October Edition – Hearth and Soul Link Party

Welcome to The October Edition of The Hearth and Soul Link Party. I hope you are safe and well and enjoying lovely fall weather – or spring weather if you are in the Southern Hemisphere. My prayers are definitely going up for those of you who are experiencing extreme weather including tornadoes and floods. Here in the UK things have been relatively settled weather wise and we are enjoying some nice autumn days.

The October Edition – The Latest

When I wrote the copy for the September Hearth and Soul Link Party, of course I had no idea what would happen in the days that followed. As everyone knows, on 8th September at 3.10pm in the afternoon, we lost our wonderful Queen. In the following days, we watched history unfold before our eyes, all of us emotional and feeling quite lost. Even those who were not necessarily in favour of the monarchy appeared to be moved. As we mourned, I considered the profound effect that Queen Elizabeth had on our nation and the world as a whole, but I also realised she had a profound effect on me personally. As I often do, I turned to writing to help me process my feelings. I wrote Things I Learned From The Queen in tribute to how Her Late Majesty shaped my experience over the last 57 years.

I also shared a photograph of our visit to Ely Cathedral lit up in tribute to the Queen in the days following her death on Instagram and Facebook.

This month my family and I will be travelling back to Canada for the first time since 2019. In the 33 years I have lived in England, I have never been away for so long. I am so excited for our visit, and to see family and friends!

New On The Blog – The October Edition – And An Anniversary!

October marks the twentieth anniversary of the launch of my first website, The 21st Century Housewife. I have been blogging ever since! I am so grateful for the support of all of my readers, old and new, over the past twenty years and I am excited for the future.

In celebration of this milestone, I’m sharing My Top Blogging Tips for anyone who writes a blog, as well as How A Blog Can Help Your Business for those of you who are entrepreneurs or run small businesses. You may also enjoy How Pinterest Can Help Your Business.

I’ve updated my post on visiting Windsor Castle and St George’s Chapel, the final resting place of Queen Elizabeth II with current information and new photographs.

If it’s delicious fall recipes you are after, there is plenty on offer. From Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins inspired by a visit to the Lake District and Old Fashioned Banana Cake to Easy Oatmeal Coconut Cookies there are lots of ideas to sweeten up the season. For something a bit more savoury, my Apricot Pecan Quick Bread is delicious plain or spread with fresh butter and makes a delicious breakfast or snack.

Plus there are plenty of easy recipes for main dishes the whole family will love. Oh, and don’t miss my late mother-in-law’s Pear Tart recipe. It’s an authentic French recipe shared by a friend and our family has been enjoying for three generations.

You won’t believe how easy it is. You don’t even have to roll out the pastry if you don’t want to!

The Hearth and Soul Community

Many of you have joined the Hearth and Soul Community on Facebook and I am really enjoying connecting with you there. If you haven’t already, please join nearly 50 other talented and engaged community members in celebrating everything that feeds the soul – even when the link party isn’t open! It’s a great way to get to know your fellow contributors better and another way to highlight your content.

The October Edition – Featured Posts

Thank you all for sharing your inspiring content. Here are just a few of the posts that caught my eye this month:-

Penny of Penny’s Treasures gets a head start on fall decor with a tutorial on Styling an Antique Dough Bowl. Carol at Comfort Spring also shared some beautiful Fall Decor Inspiration. In addition, I loved these cute Easy DIY Book Pumpkins from Creatively Beth.

Lauren of Oatmeal with a Fork has a recipe for Healthy Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes that look delicious but only have about 50 calories each – and if you use gluten-free oats, they are gluten-free too! Molasses gives such a wonderful flavour to baked goods and it’s particularly suited to this time of year. Don’t miss this Gluten-Free Molasses Banana Bread (or is it a cake?) from Shirley of Gluten Free Easily. I’m also looking forward to giving this Apple Cinnamon Bread from Lisa of Lisa’s Everyday Life a try!

InstaEncouragements introduces us to a new series of children’s books with a sweet little protagonist named Alma Louise. These beautifully illustrated stories share simple lessons for little ones. And finally, Style Yourself Confident shared a colourful tribute to Our Rainbow Queen.

On with the link up!

The Hearth and Soul Link Party – October Edition

• The Hearth and Soul Link Party is held monthly, opening on the first Sunday of every month and remaining open until the 25th of the month, or until 300 entries are reached. Please share a maximum of 8 links per month. 
• Please share the permalink to your blog post with the October edition, not a link to the home page of your blog. Please do not link to anything except blog posts.
• By submitting a post to the October edition of the link party here, you assert that you own the content and photographs. You also give me permission to share them here on the blog as well as on Pinterest, Twitter, and both my own Facebook page and  The Hearth and Soul Community Facebook Group. 
• Please continue to visit and share the October edition throughout the month. I will visit share as many posts as I can across my social media platforms. Please share the party with your friends and followers using the buttons at the top of the post.

I look forward to seeing your wonderful content! Please continue to visit, connect with other participants and share both the party and posts that resonate with you across your social media channels.