Hello Blog Friends!
Here we are, dashing through November, on the road to Advent. This week there has been quite a dedicated focus on plans around both the Alumni Advent Study Program and Carols & Cocoa. Additional advertising for both those activities is also being included in CTM’s quarterly newsletter “Networks”, which I have been working on over the past few days. Since our bi-monthly Board meeting will be happening tomorrow afternoon I have also been preparing the template for the minutes and making sure my own report on the Day Camp ministry to ready to present.
Badgering by both myself and my assistant Badger, Mikaela, has borne some fruit and we now have a healthier list of participants for the Advent Study Program. Carols & Cocoa is more of a guessing game as we circulate the link for that on our promo materials and just have to pray that we have a reasonable turnout. The line up of presenters is looking quite decent, although it would be lovely to actually see someone upload a file to the folder our media editor, Jeff, has set up on Google Drive. Sigh.
Of course there is always some general office work to deal with, especially right before a Board meeting so some extra time has been put in scanning and paying invoices, forwarding emails and generally keeping the “office’ in order.
When not glued to the laptop I’ve tried to fit in as much raking as possible and have, as of this morning, FINALLY completed the clearing out of all the flowerbeds with the removal of many huge sack-loads of leaves. As the forecast for the next few days is colder, with flurries, I decided to stay our longer than originally planned and was able to spread my compost, after which I gave thanks and breathed a huge sigh of relief as that is the last major gardening task of the year. There will still be more raking until I have to turn in my rake and broom for a shovel, but meantime at least the composting chore is done 😊.
Evenings have been exclusively devoted to frantic amounts of speed knitting as I continue to try and meet my Christmas gift list goals. Last Monday I completed and blocked a pretty grape coloured shawlette and am currently beavering through another in a deep teal yarn with flecks of lighter blues and greens.
Due to this morning’s, longer than expected gardening tasks, I still have not yet launched into today’s Bake. However I’m keeping it quite simple and concentrating on making the first loaves of Christmas Stöllen to store in the freezer in preparation for Advent breakfast and teatime treats 😊.I’ll wait to publish this. so I can take a photo of those loaves, as well as today’s scones.
So here is the second to last instalment of our “November Scones” series. Another seasonal treat was in order so do give them a try:-
Figgy Scones
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- ¼ cup raw cane sugar
- 2 tsps. baking powder
- pinch of salt
- ¾ cup dried figs, diced small
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsps. raw honey
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mix in the figs. Stir the honey and egg into the cream and then add to the dry ingredients. Gently bring together with your hands to form a soft dough. Line a baking sheet with parchment and turn the dough out onto the sheet, patting it into an 8” round. Cut into 8 triangles and separate them from each other on the baking sheet. Brush each triangle with a little cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 375ºF oven.