Thomas Dunn Education Center

Recently the Cakeway to the West Facebook group had a pizza party and potluck at the Thomas Dunn Education Center in South City. There was a nice turnout, and two of the cake artists came as well. Numerous items were for sale, including postcards (several of which feature my photos) and coasters (one of which utilizes my photo). I am not going to lie, it is quite a thrill to see my photos used on items that are for sale. They were also taking pre-orders for a 2015 cake calendar. Proceeds of the sales are going to fund a book, "It's All about the Cakes", which they hope to release early in the spring. A couple of people brought their binders, books and scrapbooks, and it was interesting to see the different approaches being taken to commemorate this journey.

coaster

one of my postcards

 I met some new people from the group, and enjoyed catching up with the ones I have met at previous events. Again, I cannot get over how nice everyone is, and how much fun I am having hanging out with others who get my cake addiction. I hope we can keep up our friendships when 2015 rolls around.

Falling into Adventures

Saints Peter and Paul Church

Things have been busy lately. On November1st, the St. Louis Publishers Association again offered a class at the Meramec campus of the St. Louis Community College. I have written about the book publishing class on my other blog, Write Formation. Later that day, my friend Caren and I went to Soulard to walk around the area and take photos. I am so grateful because she is an avid photographer (a professional photographer, in fact), so we both like to stop and take pictures. Of course there are four cakes in the area we were walking, so I had to get additional photos of those. We went to McGurk's for an early dinner, and though the day had been a comfortable temperature we decided to eat inside. They have such a beautiful outdoor dining area there, but it is not so much fun if you are cold.

9th Street Abbey

Trinity Church

unlucky chicken foot

On Wednesday I was doing some gardening as the day was very nice. I was pulling out annuals and tidying things up when I heard the dog chewing on something. He likes to gnaw on sticks, so I didn't think too much about it at first. When the crunching continued I decided I better check it out. Much to my dismay, I saw part of an animal leg on the ground next to him. Now, Kirby has never mastered the "Leave it!" command. There is no way he willingly gives up anything, be it a toy or something gross. Utilizing the fine art of distraction, I ran towards the gate shouting "Look who's here!", which faked him out enough to run off to guard his territory. I hurried back and scooped up the parts (thinking back to the old commercial "parts is parts"), and being thankful for my gardening gloves. Normally I am squeamish about picking up things like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As I dropped the pieces in the trash, I noticed the larger leg piece still had a foot attached. Ugh! I guess there is one less clucker from the yard across the alley now. They have a chicken coop but they also let the chickens roam. Sometimes I see them in the alley. They cannot get into our yard because they are too fat, and our dog never runs loose, so Kirby is not the fowl killer. He just takes advantage of the situation if someone else does the dirty work.

When I relayed this story to my husband later, I couldn't resist telling him that we were having chicken for dinner. After all, the dog usually eats the same thing as us.