Welcome spring!
We actually have not had any fresh snow this week so although we are still surrounded by towering piles, at least it is slowly beginning to melt so there is hope!
It has been a hopeful week, too, in the world of Day Camps. We covered a lot of territory at our committee meeting on Monday evening including a productive discussion around preliminary plans for the Training Retreat. And we have news of two more Team Members! Yahoo!!! Tuesday morning I got a text from a young woman in Ontario who was a Team Leader in 2016, saying that she is filling out her application and then on Wednesday I received a reference arrived for someone in Montreal who had been an excellent local helper last summer.
We are also super excited to announce that we will be going all the way to British Columbia this summer, which is VERY exciting! Here is a chart illustrating the schedule, to date. As you can see, there are still a few “holes” so if you are reading this post and would be interesting in hosting a Day Camp Week in one of the vacant spaces PLEASE contact the CTM office-office@crosstalkministries.ca.
The Day Camps in GREEN font are totally definite, those in ORANGE font are still tentative.
The same thing goes for potential Team Members. If you know of a young person, age 15+ who would be a good candidate to serve a 6-week short term mission this summer PLEASE have them contact our office 😊.
We have our Easter Team Gathering coming up n 2 weeks and unfortunately the priest who we had invited to speak and celebrate the Eucharist is now unable to come. However a long time Day Camp groupie, Chris Belle, has stepped into the breach and we are SO happy that things are back on track. This morning I messaged Emmanuel, who is going to organise the worship music to give him a heads up and hopefully his group will all be on board for the Gathering.
For the balance of this week I’ve squeezed in time to type up the first draft of the minutes from our AGM and also to compile content for the President’s report of CTM, which is included each year in the convening circular of our Diocesan Synod. I am also reaching out almost every day to prospective Team Members, encouraging them to fill out forms.
The baking for the Training Retreat has continued and every time I use the oven I make at least one more item. Today it will be Chinese Almond Cookies, part of the dessert for an Asian dinner during the Retreat week. I think I have about 3 more desserts to bake and then will turn my attention to a couple of make-ahead main course dishes.
Afternoons have been dedicated to more Easter sewing as I finished up the fabric “buckets”, which will hold various Easter Ttreats and also created 6 rabbit softies for my Godsons and their siblings. Wednesday afternoon I completed 2 Birthday Crowns for Godsons Alexander and Andrew and Thursday sent them off by Priority Post to arrive in time for Alexander’s Birthday Party today. I just tracked the parcel and am happy to report that it has been delivered. Whew! One more important item checked off the long “to-do” list 😊
So today is a bit of baking and blogging and than preparations for a Spanish Inquisition, happening at 4pm. Usually Spanish Inquisitions are confined to young couples who are planning to get married but this one was a special request from my dear friend, Jenna, who has been happily married for quite a while but whose husband I do not know as well. It is unlikely that the “Inquisitor” will give him a thumbs down rating but this event is also a good excuse to assemble a blow-out “High Tea” so most of my day is devoted to filling hardboiled eggs, cutting little squares of bread for Angels on Horseback, baking Herb Scones and polishing the silver tea service 😊.
I’m hoping there will be a few leftovers from the Tea as, yesterday I had an email from Nancy Craig (Day Camp Coordinator extraordinaire, from Edmonton) who is in Montreal this weekend for a short conference and is hoping to drop by later this evening for a visit. I haven’t seen her for at least 2 years, so this will be a bonus treat at the close of a full day 😊
Before I head off to begin all those tasks, we need a recipe. The aforementioned Herb Scones look pretty yummy. I’m going to serve them with a salmon and cream cheese spread. Here is the recipe…
Herb Scones.
- 2 cups flour
- 2½ tsps. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 4 Tbsps. butter
- ¾ cup cream
- 1 Tbsp. finely chopped Thyme
- 1 egg, beaten
In the bowl of a food processor, whisk together the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter, pulsing to form large crumbs. Slowly pour in the cream through the feed tube. Stop the, machine as soon as the dough comes together. Do not over mix. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a round ½” thick. Cut into 8 wedges and transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a preheated 400º oven for 15minutes. Cool on a rack and serve immediately or wrap well and freeze.
