A Wreck of Art

Cake Wrecks came to town, last week. A few of you have spotted my work, there, but here I give you all the details.

Jonathan asked me if was going to enter anything in the Wreckplica contest. I wasn't sure, and had no idea what I would do if I did, so he suggested I do this one from this post. It's his favorite cake on the site. It gets better every time he looks at it, it's just so messed up. Inspiration given, I sat down to write up a plan, and got to work. I still had my library book on cakes, so I whipped up a half batch of the same one I did for Elena and James' birthdays. I used a mini-loaf pan to get the overall shape, then cut it down to the proper size and specific shape. To give you a sense of scale, that's a 6" paper dessert plate.



I made a batch of frosting and split it into a couple bowls for each color on the cake. The brown went on first, then the blue around the edges. I was hoping it'd create curves in the right places, and it did a beautiful job.



Next came piping. I'd gotten a few tips, but didn't have a piping bag, so Ziplocks it was. With creative placement of the lines, I got all the right curves and shaping. I think it came out pretty well. Here we are, all ready for delivery.


These are most of the contenders. I think there's only one or two that aren't in this shot. I wasn't a finalist, but I did make an honorable mention on the blog. I missed the judging because Elena needed to use the restroom, but c'est la vie. It was a fun event.

An Art Feature

...starring a budding young artist named Elena.

"Rod of I-ron"

"Bountiful"

(she added a ship to the Many Waters about an hour after I scanned it in)

First Night

We like that this city really knows how to throw a party. Tonight was First Night and there were all sorts of stuff to discover. There were chimes to ring.


A very old fire truck. You can't see James' feet, but he has fire trucks on the bottom.


Under the 1st Street bridge was a presentation of 15 Minute Hamlet. The kids loved how silly the actors were.



There were also a pair of musical Tessla coils (yes, those Tessla coils) playing Christmas carols.


Auditorium Shores features art installations. Elena and Joseph ran around inside a bamboo tunnel-thing, while I staked out a spot near the clock tower.


People had the chance to write a resolution, wish, or whatever on scraps of wood and paper which were then put into the clock tower.


Then we burned it down. Something about the fire lifting our resolutions to the skies and the passage of time. I have to say that seeing a tower of flame with a clock face in silhouette and the hands spinning madly was moving, but I can't quite decide if it was profound. The heat was fantastic for warming up our chilled ears and noses, though, and we saw tons of spark-filled dust devils. It was very cool.


On the way back to the bus stop, we paused to listen to the Biscuit Brothers.


Happy New Year! I hope it's a good one.

Stars and Beards Forever

Elena's been asking for a while if she can make more paper pumpkins and I convinced her to make stars, instead, for the 4th of July. The black dots under their mouths are chins, and the lines on the big blue one are its "beards."

And, As Life Slows Down...

After a month of a record number of posts, we have this one. Trust me, we've had plenty going on, I just haven't posted it. Here's some of the highlights, though.

We've gotten to visit Zilker several times, this month, and Joseph loves running around the playscape and going on all the slides. Elena waves to the train and likes to watch the ducks down at the creek. She even got to see a heron, one time.


Elena's stick figures are starting to get more recognizable. The figure on the far left (now labeled as Cynthia) started off as the "other Elena." I don't know where that came from, but it was a bit unnerving.


The cat, Simon, showed off his hunting prowess by catching one of the lizards that keep sneaking into the house. It was not fun to head to the computer and find this blocking my path. (for the squeamish, skip past this one)


Trunk-or-Treat was Saturday night. There was the annual chili competition, a carnival for the primary kids (put on by the YM & YW, so the parents could sit and socialize), and of course the candy. Elena was Dora, so of course Joseph was Boots. She wanted me to be Swiper, but I didn't have enough time to pull that together, and Daddy was coming straight from work so I think I expanded his all-black theme quite nicely, for him. I love the picture of the four of us.



That's most of it. We had to get milk, first thing this morning, so we grabbed a huge pumpkin while we were at HEB. Elena's already drawn the face for it, and we're going to carve it this afternoon.

Chalk Time

I got Elena some chalk so we could have some art time while Joseph takes his afternoon naps.

We were amazed to see that she's picked up a few things from watching me draw. Sorry it's sideways, but yes, that's a head, neck, hair, body and fins on her purple mermaid (the yellow one is mine).

Today, she added a body to my happy face.