It certainly does not look very Spring like or “Lentish” outside today, as Thursday night brought yet more fresh snow, but as we move forward in Lent, it becomes easier to believe that spring will eventually come!


       With the arrival of the completed play scripts, this week, ALL of the Program Manual content is now in Arnee’s hands, so we are keeping on schedule in that area of preparation. The Liturgical dance choreography is also coming along and we hope to record the DVD next month.

       Several more churches have been in touch to find out which weeks are still open for hosting a Day Camp. We still only have one actual Application Form but the heightened level of interest is encouraging.

       As always, I’m beginning to worry about the need to recruit Team Members.  There is a list of about 10 possible names but they are not all definite and we REALLY need at least 18-24 applicants in order to form 6 Teams of 3-4 members.

     With March Break fast approaching I know that a lot of Teens and young Adults do star to think about Summer opportunities so it is important to spread the news that we are on the lookout for suitable candidates!!

      This afternoon there will be a mini-invasion of the Senior Youth Camp Staff as they hold their monthly meeting. I’m planning on making hot lemonade and this popcorn which it scrumptious (I made a small test batch and give it two thumbs up!) 
      After the meeting, the Huyer family is going to stay for dinner, so I will get to visit with all of them,which will be special.


    
 For St. Valentine’s Day, this week, I made heart-shaped Cranberry Orange Scones for breakfast and heart-shaped sugar cookies with lemon icing for dessert at dinner.  The scone recipe is good at any time of the year so I will share it below.

     
 
 My Spring lap quilt is almost done; I’ve just got to finish hand stitching the border in place. This week I also made these little Valentine gifts for two of my godsons and I also completed a Birthday gift for their Mum.

    
One of the Lenten “extra’s” I’m following is here. The page of ideas was produced in 2008 but the daily suggestions are great! Day 2 suggests secretly doing something special for a person each day in Lent. I found it hard to decide how to follow that idea but I’ve decided to embroider a special gift for a friend whose birthday falls in Holy Week. Each day I will add a few stitches to the piece and pray for that friend as I sew. 

    As always, I am starting my Pysanky too. I have chosen the patterns I shall do this year but still need to go and find white eggs. It grieves me to buy eggs produced by anything but free-range hens however I do need white and not brown eggs. It is also annoying that non-organic eggs all seem to have a nasty bright pink date stamp on them, which is REALLY hard to wash off!! 

   Afternoon…. Natalie joined me for lunch, prior to the staff meeting. We took Wil for a quick walk, collected a dozen white eggs, and dear Natalie laboriously scrubbed all the dye off with an old toothbrush and a paste of baking soda and water! And now chaos reigns, with an invasion of Staff people in the living room, Wil going wild, the cat streaking to the basement to avoid people and my two toddler godsons coming in and out of the kitchen. More tomorrow!


Here is the scone recipe…

                                      
                                      Cranberry Orange Scones
  2 cups unbleached flour
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsps. sugar

1Tbsp baking powder

½ tsp. salt

4 Tbsps. chilled butter or margarine

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped

1 Tbsp. grated orange rind

1 large egg

1 large egg, separated

¾ cup whipping cream


Place the flour, 1/3-cup sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in food processor and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in cranberries and orange rind. In a small bowl, beat together he egg, egg yolk and cream. Fold into dry ingredients until liquid is incorporated.

Transfer mixture to a floured surface and knead gently to form rough dough. Pat out to a 1-inch thickness and cut out with a well-floured large heart shaped cutter.

Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, placing 1 inch apart. Beat egg white until frothy and brush on scones, sprinkle with reserved sugar.

Bake on middle rack of a preheated 400F. oven for 15-20 mins.

Makes 9 or 10 scones.


Late afternoon on Sunday ….

I have just spent the last hour trying, unsuccessfully to access most of this week’s photos from my cell phone, there is some glitch whereby only half of my week’s photos are transferred and the rest say “unable to read file” most annoying!

 We had quite a marathon at church today as our annual Vestry meeting took place after lunch, after church! I was fortunate to be offered a ride home but still only got in the house at 230, by which time a certain furry person was most anxious for his walk!

Jenna Smith spoke this morning. I enjoy her sermons very much and her insights into Luke 4:1-13 were most illuminating.

Since the meeting lasted almost 2 hours I mad great progress on a cowl I’m knitting for a friend’s birthday, I fear that my “at home evening knitting” will be the extraordinarily complicated Tigger, which Sue had bought as a kit 6 years ago and which she soon shoved in a cupboard due to it’s complexity. There are 33!!!! Pieces to knit to make 1 stuffed toy. AGH!

 Better post this and get some knitting done now……