Hello Blog Friends!
In classic Canadian fashion the weather here has suddenly turned to summer with temperatures rising to over 30ºC during the week. I couldn’t believe that I actually had to find a pocket of time on Wednesday in which to mow the lawns! Because I use a push mower, which is fuelled solely by human muscle I like to keep the grass quite short (this also improves root structure 😊) otherwise the mower is simply not capable of cutting through long grass and the blades jam at every step!
But enough of the weather report, what has been happening in the world of Day Camps this week- sadly, not very much. We did receive the application form from the 4th host community that I mentioned in last week’s post, which enabled me to send off the acceptance package and resource package to the Coordinator. This community has also chosen the “Super Day Camp Experience” program and thus will be matched with a mentor to assist (virtually) with on ground set-up and also be available for troubleshooting during the actual Camp week. Because this community has sent us many Travelling Team Members over the years it makes it a bit harder to pair them with a mentor since the list of mentors I had prepared largely consists of Team Alumni who belong to that church. AGH! So, Wednesday I compiled a short list of former experienced Training Team Leaders and wrote to all of them asking if anyone might be up for this challenge. Thankfully (oh how I appreciate the community of Alumni!!!) the same day, one person responded saying they would be happy to take on the task, woot! woot! One bullet dodged!
During the week I have also continued the search for a Speaker for the virtual Team Gathering we are planning for July 8th. I have started sending out invitations and posting on the Day Camps FaceBook Group just so that Alumni can (hopefully) set aside the date. I also plan to post on- @mrsphilmoreschickens
Tomorrow afternoon is CTM’s Annual General Meeting so I will be doing duty as secretary when we meet online, hopefully it will not include any acrimonious debates, which have (sadly) occurred in the past 😊. Of course every afternoon I have put in a couple of hours editing older blog posts and am now finally reaching the end of 2014!
Outside of the hours on my laptop I have continued with spring chores such as staining the front porch floor and stairs, touching up exterior house paint and filling in small cracks on interior walls and touching up that paint.
Evenings I crocheted a small toy turtle as part of a birthday gift for a 1 year old boy in my acquaintance as well as sewing him some summer trousers and hope, next week, to squeeze in a bit of summer sewing for myself. It is hard to believe that next weekend we will be celebrating Victoria Day, traditionally the time when people open their summer cottages and plant their gardens over the long weekend.
Well there is still baking to do around here today so it’s time to close off with our recipe.
One evening this week I had “Brinner” (aka-Breakfast for Dinner 😊). I mixed up a batch of pancakes using my favourite homemade pancake mix. This mix keeps for several months, I like to keep mine in the fridge but as long as it is in an airtight container it could be kept in a cool pantry for up to one month.
Whole Grain Pancake Mix
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- ¾ cup buckwheat flour
- ¾ cup oatmeal
- ½ cup spelt flour
- 3Tbsps. raw cane sugar
- 2 Tbsps. baking powder
- 2 tsps. baking soda 1/2 tsp. sea salt
Combine all ingredients, stir well, and store in a well sealed jar.
To make a batch of pancakes
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup plain yoghurt
- 3 Tbsps. melted butter
Mix wet ingredients then add 1 cup pancake mix. Stir to combine, but do not over stir. Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle and grease lightly. Use a ¼ cup scoop for each pancake and cook for several minutes on each side until firm and golden, Makes 6-8 pancakes.