More Musings of a Hill Trekker....one year later: It's Summer....yay!

It's been in the 90s the last few days, or at least the 80s. One of those. There was a beautiful breeze today making it feel almost refreshing. Larry, Lynn and I did a lap and a half around Muddy River. A lap being from my house to Landmark Center and back. We were accompanied by some nice geese families. "Nice" because they didn't snap at us, even when I went in close to take photos. There must've been something about us they liked because we did see some wings flaring at someone else.

Larry did a great job at capturing us along with that "nice" family to the left. We didn't want to get too close, flaring wings and spitting, you know.... If anyone is knowledgeable about the mating cycle of geese, we were wondering. This is the season for babies, they're everywhere.

So last night we celebrated Sophia's 19th birthday. Birthday cakes have always been a big deal in our house--they embody all the big loves in our family: food, sweet food, and each other. Well, Howard doesn't totally love the food thing like the women of the family, but he loves sweets and he loves us :)

Back to the cake...Sophia had one request: the cake should be red velvet with cheesecake. Make that two requests: the theme should be One Direction. (You must remember my stories about that cute boy-band that she went to see perform in NYC and the hugs she got from her heart-throb, Harry!)

After perusing Pinterest for red velvet cake recipes I finally decided to let Pillsbury do the job. Too many ingredients for me! I'm no purist, let the experts do it right! Tho I did find any easy no-bake cheesecake recipe--let me know if you want it, it's a piece 'o cake (no pun intended--well maybe it was intended!)

As for the decoration, the frosting is her favorite color: Tiffany blue with a touch of sea foam. I took artistic liberty and changed the name of the band to "Misdirection" and dangled the boys' faces from wires inserted into the cake....you better just take a look.