Hello Blog Friends!
Welcome to the last post for October. In just a few weeks we will be moving into the season of Advent, which seems amazing and of course this coming Tuesday is All Saints Day, a special festival of the church year. But I’m getting ahead of myself so we had better review the week just past 😊.
As we approach November 1st, a lot of time has been spent pulling together all the documents needed to submit the grant application that the Day Camp has been working on for the past few months. The only items still missing are the financials but I’m sure our treasurer will have them done by the deadline.
Of course November also means the launch of the Christmas Cookies Cook-Along! The first episode will be happening next Saturday afternoon and we now have 5 families signed up. Yesterday I sent around the supply sheet for our first recipe along with the link for the Google Meet. It is doubtful anyone else will sign up at this point, although I still have a couple of badgering messages floating around in cyberspace😊.
Over the week, with another part of my brain, I’ve been hunting for a new song for the 2023 Liturgical Dance. The one used in 2015 (the previous iteration of “Something to Celebrate!” is “okay” but I would like to find something new, hopefully the search won’t take too long!
Despite having sent out our fundraising letter to over 50 names (mostly Team Alumni) we only received 5 responses. Of course we are deeply grateful to those 5 donors but, unfortunately, unless more people pledge for the coming year, it does not look as if we can possibly meet our budget. Monday afternoon I met on FaceTime with the Team alumnus who created the letter and we discussed sending out a follow-up. It is so hard to beg for financial support but since the alternative might mean the end of Day Camps, there really isn’t much choice at present. Sigh.
Next Wednesday we also have scheduled our monthly a DC committee meeting, so of course that has meant circulating the agenda and the minutes from October as well as a copy of the final version of the grant paragraphs. It will be good to check in again with everyone before we launch into the Cook-Along and the Team Alumni Advent Program. I am getting slightly concerned that we still only have two or three people who have agreed to present at Carols & Cocoa so that topic will also be on the meeting agenda.
Our Director of Communications has been on a mission to post more regularly on FaceBook. I’m not at all an FB fan but if the posts do reach more people, then the project is worthwhile. I offered to do some of the postings and so she sent me a list and every morning this week I have been dutifully uploading the content, hopefully it will spark interest in some of our activities 😊.
Outside of office work my main focus has been on vast amounts of raking! The flowerbeds have been cleaned out so the push is on to complete the raking and get the compost spread and bulbs planted before a hard frost. This is a yearly challenge met with varying levels of success 😊.The Autumn Crocus are in bloom, which is super exciting, they won’t last long but are so delicate and pretty . Tuesday afternoon I also made time for my quarterly task of cleaning the pantry shelves, I was pleased with the results and ticked that job off my list! No time for much crafting except for the ongoing sock knitting. I did finish the first of another pair of “Longing for Gotland” socks, destined as Christmas gifts. Yay!!!
Today’s bake is in preparation for the Spanish Inquisition tea party I’m holding tomorrow afternoon. So shortbread is on the list along with the regular GF loaves for my friend Sue and, of course, the last of the “October Muffins”
And here is our final ( fallish🍁🍁🍁) recipe for muffin month😊.
Apple Cider Muffins
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1¼tsps. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. fine sea salt
- 2 tsps. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup Turbinado sugar
- ¾cup raw cane sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup fresh apple cider
Whisk together the flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon, baking powder, salt and nutmeg, set aside. In a large bowl beat 2/3 cup butter, Turbinado sugar, and ½ cup cane sugar until light. Gradually beat in the eggs until fluffy. Stir in the apple cider, then add the dry ingredients and fold together, just to incorporate them. Line 12 muffin cups with liners and divide the batter between them. Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for 15 minutes. Mean while, melt the remaining ¼ of butter and mix together the remaining cane sugar and cinnamon. When the muffins come from the oven, remove them gently from the liners and brush each one first in the melted butter, then dredge with the sugar mixture. Serve warm or allow to cool before serving. Makes 1 dozen.