It is hard to believe we are already at the last weekend of September. The new reality in which the world lives seems to mess with time. Terms such as “Corona Virus”, “COVID-19” and “Social Distancing” all of which were unheard of 6 months ago are now commonplace in our vocabulary. Just last evening I was watching a video about architecture in small towns in France and everyone was walking around wearing masks as if that was the way things had always been, all so strange 😊
As mentioned in the last post, this week started off with 2 important CTM meetings. Sunday afternoon was the Board meeting and Monday evening the Day Camp Committee. Thus a large portion of my time since then has been devoted to typing up Board minutes and dealing with business arising from both meetings.
At the Board we decided to go ahead and publish the regular quarterly newsletter “Networks”, which needs to be sent out in time for Thanksgiving Weekend (October 10-12 this year) so I have been pulling together the template and still need to write an article about Day Camps. The issue (of course 😊) will focus on CTM’s response to COVID and will describe what each of the Camp ministries did over the summer. For the Day Camps article I also want to talk about the changes we plan to roll out over the coming months.
There have also been he usual bits and pieces of office correspondence to handle so it has been quite a full week in my “virtual” office, which usually consists of a chair and table in my living room, a laptop, sometimes the scanner and printer and several piles of notes and lists (always written on the backs of old Day Camp documents 😊) Oh and I forgot-also a mug of coffee, my cell phone a large puppy and a toy for him to chew on!
Today, being Saturday, I’m actually writing this at the kitchen table, as there is a pot of soup on the stove that needs attending to from time to time. Soup weather is back! Although I dread having to soon turn the furnace on, I must confess to being a real lover of all things “cosy” and so am looking forward to winter evenings under a quilt with said large puppy as a furry hot water bottle.
Outside of office hours there has been plenty to do in the garden. Last Sunday a neighbour brought me a Russian Sage plant and proposed an exchange, as she wanted a clump of the Spurge growing in my garden. I happily agreed and got out my spade to plant the Sage. I hope is takes well as it is a lovely plant with purple flowers that bloom all summer.
Soon there will be millions of leaves to rake and sweep so I will need to make a foray to the hardware store for paper leaf bags as the city will only collect leaves placed in those special bags. They grind them up to make mulch for city gardens, which is an excellent practice so I don’t mind having to buy the special bags.
Thursday afternoon I picked up my last CSA farm share of summer vegetables, however I have decided to accept the farmer’s offer of a subsidy and take the Thanksgiving box and a November “Winter Box” as having those root vegetables will be such a blessing as they last well into the new year. I have been participating in this CSA for almost 20 years and am very sad that the farmers have announced their retirement at the end of this season so the winter box will be the last one I shall ever have from them.
Well the soup needs attention so I had best end this off now.
If you are also a lover of “soup weather” perhaps you would like to make some too.
Here is the recipe, the original appears in “Soup for Syria”, I have tweaked it a bit so here is my version: –
Creamy Onion & Potato Soup
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 lb.potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 Tbsps. olive oil
- 1 large sprig fresh sage, plus more for garnish
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- pinch cayenne
- salt & pepper to taste
Heat the oil and add the onion and sage, sauté for several minutes until the onion is soft. Add the potatoes and sauté a few more minutes then stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked.
Cool slightly and purée, in batches, in a blender of food processor until smooth.
Return to the pan to reheat and add the cream and seasonings.
Serve with a sprig of sage as garnish. Serves 4-6.Freezes well.