I feel like the luckiest girl alive.
I have two Grandmothers. Well, one Grandma and one Oma.
They are 92 years old. Born a few weeks apart, a large distance apart, and they are great friends.
This was a tea party for my Grandma. She is a lucky Valentine's Birthday Lady. I believe that means she was born with an extraordinary amount of love. She is the most lovely and giving woman I could ever know. She can make you feel comfortable and wanted with a smile, and her eyes always twinkle with joy and laughter. She is a wife of 62 years, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. She is the girl that's the first to befriend you, embrace you, and make you part of the family. I'm sure she was the school ambassador, if there were such things then. I guess they call these kinds the Pillar of the Community, but I feel that falls short.
My Oma is just as amazing, but in a different kind of way. She is straight forward. She says what she thinks and she gives no apologies for it. She is independant, stubborn... A true
vrouw. When I called her to invite her to the party she says, "Oh Sarah. I haven't heard from you in ages. What's
wrong with you?" (I'm bad at keeping in touch with people. When I want to call them I'm either at work or it's too late to politely call.) She never ceases to amaze me. She is legally blind, has worn hearing aids for as long as I can remember, and has lived alone for almost as long. And she hates it when people try to assist her constantly. She is proud, but humble enough to ask for help when she needs it.
But I digress. You're not really here to read about my gushing over my Grandmothers.
You're here to listen to me brag about cake. And flowers. And laugh about my casualty.
Apparently floral wire is irresistible to cats. Makes them jump up on tables and pull a resting gumpaste flower onto the floor where it go crash.
I wasn't impressed. But I didn't want the flower to go to waste.
So it sat on the cake stand; at the base of the cake. German Chocolate Cake with classic Pecan Coconut frosting. That frosting is a family favourite. It's between all those layers, and dolloped on top. The cream cheese honey frosting was really only for show. Naked cake needs some thick buttercream to be smeared all over it. It's a sexy cake like that.
My Grandma loved it. She doesn't like chocolate, so this was a White Chocolate cake. With flowers. One that my Grandma took home in a little vase I got for her. My very first gumpaste flowers. Another look at those shall we?
I'm pretty happy with them. Some minor things I'd like to add for next time, but I don't think anyone noticed the calyx was missing. Foliage wasn't needed for this cake, the flowers were more than enough.
These are fragile beast though. The two in the back cracked and chipped quite a bit. Only a small piece cracked off the light pink one. If you're going to make gumpaste flowers, make sure you pack them well, but not tight. Make sure they don't touch anything. I mean anything. Each other, floral tape, a table, some feathers...
Ok, I'm exaggerating. They aren't that fragile, but you need to be careful when handling them.
But don't worry we didn't just eat cake. Cookies, tortilla rolls, cucumber sandwiches, cake pops, veggies and chocolates were on the spread. You can guess what the kids ate and what the adults had.
Everyone visited, drank tea, coffee and juice, and visited some more. My Aunt was awesome and brought the Valentines my Grandma collected over the years.
Sixty-two years worth of Valentines, from her children, friends, and my Grandpa. Sixty-two years, starting in 1953, the first Valentine's Day they shared as Husband and Wife.
They didn't sit together for the Tea Party, which was a rare thing. We don't have many pictures where they are separated, or not holding hands, or something along those lines.
They are still in as much Love as they were when they were first married.
If not more.
Happy Valentine's everyone.
