Frosted Lights and Sugar Flowers

I can't believe that its been a whole month since my last post.  (Okay, give or take a few days...)  But boy, does time fly!  As previously reported, Ron has been working busily on the downstairs bathroom and we're making excellent progress:

We've (and by "we", I mean Ron) made great improvements to the tub enclosure & he managed to finally get the icky old drain out and put in a new shiny one.  (To make it even sweeter, he managed to get the part FREE!  It's enough to make his Scottish heart burst with happiness.)  We have also found some lovely fabric to make window coverings and possibly add to the shower curtain to make things "cohesive".  (We'll also cover the fainting couch...again, by "we"...well you get the idea!  In my defense, I'll be sewing the curtains.)

We've finished our FOURTEENTH cake!  This is the first time I've made "lifelike" gum paste flowers.  (Peonies and lotus flowers.)  Here are some pictures of the flowers in progress:

There is a certain learning curve to this and each flower got a little bit better.  I finished them with a bit of edible pearlescent spray, just to give them a bit of shimmer.  Here's the finished cake...I'm quite proud of it & hope you like it, too!

We've really had a terrific summer so far...it's a bit rainy today and has been wetter this last week, but for the most part it's been hot and sunny and completely satisfying.  (Unless you're a farmer, of course.)  It made up for last summer which was dreadful!  The barbeque coals are almost ready and I have yet to mix up the burgers, so I'd best get to it.  Our thoughts and best wishes to all of you.  (PS, My book is going to take a little longer than anticipated...maybe not until October, so I'm trying to be patient...not my strong suit as many of you know, but I'll keep you updated!)