IS IT UPSIDE DOWN CAKE OR SHORT CAKE?

It's a tradition at our house for an angel food cake to be the bearer of birthday candles.  So when Beavis' birthday neared I put angel food cake mix on the grocery list. Nothing special or complicated, just a box with two packages, add water, bake, cool, frost and serve.  I've done it dozens of times.  Today I went to the cupboard for that box of cake mix and none was there.  I must have planned it so hard I thought I did it, but didn't.  So we made a trip to the grocery and brought home a couple of angel food mixes.  When we got home there was the first cake mix right where I put it.  Now we had three.

I mixed up the cake and baked it. When I pulled it from the oven it looked okay.  The next step for this nothing-but-air-and-sugar cake is to turn it upside down to cool so it won't collapse.

Like this.  It cools for a couple of hours then the cake

is removed and decorated.   So I turned the cake

upside down on a bottle and went off to do stuff.

When I came back the whole cake had fallen out of the pan

and landed in a sticky, smooshed heap on the kitchen counter.

FAIL!

Seen here after turning it over and setting it on a plate. Not a pretty sight.

Plan B.  Get out the extra cake mix.  Bake it up quick.  Cook it extra long.  

Turn it upside down and let it cool.  Remove from pan.

Much better.

Beavis was glad there was a plan B.  

We didn't use number candles.  We wanted to really rub it in about the huge 

amount of birthdays he has racked up.  Heh heh.

DH made a point of using the barbecue grill torch to light things up.

Beavis took it all in stride and left nothing but smoke.

Happy Birthday and thank heavens for 

back-up plans.

BLACK BIRD FLY

Red wing black birds are our neighbors.  They're one of the first

to arrive when the weather warms up.  They stake out their nesting

areas near water.  There the males perch and flare out their

brilliant red epaulets and announce, "It's SPRING!" 

Yellow headed black birds hang out in marshy areas. 

Their voice sounds like the squeak of a very large, rusty hinge.

 

They have fancy white shoulder patchs to go with their bright yellow heads.

Other common black birds are the brewers black birds that gather in big flocks

as they prepare for their flight south, and the garrulous starlings with their

dark rainbow heads.  They're the bad boys that hang out in gangs and

take over and defend their turf with rude behavior.

I don't mind any of these birds.  They do a find job keeping down the insects,

and, even though they may not have beautiful voices,

they sing with plenty of gusto.  

It's the grackles that are on my list.  They are bigger than the common

black bird, have a long wide tail, and the males' heads are glossy dark blue.

They help themselves to everything in my bird feeder.

Everything.  They scarf down the seeds and nuts by the gobs.

They spill a lot into the hedge below but have no problem cleaning up the mess

all the while talking to each other with their rusty gate sound and

loud, "chuck" calls.

Lately they've been moving across our lawn like herds of black cows.

They're fattening up for their trip south.  I think it's great that they eat

the grubs, grasshoppers and cinch bugs.  No, what ticks me off is how they

gather like a flock of chickens and go through the bark mulch around my

rose bushes.

They dig through looking for food, scattering the bark chunks all over the sidewalk

and lawn.  I go out and rake everything back where it belongs only to find the same

mess an hour or two later.  Up in the trees I see grackles

looking up at the sky and whistling quietly.

VIEW FROM PINNACLE ROAD

View from Pinnacle Road, Wellington Park, Tasmania

8x10 inches transparent watercolor

Here's another piece I did for the Virtual Paintout in Tasmania.

I discovered a place called Wellington Park above the town of Hobart.

   Using Google Streetview I virtually "drove" up the winding road 

to a spot where there was a panorama view of the valley, 

the town and Cornelian Bay.  

Google Street View reference

The season appears to be autumn. The golds in the foliage contrasted 

nicely with the lavenders of the distant hills and the purples

and blues of the trees and shrubbery in the foreground.

View from Pinnacle Road, Wellington Park, Tasmania version 2

9x13 inch --playing with the colors

I realize I prettied up the trees a lot by adding too many branches. 

 They are probably eucalyptus, or gum trees which have most

of their foliage on top.

I remember riding a bike through a grove of huge eucalyptus

trees in Hawaii early in the morning.  The air was full of that spicy,

 menthol aroma often used in air freshener and medicine.

The first painting should appear along with many other

works by talented Virtual Paintout artists in the next few days.