Hello Blog Friends!
Here we are in “ordinary time”, it does sound rather boring but, in fact, it means that those of us who follow the rhythm of the Liturgical Year have a short few weeks to catch our breath and pivot from “the cradle to the cross”.
And suddenly, Lenten planning has grabbed a big chunk of my workday, as we begin serious planning and advertising for the Day Camp Lenten Cook-Along and the Alumni Lenten Mini-Retreat. There has been positive news in both those sectors. Last week I was lamenting the fact that my email to 11 potential Cook-Along chefs had not produced any responses, as of this week 2 of our 3 chefs have come on board. Woot! Woot!
Then, on Monday evening my friend, Eli, joined me for dinner, in order to experience Watermelon Curry, (yes, it was a hit!) and Eli has agreed to be the speaker for our Mini-Retreat (insert second WOOT! WOOT!).
Meanwhile, pulling together the 2025 supply list is not going as smoothly since, in the absence of 2 Program Manual chapters, I have hit a brick wall and cannot complete the list until that content has been received (the deadline was December 31st 2024, sigh).
In the meantime I have been able to design both the 2025 Poster template and the registration form, both of which will also go into the Acceptance Package and one morning I labouriously downloaded the 3 Training Videos and uploaded them back again into Google Drive as that seemed to be the only workaround by which I could move them to a different part of Drive.
Wednesday evening was our monthly DC committee meeting and there was A LOT to share with my fellow committee members. Before the meeting Mae Anne (who could not join us due to working overtime), talked with me about plans for some youth from her church undertaking a service project this summer by volunteering to help a rural church host a Day Camp. Initially a group from another church had shown interest but had to back down for a number of reasons. It looks as if First Filipino Baptist will again be coming to our aid as Mae Anne reported that their Pastor seems in favour of the project. Over the next couple of weeks we hope to set up an online meeting with all the key parties to work of logistics and pray it will come together especially as the host community has an outreach to some children who come from difficult environments and really need the safety, joy and love they will find at the Day Camp.
We have recently received the exciting news that we have been chosen to benefit from some “surprise” grant funding. We had known that the foundation from which Day received grants in 2023 and 2024 Camps was winding down in 2025 but, apparently, they have some residual funds to disperse to a few organisations, which they deem to be worthy of support and we are on the short list. No matter the size of the grant, all of us intimately connected with the ministry are so grateful for this indication that others believe the work we are doing to be of value in ”kingdom building”.
Outside of office hours quite a bit of time has been taken up with the Search Committee process, as, this month, candidates will be participating in online interviews. The committee Chair will be conducting the interviews but as many members as possible are asked to join the Zoom calls. Due to other commitments, none of us are able to be present at all 7 interviews so we have been juggling dates and times to fit in wherever possible.
I have made a start on a gift for a special friend who’s birthday is coming up in early March and was delighted when, on Wednesday afternoon, the yarn order I had only sent last Sunday was delivered by Canada Post!! So, at least I am now stocked with the wool for a number of Christmas 2025 knitting projects and just need to squeeze in the time to begin!
Yesterday started with a long bout of shovelling but this morning was one of those dazzling winter mornings with a cerulean sky. I slipped on my boots and made a dash outside to empty the kitchen compost bucket into the big composter and heard a male cardinal singing. Now I’m not much of a person for bird calls but I can mimic a cardinal and so I stood there and whistled to him. It was magical as we shared a couple of minutes of “conversation”, one species of God’s creation to another. I happened to have my phone in my pocket so I pulled it out and took a photo of my feathered friend, can you spot him ,right at the top of that huge maple tree?
Right now some of this morning’s “Bake” is in the oven so I had best finish off this post and get back into the kitchen! The list includes Carrot Cupcakes so it seems a good idea to share the recipe, although I shall have to wait to take a photo until they are cool enough to ice!
Carrot Cupcakes
- 1 cup olive oil
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups unbleached flour
- 2 tsps. cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/3 cups grates carrots
- ½ cup chopped nuts or raisins (optional)
Whisk together the oil, sugar and salt. Whisk in the eggs until well combined and glossy. In a medium bowl whisk together h four, cinnamon and baking powder. Add to the egg mixture and stir with a wide spatula, just until combined. Fold in the carrots and nuts or raisins (if using). Scoop the batter into muffin tins lined with parchment baking cups. Bake in preheated 350ºF oven for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a rack and ice with cream cheese icing, if desired.
Cream Cheese Icing
- 4oz. cream cheese
- ¼ cup softened butter
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- 1 2/3 cups icing sugar
Beat ingredients together until smooth and fluffy. Makes enough for 1 dozen cupcakes.