Hello Blog Friends!
Welcome to February! 2024 is a leap year so this month will be one day longer than usual 😊. This is normally a pretty stormy month in Canada but at present we are having some mild days, YAY!
It has been quite a full week. I am pleased to report that the 2024 Liturgical Dance choreography is completed so I have arranged a lunch meeting with team alumnus, Donna, who is in charge of creating the dance video for the Day Camp Resource Package. We will be meeting on Ash Wednesday and then, later this month or next, she will be teaching the dance to her church youth group while committee member, Mae Anne, serves as videographer. The song is about the Wedding at Cana passage from the Gospel of John, which is the Day 1 story in this year’s Signposts program. We have previously used a couple of songs by the artist Michael Card and this one fits our theme so perfectly.
Other work has included finishing the Backyard Package supply list along with the Games Sheet that includes a bunch of games geared to differing age groups and adding those files to the resource package for that “mini” version of our program.
Things have also been ramping up for tonight’s Team Gathering, for the upcoming Cook-Along course and for the Lenten Mini Retreat with lots of emails, texts, Insta & FaceBook messages flying back and forth.
Badgering for Day Camps is also on my list of priorities. My goal is to find 5 people each week to whom I can send the promo info and, by yesterday, I had met this week’s quota 😊.
On the side, as it were, Junior Youth Camp’s “Winter Camp Day” is also happening in Mid-February so there has been some support work to do for the Directors as people start to register and, of course, the ongoing saga of trying to switch insurance brokers continues behind the scenes. Fortunately (for me 😊) the person responsible for that is our Treasurer but I have been helping with sending out documents etc.
In various pockets of “free” time I managed to do the quarterly “cleaning of the pantry shelves” and have, since then, been enjoying the many sparkling jars lined up along the basement stairwell. Recently, a friend who is a Spiritual Director, asked me if I could do a watercolour sketch for her to use in a course she is taking on “Dream Work”, so one afternoon this week I sat down and did the painting, according to her specifications. Every evening I have spent madly crocheting Amigurumi sloths as a birthday gift for another special friend who has a sloth obsession 😊. Her birthday is next Tuesday; I sure hope I can complete them in time! I did!! (see photos).
The latest in a line of ‘”regular” dog walkers started on Tuesday and we have arranged that, once a week, she will pick Thomason up, along with my neighbour’s Lab, Penny, and take him for a two hour run on Mount Royal. Paula is a professional and so comes with a service fee but somehow I plan to squeeze this out of my budget, since it is essential that Thomason have regular exercise, suited to a high energy dog. Paula seems like a very kind and responsible person so I’m hoping this arrangement will work out. As a bonus, my neighbour has suggested that Penny and Thomason have some regular “play dates” in their backyard, which is well fenced and much larger than the area at my house where he is currently playing.
There haven’t been any in-person visitors this week but, next Friday, I am looking forward to a lunch visit with Jillian and baby Amelia so today my baking includes a couple of treats I plan to serve for dessert that day.
And so, right now, I’m just finishing up a long morning “Bake”. The Team Gathering doesn’t start until 7pm so I should have time this afternoon to do some other small Saturday tasks 😊.
Today I baked a batch of Lemon Scones that are very tasty served with honey or jam plus the recipe makes a good number so some can be popped in the freezer 😊.
Lemon Scones
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup raw cane sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- finely grated rind of one lemon
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 4 cups flour
- 4 tsps. Baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
Beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the milk, lemon juice, lemon rind, and melted butter. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda and fold into the wet mixture. Bring the dough together and knead gently a few times. Divide it in half and pat each piece into an 8” circle, about ½” thick. Cut each circle into 8 wedges and arrange on a large parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle scones with extra sugar and bake in a preheated 350ºF oven until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack before serving. Makes 16 scones.