Another week is almost over and it is hard to believe we are nearing the end of July! Always at the back of my mind I compute each week of the summer in terms of Day Camps, this would have been the end of Week 2, the halfway point in a Team’s 4-week itinerary. If we are able to restart the program in 2022 one advantage to communities of our not sending out Teams will be that, because we are not locked into the 4 week schedule, each community will be able to host it’s Camp whenever they choose, throughout the whole summer and if every place wishes to hold a Day Camp on the same week, they could still have their first choice. Of course whether communities will want to purchase our programs without the Team component is a moot point.
Forging ahead, I have spent a major part of my time this week continuing the writing and compiling of my e-book as mentioned in the last couple of posts. I am now at the outlines for summer Gatherings, which seems appropriate as I write sitting outside on the porch on hot July mornings. Each Gathering requires a lot of fleshing out since, when they were being held at St. Matthew’s or St, Stephen’s, there were people in real time helping with every aspect and I was responsible for preparing various activities so I never wrote out any instructions. It is interesting to mentally step away from the outlines, imagine them happening in unknown venues and then write down concise directions that would be helpful to the those facilitating them. Of course all this is only a first draft and will, no doubt require lots of rewriting and honing down. But at least I feel I am putting in work time on something that might prove valuable to some churches and communities.
Wednesday I had a lovely visit with Jessica who is a former committee member and who still undertakes various one-off projects on behalf of Day Camps. She did all the layout for the most recent iterations of the Program Manuals and also the new Community Planner. I asked her advice about layout for the e-book and she has already made some great suggestions, which I shall certainly be adopting.
The saga of the “mise à jour” (ie “renewal”) of the CTM Police Records Checks “Protocole” also continues. AGH!!!!! This week the officer working on our dossier contacted me to say the department had not received my personal records check application that I had filled out in May and which had, to my knowledge had been submitted to the SPVM that month. So I had to get in touch with Sophie, the ”Responsable” at the Synod Office, and the matter ended up with my talking with the Vicar General (thank goodness he is a Team Alumnus 😊). Since the form has apparently been lost I had to print out a new one, fill it in and then Sophie, who also lives in NDG, came and picked it up at the house on Wednesday morning, sigh, renewing this Protocole has certainly been quite the marathon, and it’s not over yet.
Thursday Jillian came for a visit (I always seem to end up with visitors back to back and then about a month long gap before anyone comes again). We enjoyed time together in the afternoon, had dinner together and then watched a movie she had brought to share with me. It was the first time I had watched a movie with anyone in about 18 months, so it was a real treat. it was called Song of the Sea and the graphics reminded me of the Miyazaki films we used to watch together a few years ago.
Of course when any visitors come one always has the added problem of dealing with Thomason’s antics. When Jessica visited Thomason was so excited that he leapt up at me and ripped my apron AND my new patchwork Plinka Pants. I was not amused and had to spend time the next day mending them. When Jillian came he was slightly more civilised as she is probably the person (except for “Uncle” Steven) who he saw the most as a puppy pre-pandemic so he seems to accept her now, even though her visits have been a much rarer occurrence during COVID. Of course we also spent plenty of time discussing various aspects of Day Camps, which was super helpful as much of the time I feel as if my work happens in a vacuum.
There hasn’t been a lot of spare time for other projects this week but I did complete the bookbinding, which was a pretty intense venture and now have 8 journals in hand that will make great Christmas Gifts for some special friends 😊.
Today is the usual “Baking and Blogging” so I had better end off here with our recipe. When Jillian visited I made a really nice wild rice salad, which I served with Italian Sausages in homemade buns. I adapted the salad recipe from “Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook”, that Jillian gifted to me at the end of her time living here as a boarder. She had enjoyed reading a bunch of the mystery books about Goldy, who is a caterer and whose recipes are sprinkled throughthe novels. I didn’t know that the author had also complied them into a proper cookbook and was delighted with this truly thoughtful gift from such a dear friend.
Wild Rice Salad
- ½ cup wild rice
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 Tbsps. veganaise (or mayonnaise)
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 garlic scape, minced
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 6 radishes. sliced
- 1 tomato, diced
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- salt & pepper to taste
The night before you are serving the salad, soak the wild rice in a bowl of filtered water. Next day drain well and heat the stock to a boil then stir in the rice. Immediately reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook for 45 minutes, or until the grains are puffed and no longer chewy. Drain well and spread on a platter, leave to dry for several hours. Whisk together the veganaise, vinegar, mustard and tarragon. Whisk in the oil to blend. Combine the rice, garlic scapes, radishes, tomato and spinach in a bowl and gently fold in the dressing adding salt & pepper to taste. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Line a small platter with more spinach leaves and mound the salad on it. Serves 3-4