July 2018 Archives

This post is late coming. I've not posted most my photographs of most of the artwork created for "Meeting of Styles", which happened at the end of May, because June was a very busy month for me. The Dan Kitchener artwork painted for the event was refreshed from the previous "Future Tokyo and Tokyo Ghosts" piece, which was painted on the same wall earlier this spring. I have covered Dan Kitchener's work a lot on this blog.

Dan Kitchener is one of London's most popular street artists and often paints city scenes and futuristic street scenes of Tokyo and portraits of Asian women. This new street art is painted in black and white spray paint and depicts a futuristic scene in Asia with a girl, robot, and other futuristic figures and creatures (including a car from the 1990s perhaps).

This street art is located on the Kinkao building on the corner of Pedley Street and Brick Lane.

Previous posts featuring Dan Kitchener's (DANK's) street art in this blog are located below:

'Future Tokyo and Tokyo Ghosts'
Dank "London Rush"
Dan Kitchener's Street Art on Sclater Street and More
Street Art: Dan Kitchener
"Downtown" Mural by Dan Kitchener
Goswell Road

Baconsthorpe Castle in northern Norfolk dates from the 15th century, and it is a fortified manor house developed by the Heydon family, who gained wealth in the wool trade. The structure was built as an elegant house (which was later moated) to make a statement with a deer park and sculpted gardens instead of as a fort or for defense purposes. Today, visitors can view the house and walk along the grounds and explore a couple of the rooms that still exist. The structure is in a very ruined state but walls and the old castle walls do exist, and the lake is quite attractive and reflective.

The Heydon family was from a lower social status but gained wealth and bought lands from the Bacon family, where the castle and area owes its name to. The castle was called Baconsthorpe Hall and was built to show power as the family wanted to impress politically. The family got rich in the local wool trade during the 1400s, and the castle was finished. However, the wool trade declined in the 1500s and debts were building up, and it is thought that the family lived lavishly but its workers did not. They would have made a lot of enemies. The castle was inherited along with debts and the mere was created at this time. It eventually was sold for its stone and mostly demolished then, but parts of the buildings and walls exist.

The rooms in the house were described as luxurious at the time of its heydey, and visitors can make out where the upper floors would have been.

One of the panels mentions the wool trade, which is how the family got rich. They would have owned about 3,000 of the Norfolk Horn sheep. The wool was made soft and turned into cloth with stale urine and weaving processes. It was probably processed here at the castle, and then sold. The Netherlands were one of the largest buyers of the wool.

Baconsthorpe Castle is managed and maintained by English Heritage, and it is free to visit. It is located close to the market town of Holt in northern Norfolk.

I spent last weekend visiting Norwich and Norfolk to see the latest sculpture trail for the city. Norwich's sculpture trail started with the success of GoGoGorillas! in 2013, and that was my first ever visit to the city. In 2015, GoGoDragons! came to Norwich. This year, the city has hares or rabbits for GoGoHares! GoGoHares! aims to raise money for charities such as Break, which raises money to help young people, by auctioning off the sculptures, taking donations, and selling other merchandise. The sculptures will be on display until the 8th of September, and they will then go into auction to raise money for the charity.

Poppy by Mik Richardson

I enjoy the sculpture trails and visiting the sculptures because all of them are unique and have been painted by an artist. Families go out to visit them and get their photographs with them, which creates a great atmosphere. The hares are really creative this year, and fifty of them can be seen in Norwich city itself. The others require transportation to the different areas in Norfolk to see, and a couple of them have a fairly long walk to visit.

Illuma by Hannah Hardy

Robyn by Hilary Sanderson

Narni-Hare by Charli Vince

Haremione by Jo Fiske

Hareman Jack Hargreaves by Evelyn Sinclair

George the Watchmaker by Beverley Gene Coraldene

Foxy's Tale by Sally Adams

Hare-rae Busta by Alex Egan

Chrome-hare by Hydro Monkey

Hare Comes the Sun by Julia Allum

GoGoHaero by Claire Cassie; Tigehare by Jenny Leonard; Mr Cel-Hare-Crate Norfolk! by Pippa Flynn; Humphry Hare by Lisa Kirkham; Lupus by Anne Schwegemann-Fielding; Hare All About It! by ERM CIC

Chocohare by Deven Bhurke

Haremit by Ross White

Sydney Long Ears by Beverley Gene Coraldene

Sydney Long Ears by Beverley Gene Coraldene

Honey Bunny - Katy Stevens

Funny Bunny - Deven Bhurke

Professor Hare and His Magic Library by Paul Jackson

Hare-um Scare-um by Sarah Fenn

King of Scribble by Sophie Li-Rocchi

To see the hares, visit before September 8. I believe that the hares will all be together in one place before the auction in the autumn, so visit http://www.gogohares.co.uk for more information about the sculptures, the trail, and the charity.

Manchester's Cat Cafe is located at 103 High Street in the Northern Quarter, and it opened two years ago in July of 2016 a few years after the United Kingdom's first cat cafe (Lady Dinah's) opened its doors (you can read about my visit to Lady Dinah's here). Manchester's Cat Cafe contains pure breed cats who are in need of a new home, and some of them also are blind or have hearing loss.

The cafe offers free drinks while visiting the cats, and visitors must remove shoes and must not bother sleeping cats or annoy them. Children under ten years of age are also not permitted, and there's a few other rules as well. It costs £6.00 per half hour with the cats, and that time goes quickly. A booklet tells the name and breed of each cat and a little about it.

If you enjoy cats and cafes, head over to Manchester's Cat Cafe. They have also opened another in Liverpool, which they say is a lot better than the one in Manchester. If you love cats, you may wish to check out my other cat cafe posts:

Tea, Cake and Cats at London's First Cat Cafe
Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium: London's Cat Cafe
A Visit to London Cat Village

Carol Burns is a local business owner in the Brick Lane area and has run a family business here along with Charlie Burns, whose new mural was completed earlier this summer. This mural of Carol Burns was completed by Nether410, and street artist Ben Slow organised Nether410 to create the portrait here.

Nether is a street artist from Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. He started to paint walls in his own home town to spark communication on social issues in the community. His work focuses on the local community and the people within it.

In addition to the Carol Burns portrait, Nether410 also painted a bird on the bridge near Nomadic Community Gardens.

And another portrait was created in Shoreditch.

And this one was on Sclater Street.

One of the walls on Bacon Street between the little shops there was previously painted with a mural of local Charlie Burns by Ben Slow (see more from the artist here: Street Art: Ben Slow). I covered the original mural here: Charlie Burns mural by Ben Slow, and there was a different mural of the local man by the same artist a few years previously. Charlie Burns was a local well-known figure around this area, and he would often sit in a car on Bacon Street and watch people until his death in 2012. He used to run a shop here, and the shop is now run by his children. The murals were painted in honor of him.

The latest mural of him on Bacon Street did not last as long as the previous one, and it was looking in bad shape from late last year. Someone had tagged over it, and once this happens, it does not take too long for the piece to become destroyed. Ben Slow asked Kevin Ledo to paint the wall with a new tribute to Charlie Burns, and he did so with the help of Charlie's family and locals who remember Charlie. 

Kevin Ledo is from Montreal, Canada. He has painted all over the world, and most of his work feature portraits. The portraits are either realistic or have an abstract bold colour pattern imposed onto them. The Charlie Burns mural features a portrait of the man painted from the same photograph that Ben Slow used, which is why it looks like an exact copy of Ben Slow's underneath the red paint.

I went up to Manchester for the weekend because a couple of friends from the states had arrived for a very short trip to visit Manchester and London for seminars. Shortly after saying hello to them, we ended up arriving in Manchester in time for lunch and at "The Alchemist" near Piccadilly Gardens. This is where we had brunch or lunch and cocktails and the proper start to the weekend after driving about three and a half hours from London.

First up, the cocktails. I loved the cocktail menu. It was designed to look like a periodic table with different cocktails and a short description, and the menu is designed well with gold shine patterns.

We had our drinks first, and I had a few cocktails including the Melon Sour, 3.5Oz of Happiness, and The Colour-changing One. The Melon Sour and 3.5Oz of Happiness came with the option of another cocktail at a reduced cost and a little extra for the little tin flask that you can see in the photograph.

We had starters to start, and I had the breaded halloumi, which was delicious. Fish cakes, prawn lollipops, and pork crackling were also enjoyed.

For the main, I ordered "The American" brunch. This is comprised of waffles with maple syrup, bacon, and scrambled egg. Visitors can choose to have the eggs cooked in any style, and I am partial to scrambled eggs. Chicken katsu, burger, and salad were other options.

Before starting the meal, I ordered the Colour-Changing Cocktail. This came with two small glass bottles with different colour liquids. One was dark purple in colour and the other was transparent. I poured the purple one in first, and I watched it change and steam with the dry ice and become less dark in colour. Then, I started to pour the clear liquid, which created a pink colour changing intensity as I poured. It was pretty awesome, and you can see the photographs before. The waiter also recommended the Lightbulb Moment which may have been another cool cocktail to try.

After the brunch/lunch, we wandered around the Northern Quarter of Manchester. The Northern Quarter is one of my favourite areas of the city and is also an area that has changed a lot in just the past few years since I've last visited. I enjoyed visiting the quirky shops and The Afflecks mall, which is a maze of small shops selling vinyls, items for crafts, clothes, jewelery, Manchester souvinirs, hair/tattoos and other trendy items. 

On Friday, I visited Poole Quay with friends for the annual "Quay For My Car" at Poole Quay. Each Friday late afternoon and early evening during the summer months sees Poole Quay turned into an area of different types of car, and the MINIs takes place in mid-July. MINIs used to take place for all three summer months (June-August) with July and August being the most popular. However, this was changed a few years ago so that the MINIs only appear once now and other different types of car appear on the other Fridays.

I had a quick walk around Poole's seafront to check out the other MINIs. I have a modern one, but I have always loved the original ones. Most people who own a modern one have started out loving the classics, and there is always a rift of some of the classic owners talking bad about the modern ones, which isn't great. I'm sure that a lot of people (like myself) would love a classic one but cannot have one for various reasons or others have a classic one and a modern one. 

We had lunch/dinner at Rosso's Italian, which has changed its name quite often over the years. The restaurant is located on the first floor of a modern building here. It's not the best Italian food, though it used to be better years ago. Fish and chips, pub food, and street food is also available.

The little street is lined with tourist shops selling rock, souvinirs, shells, ice cream, and much more.

We had ice cream from one of the several shops on the seafront.

If you're able to visit Poole Quay during one of the special Friday evening car nights, it is always good fun. If you own the type of car showcased for the night, you can park your car for free on the quay. Simply look for "Quay for my car" in the search engine for the current year to see which cars are showcased on the dates. It is always nice to chat to friends, meet new people, and see the cars on a nice summer's evening. My first visit to do this was in 2010, and although a lot of my friends in the scene have now moved on, it brings back great memories.

Street artist Zadok, based in London, has painted previously in London and the subject of choice is animals and birds. The artist has not painted much in east London until recently with a wall on Sclater Street. The wall on Sclater Street features a few birds and animals on a beige background. This is also covered with curled foilage. The street art was difficult to photograph due to the Sunday market taking place in front.

For more information about Zadok and more street art on this blog, see below:

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Environmental Street Art
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam
Cranio - Collaborations with Himbad, Zadok, & Kazz
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
Street Art: 2Square, CodeFC, Jim Vision, Mr. Cenz, Peter Drew, Zadok

SHOK-1 is a London-based artist who uses spray paint applied in thin mists to build up imagery, and I've seen him apply his technique. X-ray photographs are a special subject of the artist and is a style that Shok-1 is doing currently, and it normally takes a few days to complete a piece. Previously, the street art "Elvis"/pelvis mural (completed in early 2017) was on this gate, but it needed to be refreshed. The gate is located at Ely's Yard off Hanbury Street, which is near to Brick Lane. 

The artwork is titled "Broken Heart" and is a human rib cage made to look like an X-ray photograph or screen with a broken window; the area where the heart would be is missing as is broken out. 

The last time that Shok-1 painted street art in east London was toward the end of 2017 with "The Future is Rubbish", and this can be seen off Chance Street. Previous posts that feature artwork by Shok-1 can be seen by clicking on the links below:

Shok-1 Paints "Masterpeace for Rememberance Day and "The Future is Rubbish"
'Elvis' by Shok-1
Shok-1 'MasterPeace' Street Art
Street Art: Shok-1
Street Art Round-up: Spring & Summer 2015
Street Art Round-up in Early Spring 2014

This is at least the second time that London-based French street artist Zabou has painted musician Amy Winehouse (the piece is titled 'Amy II'). The new artwork is a collaboration between Zabou and Villana, who is from Mexico and who creates artwork (normally paste-ups) using bits of string and yarn. 

Zabou has been painting in London for the past few years (I think that the first street art that I saw from her was opposite 'Last Days of Shoreditch' in 2013), and her work keeps getting better and better. Her subjects feature portraits. The latest work by Zabou that I captured on this blog was in the autumn with her "Alice in Wonderland" on The Bell pub near Aldgate East. 

Villana is a street artist from Mexico who is also a yarn-bomber. She has visited London a few times and left behind little yarn paste-ups, and I have previously covered her work here: Street Art Villanaart.

More work by Zabou that I featured on my blog is:

Zabou Paints 'Alice in Wonderland'
Zabou paints Sid Vicious from 'The Sex Pistols'
Zabou Paints Freda #2 at Broadway Market
Zabou Paints Salvador Dali on Commercial Road
Koeone and Zabou Collaborate
"Keep Out!" Street Art by Zabou
Zabou's 'Cabinet of Curiosity' Street Art
Leake Street Tunnels Street Art, Spring 2016
Recent Street Art by Zabou
Street Art: Zabou

Each year, one of the hightlights of street art in London and the United Kingdom is the "Meeting of Styles" paint jam that takes place just off Brick Lane and the Nomadic Community Gardens. This paint jam is always held at the end of May (except for last year when it was organised a few weeks later). One of the highlights of the event is the painting of the wall of the old shell of a building and rail bridge just off Pedley Street, which I covered separately (Meeting of Styles Wall 2018) because I felt that it's a fantastic work. I also covered Dan Kitchener's repaint of the Kinkao wall on Pedley Street here. Below are some of the other work that was created during the event.

Xenzogram

Candie Bandita and Carleen de Sozer

Hull Grafitti

Tom Blackford and Ewan

Tom Blackford and Ewan

ELNO

ThisOne - ThisOne and HNRX

Gent

Nomad Clan

Hull Grafitti 

Evol

EnoraOne and Koye

EnoraOne and Koye

Balstroem

dynamickArt

Welinoo

RevesOne

Balstroem and Weinloo

Lours

Aseb

Nelius

Neist

Nerone - Nerone Paints Great Eastern Street

Woserski - Recent Spring 2018 Woskerski Street Art

Roo

Stedhead

The Krah

Jim Vision - Jim Vision "Battlechasers" Street Art

Captain Kris and The Real Dill

The Royal Air Force (RAF) turns 100 years this year, and at least a couple of museums are taking part with the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon (read about my visit here) and the Battle of Britain Bunker at Uxbridge re-opening earlier this year after renovations. I've not yet been to the Battle of Britain Bunker at Uxbridge, despite it only being a 15-minute drive away, but I did visit the RAF Museum in Hendon (near Colindale) a couple of months ago, and it is well-worth a visit and has expanded. So, even if you have been in the past, it's worth another visit to see the new displays.

On Tuesday, the RAF celebrated 100 years with a fly-past in central London. This brought together several different types of aircraft from Chinnok helicopters to modern and historical planes such as Spitfire, Tornado, Lancaster, and Hurricanes. The fly-past ended with a Typhoon formation in the shape of "100" and the Red Arrows flying past with red, white and blue colours. Happy 100 years to the RAF!

"Elephant Parade" is a charity event featuring a parade of elephants painted or created by artists to earn money for protecting the elephants. Elephant Parade first launched in London in 2010 with 250 elephant statues on display, and these were then shown all in one place in Chelsea before the auction because they were very popular. You can see some of my photographs of the elephants around London and all together in my post "Parading Artistic Elephants in London". In 2013 and 2014, new elephants returned to the UK on a national tour of mainly shopping malls, and I saw them when they were in Uxbridge (UK National Elephant Parade 2013/2014). I've been waiting for them to return, and they announced at last minute that the elephants were returning to London for about a month.

Kashmir Ki Kali - JJ Valaya

The elephants will be on display until the 18th of July, and they are located at Sloane Square and Mayfair. They have been brought over from Elephant Parade India in order to gather support at the auctions to raise money for the elephants.

Kali 2.0 Divinity Revisited - Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla

Ele-Nouveau Deux - Varun Bahl

Savriti - Vikram Goyal

Naari - Tejal Gala; Aranya - Suhasini Kejriwal; Castellum - Michael Howells; Babar Travels to London - Adil Ahmad; Phula - Marissa Bridge; Infinity - Gaurav Gupta

Tara for Mark - Elephant Family

Bar Palladio Ele - Marie-Ann Oudejans

Blue Dimension - Jason Woodside

March of Times - Sonal Ambani; Sheesh Mahal - Rohit Bahl; Gaia - Rafaela de Ascanio; Baby Doll - Adil Ahmad and Kanilea Kapoor; Tramp of Marching Feet - George Martin; Tata Astamangala - Good Earth

Ramrattan - Ravi Vazirani

Marwar Matang - His Highness Maharaja Gaj Signh II of Jodhpur

Sikander Bagh - Payal Singhal

Dahlia - Anushka Khanna

Ridesh - Gayatri Sekhri

 
Monsoon Magic - Michelle Poonawalla; Gulab - Prakhabar Pachpute; Stop! - Little Shilpa; Kamal Kunj - Atelier of Pichvai Tradition & Beyond

 
Me and My Million Voices - Veer Munshi

 
Giving Back Pride without Prejudice - Adli Ahmad, Vasundhara RAje and Prisoners of Central Jail of Jaipur

Spanish street artist Sr X (Senor X) has painted street art in London a few times, and the last time was in the spring of 2017 with an octopus. This year, he's painted an even larger piece on the high profile wall at the corner of Hanbury Street and Brick Lane. The new street art is titled "The Itching" and is illustrated in the vintage graphic design style with a man holding an open lighter. The man's hair seems to be on fire. I am not sure if the man is meant to depict anyone or if it's just a pyromaniac. 

This is the first time we have seen this wall refreshed in several months now. This artwork replaces the politically-charged artwork "Follow the Leader" by Fanakapan, which had hung around for so long (seven months) that I was tired of seeing it and hoping for something new. I think it's a wonderful illustration to be on the wall.

Friday was one of the hottest days of the year so far, and I headed to Hyde Park from Knightsbridge to check out the London Mastaba. The London Mastaba towers above the waters in the Serpentine lake, and I caught a glimpse of it in the distance. It was created by Bulgarian artist Christo, and he funded the project himself. The art installation is created using 7506 bright red, pink and blue barrels and is 66 feet tall. The Mastaba is named after an ancient Arabic bench. It's hard to miss with the bright colours and reflection.

The Mastaba is a first in a series as Christo wishes to create an even larger (eight times larger) sculpture in Abu Dhabi. The art installation appeared at the end of June and will be on display until 23 September.

I approached from Knightsbridge at the opposite end of the lake. If visiting in the afternoon, there will not be a great view from this direction unless you walk to the other side due to the position of the sun. (I wasn't sure where in the Serpentine the art installation was.)

To visit the London Mastaba, visitors can walk across the park from Hyde Park Corner, Lancaster Gate, and Knightsbridge; for a slightly longer walk, visitors can walk from South Kensington or Marble Arch. The art installation is actually located at the beginning of the Serpentine near the Serpentine Sackler Gallery and opposite the Serpentine Lido. While you're in the area, check out the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion, which is different each year. This year, it looks a little like a protective fence that you'd see in a prison or around the old American embassy in London. You can see past Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilions here.

On July 7, 2005, a group of mis-informed cowards decided to blow themselves up along with innocent commuters who were just going about their daily lives. Today marks the 12th anniversary of that day, which has only resulted in people needlessly dying. This memorial was erected to remember the 52 people who died in the attacks at Tavistock Square, Edgeware Road, Aldgate, and King's Cross. Each pillar marks the life of the lost person.

This memorial was erected in Hyde Park by Prince Charles and Camilla in 2009.

The pillars are each inscribed with the location and time of the attack. Edware Road - 8:50, Tavistock Square - 09:47, Aldgate - 8:50, and King's Cross - 8:50.

The memorial is located near Hyde Park Corner in Hyde Park.

Last month, I visited Milan, Italy. During my visit, Loopcolors (a street art festival that is sometimes known as Looperfest) was taking place. Some of the artists are English, and as I follow a couple of them on social media, I was able to find out where the festival was taking place and went to have a look on my last day, a day after the painting had finished. The location of the artwork is north of the central station in Milan but is a far walk from there.

LoopColors this year focused on a theme "Power of Women" for 2018, with many of the street art pieces created with this theme.

The below image of a female boxer was created by King Raptuz, an artist from Italy who works in the design and art industry in between painting walls worldwide. The technique he created is known as "Broken Window Futurism", which is a fragmented abstract image.

The below image is called "El joven Cesar y su Mascota", and it is by street artist Belin. Belin comes from Spain and creates abstract portraits.

The below grafitti is a tag by RASKO, a grafitti artist from Moscow, Russia.

The woman on the right in the above photograph continues to the photograph below, and this piece is called "Power of Women" and was painted by Brainmash.

The above piece is by Mr. Cenz, a British street artist that I have previously covered a lot on my blog. To see more by this artist, see this post about Recent Street art in 2018 by Mr. Cenz.

The above image is painted by street grafitti artist HelioBray and is a colourful tag. The artist is from Portugal.

The above portrait of a young girl is created by street artist SEF, an artist from Chile who creates photorealistic portraits. The above is very eye-catching.

The above pink woman is created by Georgi Dimitrov Erase (Arsek Erase), a Bulgarian street artist who started to paint street art in 2000 and creates colourful and bright characters with an element of humour. His take on "Power of Women" shows a pink lady.

The above photograph shows the image by Dan Kitchener, British artist who paints Asian female portraits and backdrops of dark city streets in which Tokyo often features with a glow of car headlights and neon signs.

For those wishing to visit this artwork in person, Zuretti61 is the location of the street art festival for Loopcolors Looperfest 2018. The street art is located behind the building and just off the main street. I would suggest not to walk from the main central station as it is a very long walk.

On Sunday, I hosted my first ever BBQ. It was to celebrate a number of things including a friends' engagements, my milestone birthday, a friend's milestone birthday (not the same milestone), a new house, citizenship, and the Fourth of July. I think there were a few other celebrations in there, but I really cannot remember as there were a backlog of items to celebrate. The new house and citizenship happened over two years ago, but I've never been in the position to celebrate, and before I moved into a house in October of 2015, I lived in a flat. Since I've lived in this house, I've been wanting to host a BBQ for awhile, but the ground floor renovations only finished last May, and then there was the unpacking and sorting of some of the boxes, and work has taken over my life since mid-December. So, this was a short notice BBQ. I'd only planned it a couple of weeks ago. So, it was a small affair.

The weather that we have been having is perfect, though I know some of you will not agree. I love the sun and warmth and the longer days. Winter is too dark, and we had cold and snowy weather into the end of May. Then, it was still cold and wet and cloudy until the beginning of May when we had some nice weather and then the past couple of weeks with this wonderful sunny weather. I would be happy if it stayed like this for longer, especially with that winter we had.

So, a BBQ meant quite a bit of preparation, tidying and hanging decorations. I got a lot of Union Jack flags, American flags and decorations (such as the ones photographed above), and some Chinese flags to honor the Chinese guest.

Even my beautiful cornflowers (my favourite summer flower) were in bloom in red, white and blue colours. I am slightly obsessed with cornflowers. The blue ones are my favourite. I'd actually planted a lot of these, but something kept taking the shoots when I planted them outside, and only this small patch survived. The others got planted when it was too hot and they were too large to really be replanted (I didn't have a place for them as my garden had a lot of weeds in it then), so they all died.

Unfortunately I didn't get to take a photograph of the food because I was still preparing when the guests arrived and then I also forgot to serve the bread rolls and rosemary potatoes that I made. I left them in the oven. I also forgot to photograph my juice jars with red, white, and blue punch (all non-alcoholic) until they were a little emptier.

I also ordered a cake for the celebrations. It is a little too large, and there's still cake left. Ops. I ordered from Angesdesucre, and it is a pistachio cake with pistachio and berry macaroons. It's a subtle flavour and not too sweet and not too rich. The icing was a little too greasy for my liking, and there was some slight damage in transit but my guests enjoyed it and asked for second helpings.

I hope that this nice weather lasts several more weeks now and so I can take advantage of the wonderful weather. I hope that my readers have some fun parties planned, and I would love to host a couple more before the winter sets in. I would love to have a bit of a longer party and games night.