Hello Blog friends!
Last Saturday’s visit with my Godsons and their Mum, went off very happily. They arrived about 130pm and were gone again in an hour, but in that short space of time they managed to demolish a whole Basque cheesecake and two bottles of Peach Iced tea! Christmas and birthday gifts were also opened (and admired!) and there was lots of catching up on all their activities, in the past year. After many hugs and promises of another visit sooner rather than later, they piled into their van and departed! It was a whirlwind visit but really lovely to spend time in the company of these dear boys and their Mum.
Sunday was less chaotic, but was enlivened with a long Facebook Messenger video chat with my dearest friend, Michelle. After our talk I logged on to the Eucharist from Canterbury Cathedral and just as it was ending, Christa arrived to pick up her Gluten-free/Vegan catering order. After a quick peek in all tne boxes, she seemed very pleased and it was a big relief to send her off to enjoy her birthday celebrations! Late that afternoon, I also joined a YouTube Live Compline gathering, hosted by a priest (with whom I have connections) from Ripon Cathedral, in Yorkshire.
All in all, a special weekend after which, I felt fortified to face the workweek ahead! Just as well as it has flown by, with three Day Camps happening in three different provinces! In “olden times” three camps in a week would have been a worrisome shortage but nowadays it is cause for celebration (everything is relative!!), Checking in on the different venues, the news has overall been positive, although there was one grumble about “It’s Showtime!” not including puppet videos this year.
The “One of Us” program, used this summer, was created initially, by CTM, as a millennium project. A couple of well-known Montreal visual artists gave their time and talent to paint and draw the images for the slideshows and we feel they are still powerful images, of value for retelling the theme’s stories. On a more practical note, the person who created the puppets and led a team of helpers to create the videos for CTM’s other 5 programs, now lives in the Maritimes and had to dispose of all the puppet-making materials when moving there. She no longer has a cohort to draw on for help, nor the necessary supplies, to illustrate this program. Since we already have another medium through which to tell the stories, “It’s Showtime!” is minus the puppets, this year! The promo info that accompanied the 2026 application, makes reference to the history of “One of Us”, but apparently, some Day Camp groupies really miss the puppets. Oh well, “Luke Street” the 2027 program, does have puppets for the “It’s Showtime!” component! Other than that comment, reports have been positive and I’m eagerly awaiting photos, as well as completed Feedback Forms.
Tuesday, it was time to print all the sheets of name tags for Junior Youth Camp, a total of 82 names in 5, colour-coded, categories, PHEW!! Of course, the same day, I got a text saying there was another, potential, staff member, needing a tag, which meant that, Wednesday morning, the printer had to, again, be hauled downstairs and a fresh sheet printed! In order to conserve on pages with blank tags, one “miscellaneous” sheet has been made with all the extra, last-minute additions. AGH!! Pippa, one of the JYC Directors, is currently away on a family vacation, but plans to stop by, next week, to pick up the folder, and, hopefully have a coffee with me. I will be relieved to hand over the files- job done!
Wednesday, was also longtime friend, Sue’s, birthday. She had originally planned to come over that morning for a short visit as her great-nephew from the UK was arriving to stay with them later that day, but she messaged to say that her husband and son had surprised her with a special breakfast! This was great news so, with relatives soon arriving, we decided, instead, to have an in-person gathering of the Pod (our little house church) this Sunday, AKA tomorrow! More news in the next post, as to how it goes!
The weather has been cooler this week, but we have had several nasty thunderstorms so there have been daily garden clear-ups of leaves and small branches, scattered all over the garden. Very early, Monday, the lawns did get mown as, looking at the forecast, that seemed to be the best window of opportunity. Other mornings, I’ve put on wellies, grabbed a broom and spent time on general clearing! Fortunately, the storms have not done any serious damage to the flowers, although one burst of hail stones managed to perforate the hosta leaves!
Due to the inclement weather, spare time has been spent reading and completing a couple of jigsaw puzzles. I have also enjoyed some armchair travel via texts from a friend who is currently exploring in the UK and has just left the Community at Iona (see 2 images!).
Thursday and Friday afternoons, I cut out and sewed a cute pair of reversible trousers for the soon-to be-born Alumni baby and am hoping his grandparents, who live near Montreal, may be able to take the gift to Washington State, if and when they go to meet him. Thursday evening, i also finished knitting my first 2026 Christmas gift, a pair of socks from a traditional Swedish pattern.
This morning strarted super early as,in addition to the garden, and the Saturday Bake, I finally stained the front stairs and porch floor. Last May I had discovered that I was out of the deck stain and a friend offered to get me a fresh can at the local hardware store. Sadly, the brand had been discontinued. After trying at a couple of other shops, he tracked down a tin but, when I opened the colour was a nasty reddish-purple rather than the requisite dark, chocolate brown . My friend kept saying he would be back to pick up the tin and try and get it re-tinted, but as it is now 2 months since he first came I decided to tint in myself with some acyrlic craft paint and, as of 8am this morning ,the front stairs and porch floor finally look presentable!
After a quick breakfast, and before the Bake, it was time to tackle the quarterly deep-clean of the pantry shelves. It is amazing how quickly that task seems to recur but it is satisfying to admire the sparkling glass jars once it is done. Then it was on to the list of baked goods- a lemon sponge pudding, a batch of sesame seed bagels, 2 Tourtière turnovers and a pan of Korean-style meatballs.
With that job done and lunch over, the next project is to sew a patchwork bag in which to wrap the little baby trousers but first, here is our recipe, another main course salad enjoyed, this past week, for a dinner.
Sardine and Feta Salad with Cannellini Beans
- 1 (15-oz) tin cannellini beans
- 1 large red paper, diced
- ½ an English cucumber, cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 3Tbsps red wine vinegar
- ⅓ cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
- 1½tsps dried oregano, plus more for serving
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup feta, crumbled
- 1 tin sardines
Drain and rinse the beans. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, dried oregano and green onion. Mix in the beans, olives, cucumber and red pepper. Fold in the Feta, lay the sardines on top and garish with a bit more oregano. Serves 2-3