Hello Blog Friends!
It has been a full week around here, overlaid with a LOT of daily shovelling and continuing frigid temperatures (had to insert the weather report!!). Last evening, we held our Candlemas Team Gathering, but, first, let us start by rewinding to the beginning of the week.
Monday, I was very pleased to receive the completed materials for the 2026 Explorer & Pathfinder small groups and happily uploaded them to the “One of Us Manual Content” folder in Google Drive. I think we are now only missing the ZOOOM sections, after which the Daily Schedule pages can be created.
Work has also continued on assembling the sheets of supplies and instructions that will need to be shared with the volunteers making the creative activity samples. By Thursday, the documents were ready to share, NOW, I just have to convince 5 different people to take on the task of making the samples. Photos of them are a big help to communities as they prepare for their Day Camps and they will eventually be added to the Resource Package, which is slowly coming together.
The Acceptance Package is nearly ready, I think it only needs the supply list and Jillian is in the process of doing the formatting for that very important document.
Every day, I have continued listening to the Liturgical Dance song and, Thursday morning, took the time to set up and print out the lyrics, in landscape format, so that the dance notation can be pencilled in. I have messaged Donna, (who will be teaching the piece) and we have tentatively arranged to meet, next month, for an intensive tutorial.
Yesterday there was quite a lot faffing around getting last minute stuff together for the Team Gathering. Jenna is such a good a Speaker and had done some lovely prep work with fine art illustrations on all her Google Slides. Miriam and Donna had prerecorded some excellent Taizé songs and all in all it was a very special evening.In the morning, there was also a lovely visit from Jillian and Clara, when I got to enjoy some baby cuddles!
This week, there were a couple of extra projects to work on. Sunday morning, after the Pod and before logging on for the Canterbury Eucharist, I did my quarterly deep clean of the pantry shelves. Now, all the jars look bright and shiny, which is a satisfying result. Then on three successive eveniings I undertook the BIG task of emptying all the living room bookshelves, washing and importantly DRYING them, sorting through all the books, discarding a few and , subsequently, taking those just across to the opposite corner of my street, where there is a sturdy, yellow “little library” box, in which neighbours can leave or take free books. Accessing the box, which is on a wooden post driven into the lawn, was actually quite a challenge as we have had so much fresh snow but I took the books over in 3 small batches and managed to pack them into the library box without dropping any in the drifts.
I guess I watch too many “Homeworthy” You Tube videos, as, for quite a while, I have been toying with the idea of reordering the library by colour. Being pretty passionate about colour and also being inspired by said videos, I undertook, after dusting EVERY book (roughly 400 volumes!) sorting them into seven different colourways and then began the puzzling process of fitting everything back onto the shelves. Still, three days after completing the task, every time I walk into the living room, I end up tweaking some books around!
Finally, the third project was sewing a gift for a dear friend whose birthday is at the beginning of March. I am, very pleased with the result and later today, will be working on another birthday gift, as I seem to know several people with springtime birthdays. Of course , as we come to the end of January, it does not look remotely like spring around here, but thinking of March does provide a vague hope that spring will eventually arrive.
Meanwhile it is still very much the season for cosy, winter comfort food so today’s recipe is one from my British Nana’s cookbook…
Cornish Pasties
- 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 tsps salt
- 11⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup frozen butter
- 1⁄2 cup ice water
- 2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 cups cubed beef
- 2 cups chopped onions
- 11⁄2 cups grated rutabaga
- 11⁄2 cups carrots, peeled and diced
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small egg, beaten
Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor. Grate the butter into the bowl then pulse until it resembles fine crumbs. Very slowly, pour in the water, pulsing just until the pastry forms a bal. Divide the dough into six pieces, wrap in parchment paper, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. For each pasty, roll out a piece of dough into an 8-inch circle. On one half of the circle layer about 2 heaping tablespoons each of the potatoes, beef and onions, and about ¼ cup each of rutabaga and carrots, adding salt and pepper to taste. Dot each batch of filling with 1 teaspoon butter, and fold the dough over, forming a half-moon. Moisten the edges with water, and seal the edges, crimping them with a fork. Place on a greased baking sheet. In the top of each pasty, cut several small slashes with a sharp knife, and brush with beaten egg. Bake in a 425ºF oven for a half-hour. Reduce the heat to 350ºF, and bake for another half-hour or until the pasties are nicely browned. Serve hot or cold. Pasties freeze, well wrapped, either before or after baking.