Hello Blog Friends!
Well, we have officially come to the end of Day Camps 2026, with the final camp, held at First Filipino Baptist Church, Montreal (FFBCM), ending, tomorrow, with a Closing Service.
As Mikaela, one of the DC committee members, was also the coordinator at this camp, I was privileged, all week, to have almost daily texts with some sweet photos. This coming Wednesday, the plan is to publish a special wrap-up post, so do check it out.
It has. been a full week, as attention has largely turned to all the Day Camp events and activities being planned for the coming Autumn months. Do take a look at the CTM Website, if you would like to see the Harvest Team Gathering flier AND the 2027 “Luke Street” Day Camp application form! Both “Home Page” posts are my first attempts at editing the website, after having a helpful tutorial chat with Guylaine, who is no longer our Director of Communications. Guylaine is WAY more proficient at all things IT and so it is a steep learning curve for me, but I am chuffed to have been able to edit the page, with a certain measure of success!!Needless to say, this task has taken up a pretty big chunk of my work week.
In other news, the Creative Connection and the Main Presentation Creative Activities components for the 2027 programs, are also, slowly coming together. The goal is to have those sections of the manual roughed out, by the end of the month. One huge worry (occupying a bunch of prayer time) is the need for us to find someone with the skills to assemble the 2027 Program Manual. My very dear friend and Day Camp alumnus extraordinaire, Jillian, has, this past Thursday, returned to her position as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher, at a French language private elementary school and it would be unreasonable to expect her to be able to, again, take on the manual. I am praying for guidance to know if I could perhaps manage it myself. It has always been important to me not to “hog” all the Day Camps tasks, as I believe this is a very collaborative ministry and I am always aware that others have expertise in areas that are not my forte. There are several amazing volunteers who have previously taken on the Manual, but none of them are any longer available to continue in the role. There are a couple of other large gaps on the “Tasks Sheet” that still need to be filled, more on this in future posts!
Outside of office hours, I enjoyed a lunch visit with the young Deacon whom I mentor and got to hear about his summer adventures ans also see a number of his photos; as he also has quite a bit of IT experience, he was able to give me onsite help with some of the website issues. YAY!!
Another day, Team alumnus, Sarah, and her little girl, Serena, came for a “Crafting and Lunch” visit. This is a second time we have shared one of these activities and, this time, I had laid out supplies for making some simple, polymer clay, earrings followed by a “make your own Summer Rolls” lunch, with lemon iced tea and homemade lemon-lime ice cream for dessert. Sarah and Serena, each made two pairs of earrings, we then baked the clay while we ate lunch and, afterwards I attached all the findings on the earrings. It was a special time to be together. That evening, news came that the elderly mother of a dear friend had died, after a long illness so, the next day I did a small watercolour sketch of one of my flower arrangements, write a note of sympathy on the back, and hurried over to hand deliver it.
Most evenings, knitting has continued on the third pair of Christmas gift socks and, last Sunday afternoon, a start was made on the bowties, which will be this year’s gifts for my four Godsons. Production is currently stalled as an online search is underway for grosgrain ribbon, required for the neck portion of the ties, the only cotton version I could find (most grosgrain is now made of nasty polyester, ugh!), comes from Turkey and it is likely that shipping charges would be prohibitive!
This morning, it seemed prudent to start the day by mowing the lawns as more rain is predicted for the first half of the coming week and next weekend it is, once again, time for the “Changing of the Decorations”. The change from Pentecost/Summer to Pentecost/Harvest is one of the more extensive ones and so will be spread out over several days. Starting in the middle of the week, some of the “behind the scenes” tasks can be undertaken with the actual weekend reserved for the “blitz”!!
Right now, it is time to pack up the baked goods, that are currently cooling on racks. The bi-weekly fruit “paniers” that are delivered to my front door, have recently been featuring boxes of yummy dates so today, I made a batch of date muffins; delicious served with Cheddar, I’ll be tasting them for my lunch!
Date Muffins
- 2 cups unbleached flour
- 4 tsps. baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 4 Tbsps. raw cane sugar
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 egg
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup chopped dates
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk well. In another bowl beat together the oil, sugar and egg. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, do not overmix. Fold in the dates and spoon into parchment-lined muffin tins. Bake at 400°F for 18-20 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.