Into the Forest with a Daypack

 

Hello! 
This past weekend I went on a small adventure

with a couple of my children and our dog. 

The weather has been so warm and the sun has been shining.

It beaconed us out to enjoy the forest.

We hiked from our place up to a lake close by.

We built a fire

roasted some hotdogs and marshmallows

and had a lovely cup of tea 

with melted snow water.

My brother's family just gave us 

a wonderful day pack to take with us on our

excursions to the wild. 

It had that lovely kettle in it along with a bunch 

of other goodies! 

It is a perfect way to carry those things needed 

to enjoy some time outdoors.

Do you have one of these?

We used to just use a backpack, 

although this is much better as it's waterproof canvas.

Below is a picture of the open running water from the

springs across the lake.  

It's lovely to stand and listen to the running water in the

middle of the winter.

It was also super warm and you could hear the snow

melting in the trees and it sounded like 

it was raining. 

Sometimes it's just good to close our eyes 

when we're out

and listen to the forest sounds. 

I think the Lord draws us out of the busyness of life

to just listen to what he has created.

The evergreens along the trail

had some amazing frost on them to.

If you look closely the snow is quite

pokey looking with the crystals.

In the daypack were some great new cups!

Perfect for holding a cup of tea.

I love going through the trails and seeing all the different ways 

the trees fall when they are covered in snow.

The sun has been beautiful these past few days.

As the days lengthen it's so nice!

I know some may create amazing structured fires

but as you can see...

mine are just functional! :)  

I created a flat area to put the kettle 

and then just built up wood around it.  

We cooked our hot dogs, enjoyed our tea

and then pulled the fire apart a bit 

to roast marshmallows on the coals. 

We could have stayed out for hours....

but alas, it was time to head for home.

Sometimes it seems hard to get things together to go out.

It does take a bit of planning...but it's so worth it!

Praying you have a beautiful day!

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Treats and Cold Days

 

Hello! 
Fun things to do on cold days! 

It's been down in the -40's C and we needed something sweet! 

Of course there is always hot chocolate....

but cookies...yes please! 

I made some short breads and used a rubber stamp to add some

designs to it. 

Then I made some cookie dough and cooked it in 

mini muffin tins. 

Then as they came out of the oven I pushed a mini aero 

chocolate into the top to melt.  Yum! 

Then there are the brave kids out doing 

tea throws as the sun hovered over the trees.

The one back door we have was covered in lovely frost

and we covered the door with a wool blanket to help keep the cold out. 

I found a couple new rugs at the Dollorama in town. 

These are a bit more like the colours in my kitchen and

add a nice fresh feel to the room. 

I really like braided rugs and they make it so much 

nicer to stand in the kitchen while doing

cooking and washing dishes.

Plus the dog loves to lay on one while supervising 

the making of dinner. :) 

Thank you for dropping by! 

I hope you are staying warm this winter. 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Snacks and Snow

 

Hello! 
It's a cold winter's day and the temperature

is dropping. 

Strange...but I'm looking forward to it for one reason.

The sun should shine!  Oh I miss the sunshine at this 

time of year. 

I made some delicious hummus recently and I must 

say that it's delicious without tahini.  

For some reason I can't eat tahini anymore but this recipe 

doesn't include it and is wonderful! 

It's great to have this as a snack or a light meal with bread 

or tortilla chips.

Do you eat hummus?  What do you like to eat it with?

I learned that if you take the skins off the chickpeas

then it makes a much smoother hummus.  Yum! 

One can chickpeas

1 large garlic clove

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

Then I added extra olive oil to the top

along with a sprinkle of cumin and dried parsley.

I use an immersion blender, but any blender will do.

With the cold and snow the birds haven't been 

going far from the feeders. 

They are so fun to watch as they eat and fly about. 

There is a record amount of snow thus far this year.

It seems that we've been shovelling snow almost every day. 

Sadly our greenhouse roof collapsed from the weight of the snow.

We had tried to clear some but it was just not possible to do.  

So...springtime will entail some reconstruction. 

The snow is so beautiful but there is just so much of it. 

If you go off into the bush it's almost to my waist. 

With the winter darkness I did do some shopping therapy. ha! 

A new store in town had some lovely 

craft papers and chipboard butterflies that 

were just too hard to pass up.  

I hope to make some lovely cards

with these papers soon.

Something to do as the temps drop to the -40C at night this week.

Thank you for dropping by! 

Praying you are enjoying your wintertime.

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer