Can you believe it? we are off and running with Day Camps 2015!!
Monday last, the “new” committee gathered for our first meeting of the fall season, put our heads down and ploughed full force into the work of next summer’s program. As one member noted, “that was a very productive meeting”, music to my ears!!
We allocated Manual Chapters, some to committee members, some being suggestions for me to contact, reviewed plans for the 2 upcoming Fall events- the Team Gathering, on October 4th and the Coffee House on November 7th, made a Devotions/Secretary Roster for committee meetings over the year ahead, put together a tentative list of Wednesday Words Guest Bloggers, which stretches (God Willing) from October to June and finally, Sarah volunteered to liaise with the Prayer Support Group so we roughed out a list of current prayer needs to be sent off to those faithful “pray-ers” Whew, all in one evening!!
Of course we were first well fuelled with a substantial dinner of Hearty Cabbage Soup, Sourdough Caraway Rye Bread, Hot Apple Cider and Carrot Cake.
Of course we were first well fuelled with a substantial dinner of Hearty Cabbage Soup, Sourdough Caraway Rye Bread, Hot Apple Cider and Carrot Cake.
Thus work was cut out for me over the rest of the week as I set out to contact all those on the various lists. Initial responses have already been positive. We have some exciting Wednesday Words columns lined up from now until February (woot woot!) Rebecca has agreed to work again this year on a Program Logo (YAY!!) and a number of Program Manual Chapters are already allocated.
Walking Wil this afternoon I was really struck by the size of the CTM community and the way this wonderful family of diverse people is so open to responding when the requests go out and to contributing their many different gifts and talents to the Ministry and ultimately to the Glory of God. It is totally humbling to sit at the hub and to see this wonderful patchwork begin to come together. Wow!
So has there been time for anything else? Oh yes! Lot’s of visitors whose visits included everything form intensive knitting lessons to overhauling of the “Nostalgia” pictures right here on the Blog (do take a look!).
There has been gardening, baking, sewing of Christmas gifts, wedding gift assembling, knitting plus I FINALLY spent part of a morning down at St. Stephen’s House sorting out and cleaning the Crafts Room, a MAJOR upheaval. This last also resulting in my bringing home to launder some altar linens, which were discovered in a drawer and in my being asked to make a new Autumnal Wreath for the St. Stephen’s House Door (finished that job yesterday afternoon).
Next Saturday, there is to be a fundraiser at church for a Malawi mission and I was asked if I had any crafts I could contribute. Since I have a number of crosses, extras from the annual crafting of Team Crosses, I thought those might be suitable to offer so yesterday I sorted them out and made little cards on which to display them for sale. One more project in the offing is the possibility of my starting an Etsy shop so Jillian has been over to offer her expertise as she has most generously agreed to photograph my artwork, if the plan comes together.
Today has been a big rush in preparation for an overnight visit from the Huyers. They will be come this evening and staying until tomorrow evening. Coming to church with me in the morning, joining me for lunch and then participating in the September CTM Board meeting, taking place here tomorrow afternoon. The first Crossroads Service will be held tomorrow evening and it is always a special reunion time for SYC Campers, so before driving home to Ottawa the Huyers will also be able to stop by and see everyone at the pizza supper which precedes the Service.
Several friends have enquired about the Green Tomato Mincemeat I made last weekend so I decided to share the recipe here. This is the time of year to boil up a batch in preparation for Christmas baking!!
Green Tomato Mincemeat
- 5lbs. green tomatoes, cored and diced
- 1 Tbsp coarse sea salt
- 4 cups firm pears, cored and diced
- 6 cups apples, cored and diced
- 3 ½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup fresh apple cider
- ½ cup cider vinegar
- 2 tsps. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. each cloves, allspice & ginger
- 2 ½ cups raisins
- ½ cup hard cider
Place green tomatoes in a colander and sprinkle with salt, leave to drain for at least 2 hours. Once tomatoes are well drained, combine all ingredients (except the hard cider) in a large non reactive pot. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring frequently, until there is no excess liquid and mixture mounds on a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in hard cider.Ladle into sterilized jars. These can either be processed in boiling water for 30 minutes and then sealed(stored in a cool place it will keep up to 2 years) OR the jars can be kept in the fridge
for a few months.Makes approx. 8 pints. (4 litres).
for a few months.Makes approx. 8 pints. (4 litres).