Balloons, babies and birthdays

My friend Bernadette called in on Friday afternoon and while we sat, talking, on the front verandah something caught my eye. I looked to the road and a bunch of pink balloons was making it's way along the street. Our next door neighbour on one side, Angie, was taking the balloons to our next door neighbours on the other side, Rachel and Jude. Their baby had been born!

The next morning, I packaged up a simple little gift - two pure cotton washcloths and some soap, and Hanno and I visited next door. New parents often look a bit bleary-eyed, and Rachel and Jude were no exception. Rachel said hello, then disappeared, returning again with a tiny bundle of pinkness. "This is Jayda," she said, "would you like to hold her?" You all know the answer to that question. ; - )

We sat talking about Jayda's fast arrival (they got to the hospital with only 15 minutes to spare), and all the while I held that beautiful baby girl she slept, made funny faces and reminded me, once again, that new life always brings with it such potential. I wondered how the world would change in Jayda's lifetime and made a silent wish that she would live a long and happy life surrounded by family and friends. I will be over 80 when Jayda is old enough to leave home and if she is still living next door to us then I'm sure I'll remember the day I first held her.

It was my step-son Jens' birthday on Saturday. He and his wife Cathy live on the other side of our town, so early Saturday morning I made him a birthday cake. Cathy was at work so when we arrived Jens made us a cup of tea, sliced the cake and we had a lovely visit with him. Hanno asked me to make him the same cake, and I have to admit is was delicious, so I'll share the recipe with you. I wanted to use some of the walnuts Hanno cracked last week and as Jens loves apple cake, I combined the two.

APPLE AND WALNUT CAKE

Add these dry ingredients to your mixing bowl:
4 cups self raising flour OR 4 cups plain flour + 4 teaspoons of baking powder.
1 cup of brown sugar - the recipe called for a cup of brown sugar and a cup of white sugar but I thought that was too much. I only used the cup of brown. If you like very sweet cake, add the second cup.
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a smaller bowl add your wet ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup of olive oil
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract OR 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup of milk OR buttermilk OR whey

Mix the wet ingredients together and add them to the dry ingredients. Turn on the mixer and start mixing. You will probably need to add more milk, but mix the batter first before you add it. The amount of milk you need will depend on the weather and your flour. You want a well mixed batter, firmish but not too runny. Mix for about two minutes.

When you're happy with the batter, add 1 cup of crushed walnuts and 1 cup of pre-stewed OR canned apples and mix them in with your spoon or spatula. Then add the batter to a well greased and lined cake tin. Cook in a medium oven 175C (350F) until golden brown and a toothpick or skewer comes out clean.

While the cake is still hot, brush the top with a small amount of butter and sprinkle on a mixture of ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of white sugar.

When I make this cake for Hanno, I'm going to use butter instead of oil. I think it would also be great using bananas instead of apples.

The rest of our weekend was quiet, taken up with gentle chores, chasing chickens, knitting, writing, gardening and cups of tea on the front verandah. The vegetable garden is beginning to take shape and once again I can see the potential of it to feed us for another year. The soil is teaming with life, seedlings have been planted, natural fertilisers added and the plants are slowly taking on their own life. Thank you Hanno for all that work. I'll take some photos and do a post about it during the week.

I'm at work today and tomorrow and I look forward to all that will bring. I have a couple of meetings first up with some interesting people, a committee meeting later this afternoon and a meeting with politicians tomorrow (there's an election on). In between all that a million other things will happen. It makes me feel good to be part of such a vibrant and wonderful community. I hope you make your week all it can be.

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