Hello Blog Friends!
With the Feast of Pentecost now behind us we look ahead to the long stretch of Ordinary Time, which basically encompasses half of the Church year. No more major feasts or festivals for many months to come but there is also beauty to the rhythm of the “ordinary” that causes us to dig deeper in examining our everyday lives.
This has been a week with several meetings and tomorrow rounds it off with the CTM Board meeting. Tuesday evening was the Day Camp Committee Meeting and there was much to discuss as Jessica joined us to share her thoughts around the possibility of our applying for a grant so that at least some of the work of this ministry might continue even if CTM does not have the funds to support it.
Jessica laid out some of the pros and cons for grants and provided us with a list of supporting documents, which it would be useful for us to amass if we decide to take this route. Unfortunately, despite receiving a very modest stipend, myself, this does remain the largest expense in our budget as most of the program work is divided between a small army of volunteers and myself. Over the years we have trimmed away many extra expenses such as printed promotional materials and hardcopies of documents and these decisions have been fuelled not so much from a cost cutting viewpoint as from an ethical one whereby we demonstrate a desire to be environmentally sustainable as a ministry and not to waste natural resources. Ironically granting bodies seem to prefer funding tangible supply costs rather than human labour. Sigh. The Day Camp committee plans to wrestle with all of this as we continue to meet on a monthly basis even over the summer.
That same afternoon Jillian and I had planned an in-person visit but sadly she was taken ill and went straight home to bed after teaching her last class so we rescheduled and will be visiting next Tuesday. Wednesday the office time was devoted to following up on various threads from the committee meeting, as is usually the case on the morning after and then on Thursday I flipped round my office time to the afternoon since that morning I needed to attend the Bishop’s Commission on Ministry, of which I am a member. I have also been filling in with secretarial duties at these meetings as the staff support person has been on leave for several months. That afternoon I focussed on more editing of blog posts and am now nearing the end of 2015, so substantial progress has been made on this marathon project.
Sadly, despite more rounds of emails and messages, there have been no further enquiries about Day Camp programs. Recently my focus has been on promoting the Virtual Experience package, since that does not require the same amount of advance preparation as a standard Day Camp but would still provide much of the core content, delivered directly to children in their homes. Unfortunately there has still not been any interest expressed despite my efforts.
Plans for next month’s Team Gathering have moved ahead as we now have our Speaker and Music Team in place. At our committee meeting Mae Anne reported that she has reached a number of Team alumni and I have updated the promo materials on the DC FaceBook Group and on Instagram. We still only have a few people signed up to attend but at least there is still a month to go so much more badgering can be done 😊.
At our committee meeting we also discussed ideas for activities and events for the autumn. We really want to try a “Cook-Along” series of favourite Christmas Cookie recipes and we are thinking of either another “Artful” study series for Team Alumni or perhaps and Advent Day Retreat. Committee member, Gillian, reminded me of the Advent Program we did in 2020 and suggested we might consider doing a reprise of that material. It is called Imago Divina “ The Joyous Mysteries” and includes a series of videos in which visual artists create pieces that illustrate the 4 Gospel passages which presage the Advent & Christmas seasons:- The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity and The Presentation . These videos along with the scripture readings are really special and definitely worth using a second time 😊 If 2022 does prove to be the last year for this ministry, at least we will go out with a bang!
Outside of office work the raking, sweeping and collecting of maple keys has occupied much of my spare time, unless it was raining 😊. All the keys have now fallen to the ground but there are still so many to collect from the flowerbeds and as they become dry they blow around on walkways and porches. Sigh. I also managed to squeeze in the creation of a birthday crown for my Godson, Tighe, whose birthday is coming up later this month.
Today Jenna is coming for a late lunch and to help me fill out a government form so I started my garden work extra early and have just finished mowing the lawns, Now I need to take Thomason for his second long walk of the day prior to Jenna’s arrival.
Before I head out I thought I would share the recipe for the Lemon Ginger Scones we will be having as part of our lunch. I am making Iced Lattés and a fruit platter to accompany them and will serve them with a choice of raw honey or plum jam.
Lemon Ginger Scones
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 1 Tbsp. raw cane sugar
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. soda
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- ½ cup candied ginger, finely diced
- ½ cup butter, cold, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 Tbsps. lemon juice
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Fold in the candied ginger and lemon zest. Make a well in the centre and add the milk and lemon juice. Use a wide spatula to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and gently knead a few times. Shape into a rectangle approx.. 11”x4” and cut into 10 triangles. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, brush each scone with a little milk and sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden.