needs finishing and I want to turn my craft room into a breakfast room since all that will be going to the shop... 

I am so excited as I mentioned before I was hoping there would be a space for me to work out front and there is!!! 

We hope to build a high counter out of old doors and then my work space will be behind and lower so no one can see my big mess.. 

The reason I found it so hard to be there for days on end was because there was not any place to work except in a back room and that was not convenient at all.. 

Now, I will be able to work away while people shop and still have a place to wrap parcels and chat ... 

The second great news is that some good friends are going to be owning the restaurant across the street again..  

They are fantastic and their food is incredible.. 

I have so missed them the last couple of years but they are back!!!

And.... 

One of my dear cousins is going to be working in the Inn which is right next to our cottage and shop so we will be able to visit a lot.. 

Yes.. 

I am once again getting excited to be going to the Bay of Fundy.. 

The thing is I will miss our wee church but it is only for a bit. 

Today, my cousin who lives in Florida all year except for the summer months called and said they will be arriving in a couple of weeks..

 She wants to see her lilacs blossom.. smile.. 

Here are a few pics I took while Terry was working.. smile.. 

The one at the top is the back side of our old place.. 

Needs a bit of tidying up but all in due time.. 

It was very wet there yesterday.. 

Our view of the Bay from our deck... 

On the other side of the cottage... 

It was very quiet as the tide was pretty well out.. 

The rhubarb bed is coming along..

It is slower there then here at home but will be just right by the time we move in.. 

Rhubarb Jam.... 

The old barn.. 

In need of some plants when we get there...

As you can see I need to do a bit of gardening and cleaning up... 

After, we went over to the shop and carried in the things I have collected thus far.. 

Terry measured and I tidied the herb bed.. 

A lot of the herbs did not come back this year for some reason so they will have to be replanted.. 

Oh well.. 

I needed violets for my salves and we had not come across any up here so we went to one of our favorite patches... 

Yupppp... 

There were lots there.. 

Dear hubby kind of got his feet wet but he picked a big bag of them.. 

They were at our daughter's house.. 

I sent her a text and she said she had lots of violets.. 

We had a little visit with her and the grandsons.. 

Dave was working.... the dear thing.. 

The boys are growing so tall.. 

All excited for their annual Youth Convention.. 

Their 3 cousins are going with them and staying overnite..  

So blessed... 

Shonda actually has lady slippers growing on her property so I was wondering if they were out yet.. 

She said she would go and see... 

Isn't that precious? 

They were not ready but look at this patch.. 

A mixture of violets and innocents.. 

The white ones my Mom calls innocents and they do not grow up here... 

Today I picked over the violets and have them drying overnite.. 

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will be making this...

Violet Salve... 

You can find the link HERE for the recipe..

It is one of my best sellers.. 

Good for burns especially and  any skin irritations... 

I can't write a post without showing you some food... 

Right? 

Someone told me the other day about being at some special restaurant and this is what they ordered.. 

Pasta and Meatballs... 

Only there was just one large meatball each and I think they said there was cheese in the middle.. 

So.... 

I just used my regular recipe but only made 4 big meatballs and stuck a piece of cheese in each ...

We only ate one each and I froze the other two until next time.. 

Terry gave his approval on this one.. smile.. 

All week I have been trying out bowl meals.. 

Took several pics but did not realize that I forgot to put the card back in my camera and they are on the internal part.. 

As my Picasso is all messed up I cannot get them off.. 

Oh well...Another time.. 

Thanks once again for your visits as I am so happy to have you.. 

Thanks also for the lovely emails that have encouraged me so much.. 

I do have a couple of questions for you that are kind of bugging me.. 

QUESTIONS.. 

1... Is there anything I can do to make this blog more interesting? 

More pics... less chat... more info... ????

2.   I do not seem to be getting many followers of late and was wondering if you know why... ????

3.. Maybe, I should post more often.. ????

When there are not many comments I really do find it hard to post again soon if you know what I mean.. 

4.  Maybe I should answer each comment..???

I know there are faithful readers out there and I appreciate it so much but I would like for the site to grow and am curious as to what you all think..

Perhaps, I get on my soap box too much.. grin.. 

Take care, dear hearts and have a wonderful weekend..  

LINKED TO..SUNNY SIMPLE MONDAYS..

Keepers of the Home Mother's Day Breakfast..

Hello everyone.. 

So glad you dropped by today.. 

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day.. 

On Saturday the Keepers had a wonderful breakfast cooked for us by the men of our church.. 

We had a blessed time and so I thought I would share some pics with you and tell you about our day..

Just a few preparations..

Don't you love pansies ?

 I decided that again this year we would have them for centrepieces... 

They make quite a mess so this got done here at home.. 

Clay pots from the dollar store are great.. 

Just threw in a few stones for drainage on the bottom, mixed up a bit of Terry's secret mixture and planted them..

Terry and I took a drive and he picked some moss.. 

I love using this around all of my potted plants for the deck.. 

It helps keep moisture in and is free.. smile.. 

Then on Thursday evening a few of us met at the church and put together a few items.. 

We had such fun.. 

My dear Mom donated a lot of cups and saucers and we made bird feeders to pass out to each of the ladies.. 

The how-to is HERE

Just so you know ... 

The E6000 glue is at Michael's and you can use your coupon... 

Then Lindsay made little bird feed cheesecloth bags..

The ladies loved them.. 

Then a dear girl whose Mom comes to Keepers picked a bunch of 

our Eastern Canada Mayflowers.. 

Thank you, Becky.. 

We made little posies with them.. 

Wrapped a bit of old lace around them and kept them in water until that morning.. 

Even the wee girls loved them..

And there was a poem for each lady about the Mayflower.. 

This sweet soul was our first guest..

My Mom...

Not a good quality picture.. sorry.. 

Coffee was on and everyone got acquainted.

And we checked out the Penny Auction goodies..

And then Mom prayed the blessing upon the food and we all dove in.. smile.. 

What delicious food the men made.. 

At each place was a fancy dish of fruit salad and there was ham, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, homemade jam, Belgian waffles, fresh strawberries and such.. 

My breakfast.. 

Looks good, eh? 

What great waffles.. Yummmmm...

We had a lot of fun and there were some terrific buys.. 

The auctioneers were a hit.. 

A couple of them were doing a skit at the same time.. 

Thank you dear hearts.. 

We then had a wonderful speaker who gave us a marvelous message.. 

Very touching but with strokes of humor that had us in stitches.. 

We so enjoyed it and even the little girls listened to every word.. 

Thank you dear Pastor's wife.. 

The picture of her did not turn out.. 

We had lots of door prizes..

The little girls won wee peat pots of pansies and were given hair bands by *Joelle*..

Aren't they sweet?. 

They didn't know each other when they arrived but were fast friends when they left.. 

And there was a bit of picture taking..  

One of our crazy auctioneers and dear daughter.. 

So glad she was able to be there ..

Thankful for all of our guests.. smile..  

God certainly blessed this sweet gathering.. 

It was so much fun but profitable in so many ways.. 

Sweet fellowship with other mamas and words of wisdom that caused us to remember our blessings.. 

Realizing that God has given us mothers the highest of callings.. 

That of being Mother to our children.. 

Not only feeding and clothing them but guarding them against the pitfalls of this old world.. 

Calling on God for their salvation and protection.. 

Teaching them to put God first in their lives.. 

This life is a temporal thing but eternity is forever.. 

We need to help them to prepare for what comes after this life..

We have to let them see that Mama believes in prayer and putting God first in her life.. 

Right?

All in all it was a great morning.. 

Thanks so much for your sweet visit.. 

Love your little notes that you leave.. 

Hope to have some interesting posts coming up.. 

We can live in hope anyway, eh?  grin.. 

Love you all.. 

Thinking of changes and a recipe for you..

Hello there ladies.. 

Just sharing a few pics of our old cottage that is patiently waiting for our soon return.. 

About another month and we will be getting ready for our Summer migration.. smile.. 

These pics were taken before in the month of May. 

The shop is the little cottage and we need to get there and start getting it ready for the season.. 

We hope next week to head down that way..

I love the Bay of Fundy and will be happy to listen to the nightly waves and hear the wind blowing through the windows..

But for now I am enjoying still being home. 

The wind is blowing here tonight, too.. 

There has been a bad forest fire over near our farm and we are praying they get it under control.. 

Three homes have been lost so far.. 

We really need rain.. 

I included a picture of an old house that is on the Bay and one of my favorites.. 

The dear girl who owns it lives in Ontario and is one of the sweetest people you could meet.. 

We see each other and just pick up where we left off.. grin.. 

There are many nice things about moving back for the Summer and she is one of them.. 

There are also a lot of dear friends and cousins, of course, that makes the cottage such a lovely place to be.. 

Another is our nightly drives.. 

We go most evenings.. 

Just wee drives sometimes with a sugar free cone and then end up parking along the waves you see there.. 

We roll down our windows and Terry puts his seat back.. 

Not me.. 

I sit up and watch the waves until I get sleepy and then we head home to our warm bed... smile.. 

Anyway.. 

I promised the little how to for the cinnamon buns..

The first pic is of the no knead bread recipe which is found

 HERE..

No Knead Cinnamon Buns.. 

All I made was half of the recipe for the pan you see.. 

If you need more then use the regular recipe.. OK? 

I didn't measure but I will give you the idea.. 

Raise the bread the first time in the bowl and punch down.. 

Have some butter and I mixed about a half cup of brown sugar and a big spoon of cinnamon.. 

Then I made little rolls in my hand and buttered them with soft butter and rolled them in the cinnamon sugar and placed in a buttered tin.. 

Let rise until doubled.. 

Bake in a 350 degrees F. oven for only 25 minutes... 

Check them at 20 minutes but it also depends on the size of the rolls. You may need longer ..

When they are cool drizzle some vanilla icing on the top.. 

A little butter creamed well, icing sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt.. 

Add a tablespoon of milk at a time until you get a good consistency.. 

Hope you like them.. 

I don't believe there are many calories in them.. (rolled eyes)

Someone left a comment and wanted to know if I 

made sticky buns.. 

I used to years ago but I haven't for ages.. 

I dearly love them and would eat way too many.. 

So I wait until we take a trip to a little town on the other side of the Fundy Trail in Alma and get a pan of theirs.. 

The best sticky buns in Canada.. 

Really.. 

Have a wonderful evening dear hearts.. 

Thanks for dropping by and leaving your little notes so I know you were here.. 

God bless..