Dogs and Cake Don't Mix

Thanks so much for all the comments - I love getting them, and I''ll be replying to them soon and also going round all the blogs I've missed over the last week away.  

Meanwhile, I'd like to share another insect cake.  This one is a ladybird (I think they're called ladybugs in the US). I admired it in a garden produce, craft and dog show in deepest Gloucestershire a couple of weeks ago.  The judge wrote an encouraging and nice comment on every entry to the show, and has awarded this ladybird second prize.  But - do you detect a slight problem with this cake?  The judge's comment card explains.  It reads: "Very well iced. Sorry about the mess. A dog ate it!"

Here's another picture from the show. These two dogs were waiting for their owner to emerge from the village church, which dates back about 800 years or so and contained a lovely display of flowers from peoples' gardens.    They looked so bored and fed up, I couldn't help thinking that a nice piece of cake might cheer them up...

  

Goodbye to summer bugs

Had a lazy Saturday today after a really tiring week, and even had some sun, for a change.  And now we're saying goodbye to summer  I'm not ready to let it go, although I'm not sorry to see the end of summer bugs.

I was going to stop my post here, and put in this picture of cake bugs which I spotted in Nuremberg, Germany.  

But actually, I'll write a bit more about the cakes. They represent may-bugs, (though I photographed them in June.) In England, may bugs are called cockchafers, and their grubs play havoc with your lawn, as they eat the roots of the grass. Not an obvious reason to turn them into cakes, so I wondered if they have some cultural significance in Germany. Maybe some German reader can explain

I looked up "Maikäfer," though, and found a little rhyme which is very similar to our old rhyme of  "Ladybird, Ladybird fly away home." 

"Maikäfer flieg...

Dein Vater ist im Krieg

Deine Mutter ist in Pommerland

Pommerland ist abgebrannt

Maikäfer flieg!"

("Fly, cockchafer, your father is at war, your mother is in Pomerania which is burning to the ground.")

Anyway, I wish I'd bought one of the cakes and eaten it now. German cakes are definitely among the best in the world!