Hello Blog Friends!
Here we are already on the journey through Lent. I’ve started my annual Pysanky-making and, on Ash Wednesday, was privileged to have my Bishop pass by and impose ashes on my forehead, so Lent is truly underway. Oh my goodness!!!!! Things are also ramping up quickly in the world of Day Camps 😊.
Progress continues on the proposed partnership with a UK-based ministry, no final agreement yet. I have launched the annual hunt for volunteers to help make craft samples for the Program and have already had 2 helpers sign up YAY!!!! The first episode of Cook-Along also will be launching TODAY and so there has been a flurry of activity in that quarter, with the ongoing search still underway for more families to join on. The Backyard Program daily schedules have been completed as far as I can go without the songs (that chapter is still AWOL but promised imminently 😊).
That’s just a fraction of all that has been going on for Day Camps as, with this being Tax season in Canada, there has been quite a bit of support work needed by the CTM Treasurer as he has been doing the yeoman task of sending out, to our donors, all the Income Tax Receipts and all week I have been chasing down street addresses!
Jessica has completed the final draft of the Community Planner and, in odd moments, I have been reading through, so far I’ve only caught one misplace bullet point “dot” 😊.
Outside of actual office hours there have been some online Diocesan meetings and Services to attend and on Ash Wednesday I welcomed Team alumnus Donna who joined me for a lunch meeting and Liturgical dance tutorial. Now armed with an audio file and choreography she will be arranging the instructional video recording with a group from her church.
Today I will soon be having a similar meeting with Mae Anne who will be presenting to me the final song list for the 2024 program. With that list in hand I can send it on to Jessica who has been waiting to add all the song titles to the daily schedules in the program manual. This week Christopher also completed the ZOOOM portion of the program, which is great news both for Jessica, doing the manual layout, and for Sharon who is working in PowerPoints, I have forwarded the files to them 😊.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have already begun work on my first dozen Pysanky, although have not made as much progress as I had hoped for. I’m looking forward to a long session tomorrow 😊. The baby pullover I’m knitting is coming along as that is something I can work on in the evenings, or during meetings (as long as I’m not taking minutes!).
Thursday evening we had a few centimetres of snow and the flurries continued on into yesterday. I shovelled everywhere before eating breakfast but was a bit worried that I might need to do extra shovelling this morning. However, after a bit of judicious sweeping I think most areas are clear enough so instead I made an early start on the Saturday Bake!. With Mae Anne coming for lunch, followed by the first Episode of Cook-along, I thought I would have a busy day but yesterday morning I also had a phone call from Brandon, (husband of my dear friend Michelle who lives in the UK). I knew was going to be briefly in Montreal around this time but wan’t sure exactly when. He called to ask if he could pop by for a cup of tea today as he really doesn’t have time for more than that but we need to effect an exchange of birthday and Christmas gifts, as he is acting as courier for myself and Michelle 😊. After explaining what my afternoon looked like we finally settled on a cup of tea at 415pm, which should just give me time to boil the kettle after I log off from the Cook-along, whew!!! not a lot of wiggle room. Fortunately Brandon is staying with his mother-in-law and is only about a 20 minute walk away. It is at least 8 years since I last saw him in person and I had hoped to actually have him for a meal but at least we are going to see each other, albeit briefly.
Mae Anne and I will be having All Dressed Nachos for lunch so I had better end off this post and get them ready, as well as setting a tea tray for Brandon, since there will only be a few minutes between all the afternoon’s events!
This year, for dinner in Shrove Tuesday, I decided to try some different pancakes , they were very tasty, do give them a try!
Scandinavian Potato Pancakes
- 4 large potatoes, grated
- 2 Tbsps. flour
- ¼ tsp. each dried thyme and mace
- ½ tsp. each salt & pepper
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbsps. unsalted butter
Combine the grated potato, flour and spices. Add the egg and mix until evenly moistened. Heat butter in a large skillet and add large spoonfuls of the batter, do not crowd the pan. Flatten into pancake shapes and brown for about 5 minutes each side, making sure the potato is cooked through. Keep pancakes warm while cooking remaining batter. Makes 8 pancakes. Traditionally served with bacon or sausage and Lingonberry Sauce. I substitute Cranberry Sauce 😊.