Wednesday 26 January 2022

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

Monday 10 January 2022

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

Monday 3 January 2022

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