Hello Blog Friends!
This week has included quite a lot of nostalgic feelings, as we prepared for a short training session and mini-commissioning of the service project team from First Filipino Baptist Church, who will be travelling, tomorrow, to Promised Church, in the Eastern Townships region of Québec. The event took place, last evening, here at my house (aka the CTM Office). It is six long years since any similar event was held in my living room.
Due to Thomason’s unpredictable behaviour with groups of strangers, I corralled him on his bed with his leash firmly attached to the oak staircase railing so that he could watch what was going on but not wreak havoc (particularly when a dozen young people were sitting on the living room floor, eating snacks).He got pretty excited as people arrived and barked a lot when the guitar and djembe started warming up (EEK!!) but, all in all, it could have been much worse and everyone took his antics in good part, even the ones who were very nervous around a large black dog!
The day began when, at 6:45am,I received a text message from Donna, one of the young adults who led DC Teams and is still very involved in preparing Day Camps resources. She is the person who, last March, came for a dance tutorial with me then taught the 2025 Liturgical dance to a group at FFBCM, asking if I would accept her as an additonal team Members.”YES!!!”, of course! She will be made co-leader, with Kelvin, as they an equal amount of previois experince and will complement each other perfectly, at Promised Church.
Mikaela had arranged to leave work early so she could come and help with set up and Mae Anne, who has served as the liaison between CTM and both churches, was also here to help. Thursday, I had done some prep work, hard-boiling eggs for a giant charcuterie board, making vast quantities of mint and lemon iced tea etc. and most of yesterday was spent cutting up fruits and crudities, moving furniture and setting up the video projector.
I had managed to cram the majority of the general office work into the first three weekdays and so was able to give the bulk of my attention to the evening’s program, with a few digressions to answer texts and emails and to deposit a very welcome donation cheque!
Wednesday evening was Jessica’s monthly supper visit. We had Banh Mi Bowls and, fortunately, there were just enough leftovers to provide me with a fast Thursday supper, so I could focus on checking Google Slides, audio files and arranging with one of my helpers to pick up a box of strawberries, to add to the charcuterie board!
Somehow squeezed into the Day Camp frenzy, I FINALLY completed the draft minutes (11pages!!) from last week’s arduous Diocesan Council Meeting and sewed a cute bow band and patchwork bag to finish off the outfit that will soon travel to baby, Nora, in Oregon! There has not really been any time for Gnome Knitting ,although I did manage, Wednesday evening, after supper, to knit a few rows of Gnatty Gnome’s hat while chatting with Jessica!
And so today, after packing up the last of the training session materials, my attention has turned to preparing a special High Tea for Jessica and her husband, Tyler, as they will be joining me tomorrow afternoon for a belated celebration of their 8th Wedding Anniversary, which took place last month (photos of this celebration in next week’s post). Of course, there still needs to be a Saturday Bake, including the 2-weekly GF Loaves, some shortbread for tomorrow’s Tea Party, a batch of biscuits for Mr. T. and a Rhubarb Crunch, made with the first stalks of rhubarb from my garden!
So that is obviously the cue for a recipe. Even if you are not a dog owner (or lover) you might be looking for a gift for a friend or family member who has a favourite furry companion. These biscuits are easy to pull together and are a big hit with canines of all shapes and sizes!
Thomason’s Biscuits
- 2 ½ cups organic spelt or wholegrain flour
- 2 Tbsps. organic flaxmeal
- 2 large organic eggs
- ¾ cup of cooked, puréed, organic sweet potatoes
- Approx. ¼ cup water
Place flour and flax meal in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together the eggs, sweet potato & water. Add to the large bowl and mix to form a firm but pliable dough. Roll out to 1/4” thickness and cut into bone shapes (or any shape you want), place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for approximately 1 hour at 350F. Turn off the heat but leave biscuits to cool in the oven and become rock hard. Makes 30-40 biscuits. They keep for several weeks in an airtight container.