August: More Birthdays

 DD:- "Mum, I may need some help with the Birthday Cake...

'Someone' dropped the cast Iron Cookie tray on the Glass door,

So I don't have an Oven."

And that is how I found myself baking multiple cakes at short notice ....

I had Cakes in the Oven and Cakes in the Mixer and only one timer...

Until I realised that I had a Stopwatch - Lap timer on my wrist!

(Worked really well, especially when I remembered to set "GO")

Cakes baked, 

Filled with Strawberry Jam, 

and Iced with Fondant

 

then hand over to DD for her and DGD to decorate.

The finished Cake was a success.

Birthday Girl was Happy

And Lots of Compliments for Beautiful and Tasty Cake.

July Round-up

July 9:

While DS/DDIL#2 went off on a short break to Fitzroy Island with visiting Family from the USA, 

We found ourselves "Fur-Baby" Sitting.

We were wondering just How Spike would cope - but after some initial 'Stern Words' as to Who was Top Cat in the House ...

They settled to an uneasy Truce - 

And as long as no one was watching, they got along quite well.

July 20:

Happy Birthday Little Miss I (DGD#4).

Daddy did a Good Job of making the Iconic Women's Weekly Duck Birthday Cake.

July 30:

I was stunned to discover that TEN post comments, dating back to at least September 2022 were sitting in a SPAM folder that I didn't know existed! 

Happy to 'approve' them - and a belated Thankyou!

Inside the Carriage

This section introduced me to "Adding Brass Accents".

Sticking flimsy bits of adhesive Metal sheeting to the pieces that make up the Carriage Interior.

And constructing the Bench Seats, that are covered in adhesive Vinyl that didn't quite stick in places.

And no Train Carriage would be complete without Luggage Racks and Luggage. 

Stowaway Frog was more than happy to show that the Suitcases were Frog Size!

The Walls were decorated with Framed Paintings and Sconce Wall Lamps.

I chose to add Photos of All the Trains we have travelled on.

Next was to assemble the Carriage - This had a Curved Rear Wall/Ceiling with overhead lights and Window.

A "Deck Style" floor and (although you can't see it) Ventilation Grill at the back of the carriage.  

Now the fun begins - Adding the Lighting and Connecting the Motor ....

And it is here we meet the "Train Wreck"

Not one but 3 of my wires broke as well as the Motor Seizing.

I can get free replacement parts but can only do this ONCE so I have to pull most of the Gear assembly apart so I can order everything that may break in the process.

I have put it away until I can work out if it is worth pursuing considering it may never actually be turned on. It is a pity considering how much it cost (I actually subsidised the gift as it was out of DS#1's budget.)

And a fun project that was only supposed to take a few days to make has become something else I have to fix.

Book Nooks - Another New Hobby ?

DS#2 gave me a Train for Christmas.

Well, actually he gave me a 1940's Train Carriage - that I have to build!

I haven't been able to get around to making it so decided my Birthday was a Good Day to start.

It has a moving panorama that rolls across a back window so the first thing to make is the mechanism to house a Motor.

And I learned very early in the process that it wasn't going to be as relaxing as I had thought!

Basically the entire projects is made from Wood and Rubber bands!

The Motor sits in a cradle that attaches to the top of the Gear Mechanism.

More Gears and leavers are added.

(And I start to think of better ways to photograph each section - to make a more interesting Post...)

The First Section is finished.

This sits behind the Carriage Window so you can "Watch the Scenery roll past"

Time to Take a Break and Study the next section - 

INSIDE the Carriage.

Road Trip...

DSIL#1 - "I have a couple of Stamp Albums you can have - come for Lunch"

I must admit I could get used to having a view like this from my Kitchen window.

And the 'Couple of Albums' turned out to be BIL's extensive Collection of First Day Covers.  

Apparently, we now collect other peoples Stamp Albums....

So that is how we found ourselves having an unplanned weekend away in Ballarat.

 

Ballarat is only 90 mins from home but we decided to turn this into an early Birthday treat and stay overnight at the RACV Resort.

So, having nowhere to go but Home and all day to get there, we took the opportunity to visit the Creswick Woollen Mill.

We wandered into the past looking at the old tools, and weaved our way through a portion of the 100 meters of the World's Longest Picnic Rug

 (Guinness Record 6-10-2011)

We read about their advances in Fire Blanket Technology for the CFA

and walked past silent looms. 

(The blankets are now woven in Waverley Mills Launceston TAS and finished at Creswick.)

All that was left was to spend way too much time in the Mill Store.

Checking out the beautiful Woollen Blankets and clothing.

And who could resist a basket full of Alpaca Offcuts.....

Return to Sender ..... I wish

Have you ever ordered something on-line and it either takes FOREVER to arrive IF it arrives at all?

This week we had a parcel delivered that was clearly not ours.
The only similarity was that it was the same Street and Number.

I wrote on the envelope that it needed to be sent to SOUTH AUSTRALIA and put it back in the Mail.

This was a litany of errors starting with the sender not placing a Return Address AND leaving BOTH tracking labels on the Parcel.  

There was no way I could contact them.  I had the tracking numbers so I could see what was happening - just hope the recipient did too.

This parcel ended up in a loop of arriving at my place - going back to the mail sorting only to come back to me.

I tried to return it via the mail box and 2 Post Offices. On the 3rd visit, they took one look at me and the parcel, mumbled something about once the stamps are cancelled it can't be on-forwarded and decided to put it into a new envelope and try again.

I presume it arrived safely.  

Or it is bouncing around every other State in the Country that has the same Street Name as Ours.  

I will never know.

Cake Decorating

 At approx. AUD 110.00 per 1kg* Cocoa Butter is not my first choice for Cake Decorating but today's Workshop gave us the opportunity to try it out.

(With a HUGE Thank you to our demonstrator for supplying the Cocoa butter)

After having traced the provided Image onto our Plaques we then melted the Cocoa butter over hot water and coloured it with dusting powder.

(A small amount of Cocoa Butter went a long way!)

Then the fun began.

Painting our Christmas Bird. 

The Cocoa Butter flowed beautifully leaving a waxy finish which could be worked on indefinitely with a warm finger if needed.

By the end of the day, everyone had learned a lot and we had a table full of Christmas Robins.

I can imagine beautiful artwork on a cake using this medium.  

My only advice - Don't leave it near a heat source!

*Price & Image from Savour Melbourne

 (Home of The Chocolate Queen Kirstin Tibballs)