We had our cake and ate it too!

I was glad to be a part of the planning for Art's Richmond's 2012 fundraiser event themed Fire & Ice.  In addition to dinner,dancing and a silent auction, we decided to add a cake baking contest to the evenings events.  We out together some guidelines and invited local bakers, or cake artists as we like to call them, to participate.

In the guidelines the cakes had to represent the theme and offer a bite-sized sample for approximately 150 people.  Guest were encouraged to vote for Best in Theme and Best in Taste.  We opened the contest and encouraged people to vote at a $1.00 per vote.   The area around the cakes quickly became busy with guests taking a look and sampling the artwork.  We also provided a prize for Best Overall based on the total of the guests votes for Best in Theme and Best in Taste combined with sponsorship money that each cake artist collected on their own.  We had six cake artists participate and his proved to be a very large part of our fundraiser.

Special thanks to the cake artists:  Bambi Provensano, Wanda Bullard, Tracy McNair, Melissa Newton, Micheille Coggins and Jackie McAuley for their hard work.

Winners:

Best in Taste:  Michelle Coggins
Best in Theme: Tracie McNair

Best Overall: Tracie McNair


This could possibly be an event on it's own.  Planning for the Second Annual Cake Showcase will begin soon.

Sometimes I have to take a detour.

I enjoy visiting new places even for a brief period of time.   Following our recent ski trip to West Virginia I wanted to see what was in the town of Wytheville, VA.  I've passed by the exit several times traveling up and down Interstate 77.   This year I grabbed a brochure from our hotel and studied a couple of locations that were of interest to me.  The first was Skeeters.  According the the brochure and web Skeeters was a local restaurant famous for their Skeeterdog.  After a large breakfast it was doubtful that I was going to be able to sample a Skeeterdog, but paid a visit anyway with hopes of getting some ice-cream.  Unfortunately Skeeters doesnt sell ice-cream during the winter months.  "It's just sits in the freezer and gets freezer burned." is what we were told.  A couple of other locations were suggested, but I was willing to take a chance due to the second part of my mission in Wytheville.  I entered the location, Big Walker Lookout and my GPS directed me to the top of a mountain approximately 20 miles away from Wytheville.   This was a bit farther off our main route than I had planned to go, but i still wanted ice-cream and wanted to see the 100 foot tower that was showcased in the brochure.   We finally made it around the winding road to a small country store with a tower that appeared to be 1000 ft tall.  The view from the parking lot was decent enough for a few scenic shots of the mountains.  As we walked around inside and finally enjoyed some ice-cream I decided to take a chance and climb the tower.   The base of the tower is built on a 20 ft platform beside the parking lot.  This was plenty high enough for me, but I had already purchased a ticket and we started walking up the stairs.  The higher we climbed the temps got cooler and the wind got stronger.  I stopped when I felt like I was 100 ft and contemplated continuing.  After realizing that I wasn't going to talk myself into finishing the climb, I made my way back down.  After we spent a few minutes on the swinging bridge and shooting a few more pics, we loaded back into the car for our trip back down the mountain.  At least I can say that I've been on the tower.

 

Copyright - Jimmy McDonald Photography

Annual Ski Trip to Winterplace, WV

We have an annual tradition of visiting Winterplace Ski Resort in West Virginia for a day of skiing.  the school calender usually works out for my son and a friend to leave on a Thursday evening and ski, crowd free, the following Friday.  Last years weather provided snow during the night prior to our ski day and the slopes were near perfect.   This year has been warmer, but the night are cold enough for the snow machines to cover most of the resort with the white stuff.  The conditions this year were great!   We arrived early enough to be among the first to make our tracks on the freshly groomed trails.  I have learned that my legs handle the crunchy, powder area much better than the frozen packed down areas. A few years ago the temps were so cold that the trails were iced over in many areas and maneuvering was tricky and required extra effort to remain upright. This years weather provided temps in the 40's and overcast skies.   I felt comfortable enough to velcro an iphone to my jacket to capture a video while skiing down a couple of trails.

 

We had very few mishaps and I was brave enough to try some more difficult trails with success.  I look forward to another trip back.

Winterplace Ski Resort

 

Copyright - Jimmy McDonald Photography