Hello Blog Friends!
So sorry about the lack of posts over the past two weeks. Here is the second “belated” one, hopefully the regular Saturday schedule will resume this week. The root of the problem, apparently has to do with my including Emojis in my posts so, sadly, I currently cannot use them but Guylaine is working on the back end and “happy faces” may return soon.
Apart from spending extra hours trying to sort out the blog situation, it has been a busy week as I needed to prepare documents for our next Day Camp committee meeting, which included completing the 2025 Application form and sharing the link with the committee members, in the hopes they might catch any errors that need fixing before it goes live, and of course the meeting agenda was also circulated.
Yesterday was also the deadline for content submissions for the Harvest/Thanksgiving issue of CTM’s newsletter-Networks, so I have been building the template and it is almost ready to be published. Guylaine always proofreads it too, since it is important to have things vetted by a second pair of eyes.
The Creative Connection chapter for the 2025 program has come together quite well and I’m pleased with the first draft. Last Saturday I played, for Mae Anne, the song I’m thinking of using for the Liturgical Dance and she thought it was perfect too, yay!!
The registration-time crafts are proving more of a challenge. They are a fairly new program component, appreciated by host communities that have asked for some simple activities, suitable for campers to do as they arrive at Day Camp each morning. So many “Bible” crafts are pretty lame and look to me as if they are likely to end up in a recycling bin (or worse a garbage can) as soon as the child takes them home. So the quest is on for simple crafts, that can actually be used or played with and are made of recyclable materials that will not end up in landfill, all of which is quite a tall order. There is plenty of time, still, to get the chapter written, but it has always been my policy to finish the things that can be finished as soon as possible since many unexpected things are likely to turn up in the future!
Fortunately, it was a quiet week, in terms of meetings, which is just as well since the coming week has at least one meeting every day. Sigh. .This morning I put in over an hour in the garden, as the slow process of shutting down the flowerbeds has already begun. Today’s project was to cut back all the irises and lilies in the largest bed, quite a mammoth task as they tend to grow extremely long leaves after they bloom, early in the summer, and were very ready for a “haircut”. With that done, I turned my attention to the Bake and all of that was completed before lunch.
After Thomason’s second walk, and packaging up all the baking, it was time to send out the last “one week to go” for the October 5th Harvest Team Gathering, which included the link for the Google Meet. The rest of the afternoon will be occupied with some mending and sewing tasks as the leather pieces have arrived to sew onto 2 pairs of felted wool slippers. When Bishop Mary visited her cousin this summer, who makes the slippers, she kindly brought me a pair as well as getting a pair herself but, after my nasty fall last November (while wearing a previous pair of the same kind) both of us decided it would be prudent to attach suede toe and heel pieces before wearing the new ones! If I’m going to make any progress on that task, we had better close off with our recipe.
About ten days ago I was thrilled to receive a parcel from my dear friend Michelle, who lives in Exeter UK. She surprised me with a package of real crumpet rings and I just had to give them a go so onTuesday afternoon I made my first batch and was super happy with the results. If you are not able to source the real thing, it is possible to make do with large mason jar rings (I have been doing that for years ) but I heartily recommend looking for some, if you want to make “professional” crumpets!
Crumpets
- ½cup whole milk
- 2½tsps. yeast
- 1tsp. raw cane sugar
- 2½cups unbleached flour
- 2tsps sea salt
- 1½tsps. baking powder
- Unsalted butter, for greasing the rings and pan
Heat the milk until warm. Whisk in the yeast and sugar; set aside until slightly bubbly.. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. With a whisk, gradually add 1½ cups warm water and the milk mixture, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula. Mix until a sticky batter forms and only small lumps remain. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and let it rest in a warm place until it is full of bubbles and doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours. Brush a large cast iron skillet lightly with butter and grease the inside of four (3½”) crumpet rings (or large Mason jar rings). Place the rings in the skillet and heat over med-high until the pan and rings are hot. Working in batches, using a level ⅓ cup measure, scoop batter into the rings. (The batter should come about halfway up the sides of the rings.) Cook the crumpets for 2 minutes then reduce the heat to medium. Cook, lowering the heat further if the pan begins smoking at any point, until the surface of the crumpets is completely covered with bubbles, 4 to 6 minutes. Carefully remove the crumpet rings with tongs, then flip and cook the crumpets 1 minute, until the tops are completely cooked through and lightly browned. Transfer cooked crumpets to a wire rack to cool. Makes approx. 10 crumpets. Serve toasted and buttered with jam, honey and/or cheese.