Here we are once again at the end of another week. There has been yet more snow over the past few days and now the temperature has dropped way down. Yesterday morning when Thomason and I walked to the bank it was -29ºC with a bitter wind. Today is slightly more temperate so first thing I tackled shovelling off the deck; nothing like the 50cms of the last big storm but I didn’t want it to melt and leak through the garage roof.
It has also been a week of meetings, oh my goodness! 😊
There was nothing but snow on Monday but then on Tuesday I needed to attend 2 different Diocesan Meetings and ended up having to join both via Zoom as no puppy-sitters were available, all together I spent about 5 hours of that day staring at my laptop screen and was somewhat dazed by dinnertime. 😊
Wednesday Jessica and I had a lunch meeting about various pieces of Day Camp business, mostly concerning plans for the Training Retreat. We were able to cover a lot of territory, which was most encouraging. As mentioned last week, BILLETING of the Teams for that week is going to be the biggest hurdle we will need to overcome but there is a possibility that Jessica and her husband Tyler may even be willing to take one of the Teams, which would be fantastic.
Wednesday evening Pippa (mother of my Godson Tighe) dropped by to receive her birthday gift and also to have me do some mending of her older son, Malachi’s school uniform. Pippa was the CTM secretary for 2 years when our office was still at St. Matthew’s Church so we worked closely together. She had previously been a Day Camp Team member and leader and her Dad, Nick is currently CTM’s President. I have a special place in my heart for Pippa because, during the time we worked together, my Mum died and she couldn’t have been kinder or more supportive during those months when I was dealing with some pretty deep grief issues. It was great to spend a couple of hours together over some tea and cookies. Her life as an elementary school teacher with 3 school-aged children herself, doesn’t leave much time for social calls but we try to carve out a visit every couple of months. 😊
Thursday Sarah and baby Serena came for lunch. She and her husband Alexander are both Day Camp alumni and live in an apartment just round the corner from me but they are currently considering purchasing their first home so I got to hear all about that while Serena kept a wary eye on Thomason 😊.
Then yesterday committee member Mae Anne arrived mid-morning to begin work on the Team Binders. For the past few years Jessica has taken on this very big task so this is Mae Anne’s first stab at the job and she wants to get an early start. For her first session she went through the 6 thick binders removing all 2019 specific documents and began making a list of what will be needed for 2020. It is good to know that this important piece of work is now underway. During Mae Anne’s visit Mario the carpenter also turned up having been sent by Brian (my house advisor). Thursday morning I had had a nasty experience of getting locked out of the house with Thomason inside. This was not because I had forgotten my keys but because the 112-year-old brass doorknob refused to turn, which is what releases the latch to enter the house. I had to get an emergency locksmith, who took half an hour to come and who charged a huge fee for forcing the door open with some sort of pump gadget. He was not able to actually fix the knob and so put some highly inadequate plastic tape over the latch telling me it would not hold for long. Thus I was petrified to leave the house in case I could not re-enter.
Mario also was not able to fix the door knob but thinks he maybe can find a piece to replace the broken part. He removed the latch mechanism from the door frame so at least I will not get trapped again. It was quite a harrowing experience!!
I’m going to hold off baking until tomorrow afternoon as this coming Monday will be our Day Camp Committee Meeting and that includes dinner.😊 I’m making a Macha Cake for the dessert plus I need to bake some bread and bagels since my recent boarder, Steven, who is currently working in Halifax is going to be arriving Monday to spend a week here as he hopes to have a few meetings and an interview. I have not yet mentioned the visit to Thomason as Steven is one of his favourite people and I’m afraid Thomason’s level of enthusiasm might be a bit overwhelming if he gets hyped up too far ahead of Steven’s actual arrival!
There hasn’t been much time for crafting this week, although I did finish another pair of Nfld. gloves and then sewed a gift bag for them and I have chosen the designs for this Easter’s Pysanky gifts as Ash Wednesday and thus Lent are quickly looming on the horizon 😊
This post seems to be getting too long so let’s close off with our recipe-
I seem to be a bit of an Asian Food junkie this month; I think it is a reaction to having eaten more traditional foods over the Christmas Season 😊
Hoping you try Bok Choy and Mushrooms with Noodles!Ingredients
- 2 Tbsps. olive oil
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp. ginger
- 1 head bok choy, chopped
- ½ cup kale, chopped
- 8 oz. sliced mushrooms
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 12 oz. brown rice noodles
- Tamari Soy sauce
Instructions
In a Dutch oven heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add red pepper, ginger, bok choy, kale and mushrooms. Stir to combine them while cooking for 2-3 minutes until the greens wilt. Transfer to a bowl.
In the same pot bring chicken broth to a boil. Add brown rice noodles, cooking as instructed on package. When the noodles have 4 minutes left, add vegetables and stir.
Ladle into bowls and serve accompanied by Tamari. Serves 4