Hello Blog Friends!
Yes, I know that the Feast of Candlemas was held last Thursday, but some communities will have transferred it to this Sunday and “Candlemas” is much more interesting than “Ordinary Time” as a title!
Welcome to February. As you will see from the above photos, there is no lack of snow here in Quebec. Up until now we had escaped Arctic Freeze temperatures but the last few days the “blast” arrived and it is now -30ºC with wind chill dropping to -45ºC and many people suffering from frozen water lines. Thomason and I have had to curtail our walks just a bit and I even hauled out my trusty Tuktoyaktuk Parka as it is the warmest outer garment I own. When it is extremely cold dogs’ paws can get frostbite so even though Mr. T. would keep walking forever it is best to only be outside for 20 minutes rather than the usual 30 or 40. My workstation in the corner of the living room has been rather chilly but I wrap myself in a blanket and make sure to have a mug of hot coffee beside me while hunkered down at the computer.
There has been quite a full schedule this week, including our monthly committee meeting, which happened on Wednesday evening. We covered plenty of territory, first reviewing the recent Epiphany Team Gathering then moving on to discuss Season 5 of the Day Camps Cook-Along (starting this afternoon ), plans for the Lenten Day Retreat, and of course lengthy conversations about the 2023 Day Camp Program –“Something to Celebrate!”
With the Extended Day Program draft completed I have moved on to such documents as the 2023 supply list as well as continuing to review incoming Manual content and badgering the people responsible for sections of it that are still outstanding.
We now have a firm dates for both our proposed “ Information Webinar” and the Alumni Lenten Day Retreat so I have sent out inumerable messages inviting communities to sign up for the Webinar, am currently designing a flier for the Day Retreat and plan to set up a meeting soon with Robert, the Retreat speaker.
In the next week or so I am also hoping to meet with Guylaine so we can discuss file-sharing options for the program as I REALLY want to have that piece of the “puzzle” in place before we receive any applications from host communities.
Outside of office time there have been a couple of Diocesan meetings and several lovely visits with friends. Monday afternoon my friend Linda brought over part of the project that I had helped her with last Saturday over Zoom and I was able to show her how to take a screen shot of her collage and place it on the cover of her typed document and also how to include a link to an audio file. That evening Jill came for supper. She is a former member of the Day Camp Committee and now teaches at a private school just a couple of blocks from my house. We had coffee together once during COVID lockdown but had not shared a meal for a long time. I got to hear about her work and her 4 (growing!) young people and updated her on the ups and downs of CTM as we attempt to rise from the ashes of the pandemic.
Tuesday there was a meeting of the Bishop’s Committee on Ministry, of which I am a member. This was the first meeting since our Bishop returned from a three month sabbatical so there was a lot to discuss 😊.
As mentioned above, Wednesday evening was the Day Camp committee then on Thursday Jillian and Victor were to have come to dinner and belatedly celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary but as the snow squalls had already started and they live across the river it was decided to postpone until next Thursday. Gifts for the fifth anniversary are supposed to be made of wood so I had found a shallow wooden box and made a slab of dark chocolate bark (note the pun), which I placed in the box along with a tiny wooden mallet for breaking the bark into small pieces. All of this was wrapped up in the customary furoshiki. After postponing their visit I have double wrapped the gift in an airtight container and it is safely stashed in the fridge, ready to present to them next Thursday evening.
Emmanuel was supposed to join me yesterday for a breakfast visit but with the Extreme Cold warning issued and and 8am forecast of -38ºC we regretfully postponed to Feb. 13th,his next free morning after a nightshift.
Today is not much better so Thomason and I are reduced to very short walks as the warnings have said that frostbite can occur within minutes. I’m glad this is my baking day as at least it is a bit warmer in the kitchen. Soon I will need to be setting up the Google Meet for episode 1 of Season 5 of the Day Camps Cook-Along. Michelle, from the UK will be teaching the participants how to make a Fruit Crumble. We have 5 families signed up and are still hoping that more will join in for the other 2 episodes.
The last of my baking will be out of the oven in a few minutes so we had better finish off here with this week’s recipe.
As mentioned above, my anniversary gift for Jillian and Victor included a batch of:-
Asian-spiced Chocolate Bark
- 200grams 70% cacao dark chocolate
- 1/3 cup each candied ginger, peanuts and Goji berries
- 1 tsp. coarse Himalayan pink salt
Break the chocolate into small pieces and place ¾ of them in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove from the heat and add in the rest of the chocolate, stir until it is melted then add most of the ginger, peanuts and Goji berries, after first sprinkling them with the salt.
Line a small baking tray with parchment paper and pour the bark onto it, spreading out evenly with a wide spatula. Garnish with the reserved mixture. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before breaking into small pieces. Yum 😊