Well, college graduation for child number two has come and gone. Adam has finally graduated, and he is off on his own.
This picture is of Adam being congratulated by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the president of the university. Diploma time!!
Adam majored in Marine Science, and he believes that Florida is the place to be for that type of work. I hope he can get a good job. My parents bought a house in Tampa back in the 1950's, when Daddy was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base. We still have the house, so Adam is gong to live there and look for work. Before settling down as a grown-up, though, he and Vicky, his girlfriend, are taking a long trip to Europe. They have been planning this trip for over a year, and they have a very detailed itinerary. I am very proud that they have done so much research and planning for this trip. When they return, they will both look diligently for jobs. Vicky has a degree in Graphic Design/Advertising, so I hope she can get a good job in that area. Now, I truly have an empty nest. Rachel got married four and a half years ago and left the nest. Adam has been on his own for almost a year, but he was still in Savannah. Now, he will be in Tampa, and that is a pretty far distance to visit. I do plan on going down there this weekend, though, to see them before they leave for Europe.
We had a big party down at the beach. Adam has always wanted to cook a pig. He asked our cousin Benjamin if we could use his backyard to cook a pig. It turns out that Benjamin has always wanted to cook a pig, too! So, they cooked a pig!
I made a couple of cakes for graduation. Then, I recycled one into a Mother's Day cake! It was very pretty. I have the tiered pans of different shapes, and I had never used the square ones before. I chose to use the largest one, 16 inches, so that I could put a lot of marine science type decorations. The pan was so big that I could not close my oven!!!! This cake was my first fondant cake that I did on my own. I made one in my cake decorating class that was the model for the class, but Saturday was the first time I had tried fondant since that class. It turned out really well. I used white for the top part, and then I made blue for the ocean. While mixing the color, I noticed a marble type effect. I left it like that, because it looked a lot like watery waves. I put the blue on the bottom half and cut out letters in the blue. Next, I put some little fish all over the cake. Rachel came by and helped, too. She had an idea to make a boat with a sleeping fisherman (Adam), and it turned out really cute.
We colored some blue fondant to make green, for the boat. Then, she made a little hat to be tilted over him, to show that he was asleep. We used a toothpick and real string for the fishing pole. Daddy saw the fishing boat and asked us where the hook was. He thought we should put a big hook on the cake, so we did!! I have some different colors of shimmer dust, and I used the shiny gold paint to add a glimmer. I put it on the water part to make it look like the salty crests on the waves. Then, I painted S.S.U. on the boat. Those intials had two meanings. One was the name of the boat: S.S.U. (You-Adam): the second was the name of his college: S.S.U. - Savannah State University. I thought that idea was rather clever! HA! I also made a cake in the shape of a graduate. I decorated it in blue and added Adam's honor cords and Magna Cum Laude on the diploma. I thought it was a fun cake.
Mother's Day came and went. I decided to use the big cake, since a lot was leftover, and I recycled it into a Mother's Day design. I took off the colored fondant and put regular icing on top of the white fondant. I used the white icing to put some draped string design trim with little rosettes, on which I added a pink dot. I put little pearl drops all around the bottom of the cake as a border. That border took a long time to do! Then, I made some bright pink color and green colored icings to make roses with leaves and some writing, "Happy Mother's Day". Rachel and Don came over and ate some leftover party food (pig, etc.). Adam and Vicky came over, also, and we all just sat around for a while. I had promised to go over to see my Aunt Saramina for Mother's Day, so I took some of our leftovers over to dinner. Saramina is my mamma's big sister, and we all love her very much.
So, I now have a true empty nest, with both children moved out and away. Rachel is still in Savannah, but she is in her own home and happy.
Life is different now, that is for sure. Another stage of life is upon me, and I hope to make the best of it!!
