Birthday Season

Unky Herb's birthday is today. Happy Birthday, Big Guy. I took his photo as he was about to take a bike ride on the nicest day of the year thus far. He's riding the old Schwinn which has been in the family for maybe 20 years, because the bike paths are dirty yet and there are still puddles as the big snow banks melt down. UH is 28.

It was a good day for Herb. His young sister, KS,, called from India to wish him a happy day. Unfortunately it was 6 am here when she called. Fortunately, I was able to get to the phone before the answering machine took over. Unfortunately, she has been ill lately where she is, in Auroville, but fortunately, she is better now. She is planning a few more side trips to points of interest in India with some people she met at Auroville, before flying home from New Delhi on about the 19th of the month.



I baked Adam's favorite cake for his birthday - Lillie's Red Devils Food cake. I did it as a layer cake and learned some things about layer cakes and frosting. Suffice it to say that the cake cracked down the middle shortly after it was frosted. That, however, did not affect it's taste and moist cake-like texture. I will include the recipe for this family heirloom at the end of the blog.

Tennis was on as usual this morning. The permanent time at Wooddale runs out in early May, and we'll be moving the action outside. Scores from today: 6-2, 6-3, 4-6 as I ran out of gas late.

The last photo shows what can go wrong when you use the self timer on a camera. The camera was aimed in the right direction, but it caught only half a Tousan. Some would say, the best half. I was standing on the beach at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis. Nokomis was Hiawatha's grandmother.



From Lillie Anderson Miller (1913-1955)

Lillie's Red Devil's Food Cake

cream 1/2 cup butter
add 2 cup sugar
" 2 eggs - beat in well
" 1/2 cup sour milk
" 2 cup flour (measured before sifting)
Mix to paste: 2 heaping Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup hot water - add to batter
Add 1/2 cup hot water (making 1 cup in all) in which 1 teaspoon soda is added.
Add 1+ tsp vanilla.
Batter is thin, but that is as it should be. (Bake 40 min at 350 F.)