This is definitely a week when I need to get started on my post on Friday and not wait for Saturday 😊
My former long time boarder, Steven, is arriving later today and will be staying until Monday. He is driving his parent’s van from Edmonton in order to collect his possessions both from my house and from a storage locker that he still has in Montreal. In the Fall he will be starting Medical School and so will be settled in Alberta for the foreseeable future. Needless to say I hove not breathed a word to Thomason about his imminent arrival as I know my furry friend will go ballistic when he hears Steven’s name as they were firm friends when Steven was living here 😊.
Of course there also happens to be a CTM Board meeting scheduled for 230pm Sunday plus Steven’s dad, William, will be joining us for dinner that night. William is flying in tomorrow and will share the driving with Steve on the long trip back to Alberta in the loaded van. He is staying with some other friends who live in Montreal but it will be nice to visit with him Sunday evening.
Much of my office time this week has been devoted to getting our “Terrific Tuesdays” posts ready for publication. I finalised all the crafts for the 5 posts, wrote out all the instructions and created supply lists. Then I made a sample of our Week 1 craft, a papier maché stick puppet. The week 1 story is the Wedding at Cana and we are suggesting that our virtual Campers choose a character from the story for their puppets so I chose the Bride. And am quite happy with the way she has turned out.
Monday was my Godson Tighe’s birthday and he and his Mum and sister biked over so I could give him his birthday crown. It was a hot and sunny day so I took out a tray of ice water and marble cake and we sat on the lawn in the shade (suitably socially distanced 😊) while Tighe opened his gift. I was so pleased to see how happy he was with the crown. The symbols on it represent a couple of milestones he has reached during COVID-19. One was a red bicycle, as he has learned to ride a two-wheeler! And another was a book as he has also learned to read 😊 Way to go Tighe!!!!
Tuesday I had an afternoon ZOOM meeting of the Bishop’s Commission on Ministry. Fortunately it was shorter than usual as I also had to pick up a grocery order at 5pm, but Thomason and I made it on time.
As Wednesday was a provincial holiday, Fête St. Jean, my second order needed to be picked up yesterday afternoon, so now I’m all stocked up for the weekend visitors!
In between everything else I managed yesterday to get the lawns mown and Bishop Mary stopped by to order some masks from me in the appropriate liturgical colour (red) for an Ordination. During the summer she will conduct 2 Ordinations but due to the COVID-19 guidelines these will be very small private services with only the candidates, their sponsors, and their immediate families. It is still virtually impossible to find narrow elastic locally as EVERYONE is sewing masks but I found a Canadian supplier on Etsy and Mary has kindly offered to order it. Now I need to hunt out appropriate red fabric. She also needs the other liturgical colours and I think I have some suitable pieces for those too.
It is now late afternoon and I expect Steven will be arriving quite soon so we had better finish off with a recipe. For dessert tonight we will be having red grapes with Lemon Yoghurt Cake. I love this cake especially in the summer months. Do give it a try!
Lemon Yoghurt Cake
1 ½ cups unbleached flour- 2 tsps. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
-
1 cup plain whole‐milk yoghurt
- 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsps. lemon zest
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup sunflower oil
-
1/3 cup lemon juice
- For the glaze:
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 Tbsps. lemon juice
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Preheat the oven to 350º Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the oil into the batter, making sure it is well incorporated. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice with the 1/3 cup sugar until syrupy. When the cake comes out of the oven pour the mixture over it. and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove from the pan and place on a rack until completely cool. Combine the icing sugar and 2 Tbsps. lemon juice and drizzle over the cake.
