Hello Blog Friends!
Apologies to any regular readers who missed a post yesterday. My baking marathon took over the afternoon and was not finished until after 6pm. I had the post all ready to publish but was waiting for a photo of the Raisin Scones and after taking that cooked my dinner and never got back to the “publish” button 😊 So here is the post- better late than never!
Here we are starting a fresh month. I cannot help but order my summer in the pattern that has shaped it for so many years, thus this past week would have been the Training Day Camps and today would have been the mad rush of moving everything into our Retreat venue as tomorrow would have been the start of the Team Training Retreat. I have never been good at statistics, but I think we used the Isaiah 40 Foundation building for the Retreat week for at least 12 years. Prior to that we spent many hot, mosquito-infested weeks at “The Stable”, which was really a very good location except that we happened to rent it at the time of year when mosquitos hatch near water and the Stable was right on the edge of a river. EEK! Moving to Isaiah 40 was a big switch as it meant a transition from a rural to urban venue, but there were many advantages. It was easy for Speakers and Workshop Leaders to access by public transportation and there was also plenty of free parking on quiet residential streets for those who came by car. We soon transitioned into the new rhythm of walking to nearby parks for outdoor workshops that needed space to play games and the accommodations with many lovely bathrooms and rooms cooled by ceiling fans made much more bearable what was frequently the hottest week of the summer.
By the summer of 2019 the building had sadly been sold and we were once again forced to adapt to to a different model. Little did we imagine that, with the pandemic on the horizon, this would be the last summer of Travelling Teams. We ended up billeting the Teams in the homes of various CTM supporters (including our Bishop and her husband!) and renting a large church hall in which to hold workshops. Dinner and Worship took place each evening in my home and all in all, the model worked quite well.
Now here we are 3 summers later wondering if there is a future for Day Camps, and if so, how God would want us to shape it? This coming Tuesday the DC committee will be holding it’s monthly meeting and, of course, we will be continuing to wrestle with all of this and, despite the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, we will be joining next Friday evening, for worship and fellowship at the summer Team Gathering 😊. We are still forging ahead with plans for the coming autumn and even if I am laid off, hopefully it will be possible to hold at least some of our activities.
Meanwhile life goes on. I was supposed to meet on Monday with committee member Jillian, but sadly she got COVID and so we need to postpone until later in the summer as, once she is clear of the virus, she and her husband have trips planned both to Vancouver and to Italy 😊.
Outside of office hours I have done plenty of work in the garden and finished sewing a summer tunic dress from a nice paisley cotton fabric gifted to me by a friend. This week also saw the completion of my Moomin jigsaw puzzle, a summer favourite. The coming week will see a bit more activity on the Day Camp front as, besides Tuesday’s committee meeting and Friday’s Team Gathering, the Day Camp in Edmonton will be happening. Hopefully I may receive some photos from that and will certainly share them in my next post 😊.
Today I’m tackling another sourdough loaf and hope to improve the texture, as the last one was a bit heavy. There is also other baking on my list so we had better wrap up this post.
One recipe I’ll be making today will be a batch of my Mum’s Raisin Scones so I thought I would share them with you.I’ll wait until they are out of the oven to add a photo and then press the “publish” button 😊.
Mum’s Scones
- 2 cups unbleached flour
- 3 tsps. baking powder
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup cream or milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup raisins or currants
- 1 Tbsp. raw cane sugar
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Beat the eggs and reserve a small amount for brushing the tops of the scones. Combine the eggs with the cream or milk and stir in the raisins or currants. Make a well in the dry ingredients and fold in the egg mixture, do not over mix. Turn out onto a well floured surface and pat into a round ¾“ thick. Cut into 8 triangles. Place on a parchment-lined baking tray, brush with the reserved egg and sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake in a preheated 425ºF oven for 10-12 minutes, until browned.