Tomorrow will be the last Sunday of Easter, as next Thursday marks Ascension Day. All terribly confusing with Easter falling so late this year and with Victoria Day Weekend falling early!
Appropriately the house has been turned upside-down for most of the week and is only now settling into it’s Pentecost/Summer mode. But there, I’m jumping ahead as usual!
Last Monday being a so-called “holiday”, was the best day for Jessica and myself to begin the Team Supply Inventory and packing of Supply Tubs. We met first thing, at Isaiah 40, and spent the morning counting out everything from paintbrushes and marker pens to pipe cleaners and paper fasteners (the minutiae of the Day Camp world, but oh so important to a Team far from and shops!)
By noon we had complied a long shopping list for Alexander, the Day Camps “gofer” (see this week’s Wednesday Words Guestblogger Post) so we came home and had lunch and then Jessica began the complex job of deconstructing the Team Leader’s Binders and preparing another long list; this time of documents to be printed by Henry owner of our amazing neighbourhood copy centre.
While Jessica worked at the kitchen table I opened up the leaves of the dining room table and began collecting the Spring/Easter ornaments from every room of the house, to be packed in tubs and in the big, seasonal barrel. Jessica departed mid-afternoon and I laboured on into the evening, making full use of the “holiday” time!
As of Tuesday, Day Camp work needed to take precedence over decorating, so began the slow process of saving all the Team Leader’s Binder documents as pdfs and then trying to compile a coherent explanation for Henry of just how many copies were needed, some recto verso, some 3 hole punched etc.
The week also saw the arrival of a couple more host church application forms (not NEW applications, just the paperwork for churches which were already plugged into the schedule) and a fair bit of other correspondence, especially of the “badgering of potential TeamMembers” kind. Yesterday, feeling pretty discouraged around this vital topic, I sent an extra plea to our band of Prayer Supporters, asking them to pray we could be led to find more of this rare species.
Wednesday, despite still not having completed the decorations, most of the day was spent on the third and final Retreat Week baking marathon: – 5 Baguettes, 3 loaves of Raisin Bread, 3 dozen Jamaican Patties and a big roasting pan of homemade Granola.
This coming week there will be one big “stove-top” Cooking session and then the advance cooking for the Retreat will be completed. The next phase being the compiling of HUGE shopping lists of groceries to be purchased a few days before the Retreat Week begins.
Thursday afternoon I did manage to carve out enough time to make “Juggling Sticks”, the last Craft sample, which I had agreed to make at home with my own materials as I hope to be able to use it as a future birthday gift for a child I know!!
The final big job of the week took place yesterday afternoon when Jillian arrived to assemble the Team Music Binders. It was great blessing to discover that NO FRESH COPIES of the song words, acetates or chords need to be made as everything was in the big file boxes of music, so it was merely a case of carefully compiling each of the 6 binders.Jillian stayed for dinner and we enjoyed a Tuscan Salad, a recipe preserved on a battered index card given to me by a dear friend who died a long time ago, and far too young.
This morning was my only opportunity for some intensive garden work, which consisted of waging the annual war against a gazillion falling maple pods and attacking a tangle of dead vines (due to the activities of last Autumn’s Brick Masons). Both jobs were arduous and not very amusing but since the next monster job is to eradicate some rather invasive Day Lily tubers, I guess this one wasn’t so bad!
So this afternoon consists of a mini version of “Bake and Blog” as tomorrow afternoon will be our CTM Board of Directors meeting and, since the Huyers are driving down from Ottawa especially to attend, they will be staying for High Tea, before driving back, as will ourPresident, Linda Faith, who has an evening Service at which to officiate.
There are several special dietary needs amongst those staying,so choosing a menu was a bit akin to tiptoeing through a mine field, but I trust there will be enough choices for everyone to make a decent meal. I am baking a flourless, lactose-free Almond Cake, and Cream Crackers from this recipe, and since the oven will be on, have decided it will be a good evening for a homemade pizza (fortunately I usually keep a batch of pizza dough on hand in the freezer for just such occasions.)
As for this week’s recipe, I thought I would share last night’s Tuscan Salad, in memory of my dear friend Kate!
Tuscan Salad
- 2 cups cooked Navy Beans
- 8 each, black and green olives, pitted and chopped
- 2 hardboiled eggs, diced
- 2 scallions, chopped
- 1 can flaked tuna
Place the above ingredients in a large bowl.
For the dressing whisk together: –
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsps. red wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsps. each fresh Thyme and Parsley,
minced - 1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
Pour this dressing over the bean mixtureand toss with a rubber spatula. Cover and chill well.
When ready to serve, wash a selection of fresh salad greens and arrange in a large shallow serving bowl. Mound the salad on top of the greens and serve immediately.Serves 2 very hungry people (ahem) or 4 not so ravenous eaters!