Gingerbread House - Finished

Now I know why no one makes a geodesic dome house out of gingerbread.
After several small disasters, the 2013 house is finished.... complete with dog house (and 3 black Scotties) and sharks in the stream and pond.

The long view....

Front view....

 Shark close-up....

 Top view...

Dogs in front of the dog house...

Geodesic Dome Gingerbread House

Building a Geodesic Dome Gingerbread House - part competition/ part fund-raiser.

The finished house will be on a 16" x 16" square of double foam board, covered with aluminum foil.
The 'plot' will contain the house, a small dog house (with black Scottish terriers - licorice), snowmen and trees, with a path.

This is not a kit - I made the pattern and the gingerbread from scratch.

All items must be edible (part of the contest rules).

The theme for the house is: SPARKLE !

Day 1: The paper model - to get the scale right. It's a little ragged, but I got the scale right, pasted on some gold and silver sparkle paper (to be replaced by pastry sprinkles on the real one), tested some candies for the path and the snowmen.

Day 2:  A gingerbread prototype: to test the gingerbread recipe, to practice cutting gingerbread with from the pattern, test grating the gingerbread to get the edges straight and smooth (for gluing with royal icing).

Gingerbread out of the oven - cooling. Enough (isosceles) triangles for two pentagons, plus two equilateral triangles to join two pentagons together.

Pentagon pinned on foam board to position it - the center is raised, so it will be 3 dimensional when it's part of the house.

The dog house - all of the edges have been grated so they fit together.












Day 3: Whip up a batch of royal icing and glue the parts together.

Day 4: Glitter and decorations testing......

A Corgi Day at the Beach

First, you get your peoples to drive you to the beach.
Here's my peoples - hard at work driving Miss Millie (me).

Here's a picture of me (Millie) waiting to get to the beach. It was a looooong ride.

Then, when you get to the beach, you have to walk for a loooong time to get there.

Here's how long it took:

Starting out. I can't even see the beach.....

More walking......

I tried to turn back.... it was just too far to walk......

FINALLY !!! I could SEE the water.......

I was so exhausted !!!  Here's the rest of my walk on the beach:

The End....... by me (Millie).

Spring 2013

Running has not been kind to me lately. Or, maybe i let it down.

Anyway, despite the facts that I've signed up for three runs: April 13, April 20, and May 19, I'm just not keen on running.

I 

2013 Frostbite 5-Miler

Highlights from yesterday's run:
Before running - the traditional 'before' picture.  How is it possible that, the older I get, the more I look like my father ?  Genetics !

At the end of the race.... I think I'm either smiling or singing.....(Once again, Whiter Shade of Pale got me through the run). The official time was 1:05, but that's from the official start... it took 2 minutes for me to cross the START line.  I stopped to tighten my laces, so, at one point, i was the LAST person in the whole run.

This is my coach.... every day, she gets down on my yoga mat with me to make sure I stretch right before I run.....

The mascot penguin....

Even the people pushing strollers came in faster than me.......maybe the kids helped push when I wasn't looking.....

That's the story of the race.... more pictures to come later.

Hnaging out in Bucks County

Hanging out today in Bucks County  - Doylestown.
The Mercer Museum........ amazing place....
External

And inside...... yes.... 7 floors filled with stuff. Household and industrial and farming implements.... up to around 1850.... Internal view - that's a blue whaling boat in the middle of the left side.

Then, on to Font Hill

An the Moravian Tile Works...

Exit view down the driveway.....

On to Delaware Valley College for lunch. And we picked up some Orange & Chocolate port !