Dear, Mom -
Hello! What a nice day it was today. Today was the little, surprise birthday party for Kim’s 50th birthday. Guess what? She was surprised! She didn’t have a clue we were actually throwing her a party. She thought she was just coming over for a simple birthday lunch with Holly and I. Instead she came in to the back yard with our good friend Mo, her sister-in-law Alison and Alison’s daughter Kate and her husband Zach. Our neighbor Rob and, of course, myself and Holly. And her husband Ward was there, also. We stayed out in the back yard for about 4 hours. It was under the big cherry tree, so we had lots of nice shade. Luckily, the heat wasn’t as bad as I thought it was supposed to be, so everyone was very comfortable.
My cake that I made for Kim turned out really well. I still know that I can do it better next time because there were a couple of things I learned along the way that I will incorporate next time. One, I just don’t think I had big enough eggs. The amount of egg whites from the two eggs was lacking. Because of that, when I mixed in the Cream of Tartar, the egg whites didn’t peak as much as they should have. There should have been about twice as much in the bowl. Also, the detailed instructions didn’t make sense. The lady who posted the recipe also did a video showing the process to make it. When I compared her video to the detailed instructions in writing, it was obvious the written instructions were not accurate. Anyway, it still turned out great. The other thing I learned was to put the frosting you’re using to decorate with in the fridge before using it. I had kept it on the counter, so it was room temperature. It just didn’t hold. Here is a picture. You can tell me what you think!
It is on a mirrored cake stand, so it looks fuzzy on the bottom.
You can see that the writing isn’t great, but that is what I mean when I say the frosting should have been colder than room temperature. It was hard to control the line. Lesson learned. The nasturtium flowers on the top of the cake our edible flowers. The white cosmos on the bottom are not edible, but sure looked pretty. So, there ya have it. My first big cake! I am excited to make another and see how it turns out.
This is what it looked like before I decorated. Not too shabby!
Zach, Kate, Alison, and Kim
Kim! The birthday girl. Hard to see her under the mask...
Here is a picture of the cake I made out in the natural light.
Mo, Robert, and Holly
Last, but not least, ME! Sally Ann. I look like a bird with a beak with that darn mask!
After everyone went home, I cleaned everything up outside while Holly did the dishes for me inside. I took a slice of cake to Paula and Birgit because Paula was so nice to give me advice and supply the lovely cake pan and frosting spreaders. I went home and plunked down on the couch because I was finally allowed to be tired. I just wanted to sit and not have to think. Not that my day with my friends was hard, but all the things leading up to the party for the last two days was pretty packed. I’m just going to be glad to see the inside of my eyelids for a few hours tonight! Even thought tomorrow is Labor Day, Holly has to work. Kim and I are going to go for a drive together and go rock hunting up at the Nehalem River for a few hours. We want to get some needed quality time together and have a nice day. So that’s what we’ll do!
Tonight, I thought I would send you a couple of interesting flower pictures. The first I took as the sun was going down and it illuminated the Begonia in such a beautiful way. The other ones I took after the sun went down for a different effect. Kinda neat. I’ll be curious to hear what you think!
Yellow Begonia as the sun goes down.
Hydrangea at night
Dahlia at night
My favorite! A White Rose at night!
Elsa the dog is telling me to tell her Grandma Margaret ‘hello’ and that ‘I miss you’!
She wants someone to open this gate so she can come see you!
Alright, Mom. I love you ever so much! I guess we are going to have to wait to be able to see each other in person for a bit. We are going into another minor lockdown situation due to the dumb virus that is going around. As soon as I can, I will bring you your new slippers and some more baked goods. I really miss seeing you. I am glad I have this platform to be able to write you a letter every night. It makes me feel closer to you. It’s really great that Joy reads them to you. She is a great lady!
✨🥰All My Love, Your Daughter, —-Sally😘✨
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