08/06/19

Here we are at the second weekend of June. Only two weeks before the start of Day Camps. It seems unbelievable that summer is nearly here!   We have had good news and bad news this week.
        The good news is that we now have SIXTEEN Team Members; we gained three more as a result of last Saturday’s Kick-off Event! And one of those  people,Kelvin, who has been on Team for the past 5 summers is also willing to serve as a Training Team Leader, which is wonderful 😊
      After rejoicing for about 8 hours in the fact that we now had the required 3 Training Leaders, Mae Anne informed me that a replacement for her, at the special needs camp where she will be working all summer, cannot be found and so she will be unable to lead a Training Team. AGH!!!!! That is the first piece of bad news.
      The other bad news is ongoing and that is the need to find FIVE more host communities for Day Camps. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that we will not be able to find all five places but if we could even find 2 or 3 it would make a huge difference to the current situation.
      There are several people both here in Montreal and in other provinces, who are working on our behalf to try and fill in the gaps but I’m finding it very hard myself to just sit and wait. I tend to be a pretty proactive person but after wracking my brain for days I’m just running out of places to contact. It is terribly discouraging to receive a constant stream of negative replies to my calls and emails and even worse when one frequently does not receive a reply at all .☹️
      There have been summers when we found places for Teams to go to even after they were already out on the road but that is really hard for them and also a logistical nightmare when trying to make travel arrangements so we must try in the next two weeks to fill in as many gaps as possible.So as is usual every year, I am trying to not miss the beauty of June by spending every waking moment hunkered down over this keyboard!
       It has actually been colder and wetter than usual, however it seems to be finally warming up and the garden is coming into full bloom. Of course the maple “keys” are also falling in their millions out of my three big trees, requiring daily raking and sweeping, when it isn’t raining!
       I have also managed this week to complete a 7thBirthday Crown for one of my Godsons whose birthday is coming up the last week in June and have sewn a couple of simple summer garments for myself.
     Thursday afternoon I gave Thomason his FIRST bath, which was quite the experience for both of us. He was not too excited about having buckets of water thrown over him, however we both survived and now he is all clean and shinier than ever 😊.
       Later this afternoon some friends are coming for High Tea so I had better wrap this up as I still have sandwiches to make and am hoping to set the tea table out on the deck. But first we need a recipe!
    Monday past Jessica and Tyler came for dinner as a slightly belated 2nd  Wedding Anniversary celebration. I made a Southeast Asian meal and for the main course we enjoyed…
Thai Beef & Cucumber Salad
  • 1 lb. French Steak
  • 1 English cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 French shallot, very thinly sliced
  • 5 oz. mixed spring greens
  • handful of roughly chopped fresh mint
  • 1 orange or red pepper, julienned
  • 1 tsp. chilli flakes
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • 3 Tbsps. rice vinegar
Sauté the steak in a dry frying pan until medium rare, about 4 minutes each side. Transfer to a plate to cool, slice into thin strips. Mix the steak with the cucumber, shallot and orange pepper. Just before serving, whisk together the chilli flakes, honey and rice vinegar and fold into the meat mixture. Arrange a bed of the greens on a shallow bowl or platter, top with the meat mixture and cover with a blanket of chopped mint. Serves 4
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