Hello Blog Friends!
I hope you enjoyed the special “Wednesday Words” post this week. I was so pleased that Guylaine had time to put together a reflection on her experience of the Advent Study Program.
It has been a full week. Monday morning I had a constructive meeting with the person who has agreed to lead our Alumni Lenten mini-retreat, more on this soon😊.
Tuesday I was able to send the revised Community Planner to Jessica, who will be working on layout, and I then began compiling the 2024 Supply List. This is a comprehensive, three page, document that endeavours to include all the supplies a community needs to amass when preparing to hold a Day Camp. Inevitably something gets left out, but we always include a disclaimer, advising people to double check the program manual when collecting all the supplies 😊.
Several more manual chapters have arrived so I have also been reading through them, making any suggestions for changes, correcting obvious typos, etc. Yesterday I uploaded all the content to a Google Drive Folder and have shared it with Jessica, who also does the layout for that major document.
Wednesday’s office time was largely devoted to preparing the text of the special blog post and also setting up the template for the upcoming Board meeting taking place tomorrow afternoon. There has been a lot of correspondence with CTM’s insurance provider, as both of our policies come up for renewal this month. Decisions around coverage really fall to the CTM Treasurer, who is going to be giving a report to the Board, but I’m the one answering emails and phone calls and relaying the info to him.
Yesterday morning included a FaceTime with Jillian as there are a couple of small Day Camp projects I am hoping she will be able to take on, even though she is still on “sabbatical” from the DC committee.Thankfully she had readily agreed to do these tasks.
Next week I really need to devote a good chunk of time to choreographing the 2024 Liturgical Dance. Alumnus, Donna has taken on the job of learning the piece from me and teaching it to a group from her church who will then make a recording for the instructional video. Donna will be coming soon for a visit so she and I can review the choreography,discuss any questions she has and make appropriate adjustments to the dance notation.
Of course other parts of my brain have been dealing with prep work for the February Team Gathering, the upcoming Cook-Along course, Lenten Mini-Retreat etc. all of which indicates that, although we are still very much in the throes of winter, spring is coming when all things “Day Camps” will ramp into full gear 😊.
Outside of that world (do I have an “outside”? not really 😊) I have continued to struggle keeping up with the shovelling as we have had a couple more significant snowfalls. Thankfully, Wednesday, the dog-walkers returned from a 4-day hiatus so that worry was lifted from my plate 😊.
There has been a bit of time for a small crafting project too. Last September I made an “Autumn” bunting as a birthday gift for my friend Linda. She and her husband have a lovely chalet in the Eastern Townships and she hung the bunting there. Recently she commissioned me to make a “Winter” version and so, on a couple of afternoons this week, I assembled all the supplies and designed and put it together. She picked it up on Thursday and seemed happy with the finished product!
Also, on Wednesday, I had a really lovely visit with Jessica. We finally watched another episode of “Hometown Cha Cha Cha”, shared High Tea together and were joined, towards the end of our meal, by her husband, Tyler, who came to pick her up on his way home from work. Since they are two of Thomason’s favourite people there was much excitement on his part but he did manage to stay on his bed in the kitchen while Tyler joined us for a cup of tea and some of the High Tea goodies before they headed home.
Today I will soon be welcoming Mae Anne for lunch. It will be my first visit with her since she returned from her epic Christmas adventures in the Philippines. I am anxious to hear all about the trip and, as always, we also have a number of Day Camp related items to discuss 😊.
Right now some Matcha Latté cookies are in the oven for our dessert and I should wrap up this post as Mae Anne will be here in about 20 minutes. We are having Chile Crisp Spinach Alfredo, Gunpowder Green tea, fresh pineapple and the cookies, I do hope she will enjoy the meal. She is especially fond of Matcha so the cookies will be an extra treat 😊.
One night this week, when it was very cold and stormy I decided to have a cosy supper of Flannel Cakes, country sausage and cranberry/maple compote; here is the recipe for the Flannel Cakes: –
Flannel Cakes
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1 tsp. honey
- 3 Tbsps. butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp. yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1½ cups all purpose unbleached flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
Warm the milk with the butter and transfer to a large bowl. Dissolve the honey and yeast in the milk mixture. Cover and leave for 10 minutes to proof. Whisk in the eggs then stir in the cornmeal, flour and salt. Cover and leave to stand for 45 minutes. Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet and oil lightly. Scoop ¼ cup measures of batter into the pan. Cook until bubbles form on the top and the bottom is lightly browned. Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes. Transfer cooked pancakes to a plate and keep warm while cooking the rest. Makes about 10 flannel cakes.