Today is Remembrance Day.
During the week my boarder, Jillian asked me for some advice as to how to impart the concept of Remembrance Day to the young children she would be leading in some extra-curricular activities. It is super hard because although we do not want to frighten these small people with the horrors of war we must at the very least, instil in then such a desire for peace that the coming generations will
never be able to condone global conflict again.
never be able to condone global conflict again.
I think Jillian must have done a good job because she told me that, as they glued red petals on paper poppies, several children had shaken their heads and solemnly said it was “so sad”. Of course we want children to be happy all the time but we also need to help them experience other emotions as long as it happens in a healthy and caring environment. Remembrance Day is a time to help them understand some of the harder lessons of our troubled world .
We do a pretty fair job of walking this line in Day Camps. Some stories we share from the Scriptures are full of joy but we also teach the hard and difficult things doing so from the context of loving and safe space.
This week I’ve spent quite a lot of time listening to Christmas music. A passing eavesdropper might well think I was pushing the Season, little would they know that I’m actually trying to assess the impact of the 2018 Liturgical Dance, hoping that it will be repeated during Advent and Christmas Services NEXT year! I have not yet found the right piece. So many of the most well known Christmas Carols have been reduced to saccharine “muzac” blaring through loudspeakers in shopping centres, beginning on the day after Halloween. UGH!! So I’ve been leaning towards more obscure songs and Advent Carols in the hopes of finding the perfect fit.
This past summer our Liturgical Dance was the African Song- “Seed to Sow”, very upbeat and multicultural to go along with the “On Fire!” Theme so this year it would be good to illustrate to host communities the flexibility of this form of prayer by perhaps choosing a quieter and more reflective piece. Oh dear! This is hard!!! Besides scrolling through YouTube there has also been the usual amount of correspondence, a bank deposit, posting Facebook and calendar events etc.
As Advent draws closer most communities are too busy gearing up for Christmas Pageants and Carol Services to give much thought to summer Day Camps so my work tends to turn inward and focus on various aspects of Program preparation and other advance planning.
Midweek the weather also turned very wintery with temperatures dropping below -10º and even a sprinkling of snow. This caused the fallen leaves to freeze firmly to the ground so that even this morning it was hard to rake them off the now frozen lawns and flower beds. It will likely warm up a bit again before winter truly begins, meanwhile the scene outside it pretty drab!
This weekend I’m preparing for another visit from my “Ottawa Godsons” as their parents will be having a couple of days away from home to celebrate their wedding anniversary. The small “tribe”will be delivered to my house on Monday evening and will stay until late Wednesday. This means stocking up on milk and juice, along with some of their favourite foods as well as making up beds and hunting out the big tub of Lego!
After raking for over two hours this morning it seemed wiser to concentrate on prepping baking for tomorrow rather than launching into it late this afternoon. Right now Wil is giving me “the LOOK”, his internal clock has still, after one week, not yet adjusted to the time change and so despite the fact that it is only 4pm he is convinced it is suppertime.😊
Well before I am forced to give in and feed him, we’ll close off with a recipe. Since we have had such a cold week I’ve been pulling out all my soup and stew recipes. One evening we enjoyed…
White Bean, Mushroom & Tomato Stew
- 2 Tbsps. olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. each dried thyme, fennel & sage
- 12 oz. mixed mushrooms, quartered
- ¼ cu chicken broth
- 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can diced tomatoes with juices
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- Grated Parmesan for serving
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high and add the onion, garlic and herbs. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft and browned. Stir in the mushrooms and broth, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes and cilantro and simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly thickened. Serve over brown rice. Serves 4