Hello Blog Friends!
Here we are with the last blog post for August and (for those of us in North America), also at the last holiday of the summer- Labour Day Weekend 😊.
As you will see from the above photo gallery, things around “Day Camps Central” have successfully morphed into an autumn vibe!
Being surrounded by the seasonal décor has empowered me, this week, to embrace autumn and send out a gazillion messages about all the upcoming Day Camp-related events and activities.
We are excited to now have in place a Speaker for the October 5th online Team Gathering. Ruth Lee is an alumnus from the early years of Day Camps and has the added distinction of having also produced a son who joined the Teams in the early 2000’s. She and her family now live near Ottawa and I have arranged to have a video chat with her soon to bring her up to speed on how the online TGs unfold. Happily our “regular” musicians, Miriam & Donna are also on board for that date. Next week I’ll start serious advertising with notices on FaceBook and Instagram as well as rounds of emails and texts 😊.
An invitation has now been sent to bunch of Alums asking if any of them would be interested in leading reflections during the Advent Program. We will see what sort of responses we get from that request -(update today- one person who lives in the UK and was on team in the 1980’s has agreed to do Advent 2, woot! woot!)
This coming Wednesday evening will be the monthly DC committee meeting so the agenda and other meeting docs were also circulated to that loyal group of volunteers. All in all it has been a full week with extra hours on the computer, several mealtime visitors, early morning garden work, the completion of the décor change and a weensy bit of crafting 😊.
Early this afternoon I was excited to receive delivery, from a local florist, of three hardy chrysanthemum plants. These pots will hopefully add some pops of colour to the gardens over the next two months as the flowerbeds gradually wind down towards winter. It is currently pouring, so I put on my Wellies and arranged all three plants outside; photos next week as I didn’t want to risk getting my phone too wet! With plenty of warm days and a fair amount of rain, the lawns and flowerbeds are still looking unusually lush for the end of August. Early Thursday morning I made a small “30-stem Challenge” for the dining room table, as a friend was coming to lunch. It is my second “autumn-themed” arrangement and I was pleased with the result😊.
Sadly, today’s wet weather isn’t the best for everyone who rushes to the countryside to enjoy the last holiday of summer, but the forecast for tomorrow and Monday looks more propitious. After the Saturday Bake, the plan is to do some sewing, as I have had an early autumn dress cut out for a couple of weeks with no time to begin putting it together.
Before I fire up the sewing machine, let’s close off with a recipe. As autumn is now in the air, I recently made a pot of squash chill and enjoyed in very much, topped with fresh avocado:-
Squash Chilli
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 2 red bell peppers, diced
- 1 small butternut squash peeled and cubed
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp. chilli powder
- ½ Tbsp. Chipotle chilli powder
- 2 tsps. ground cumin
- ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 3 cups cook kidney beans
- 1 24oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2 ripe avocados, sliced and tossed with a little lime juice
Lightly brown the onion and peppers in the oil, stir in the garlic and spices and cook until fragrant. Add all the other ingredients, bring to a boil then simmer gently just until the squash is tender but still firm, about 20 minutes. Serve topped with sliced avocados and accompanied with tortilla chips. Serves 3-4.