Hello, nice to see you again.
This is my first Halloween cake design of the year; a pumpkin shaped cake with melting candles, a rose, autumnal leaves and a crow looking out for cake thieves, all sitting on a wooden cake tray (also polymer clay). Many, many hours have gone into sculpting this cake; especially the crow which I don't think I had ever sculpted before, let alone standing on a cake. But I love the result and I am thrilled that I persevered.
Halloween is my favourite time of the year. There's something about witches and the fantasy world that I can't seem to get enough of and where I could go on a day dream for hours (cough...), days at a time. For me is also a significant transitional time where apart from seeing the seasonal change, I feel the change in the air. To me autumn/October is really the end of the year, more than December.
I recently got back from a short break in Cornwall, where not only was I able to pay a quick visit to Boscastle, one of my favourite places on Earth about which I could write an entire (and very long) blog post, but I was also extremely lucky and I mean lucky, lucky, lucky, to visit the hotel where one of my favourite childhood movies, "The Witches", was filmed in 1990.
Movie which, of course, I have.
Which was based on the book "The Witches" by Roahl Dahl, which I also have and is my favourite by him.
I cannot put into words what it meant to me, what I felt driving along the same road that "the witches" drove on to get to the convention in the "Excelsior Hotel". My heart was beating so fast and my hands were shaking as I took them to my face in disbelief, "Am I really here? I'm dreaming, surely."
But I was really there, and I only comprehended it when I got out of the car and stood right in front of it, with the wind rearranging my hair in whichever way it wanted. I did not care one bit about that, I was here.
I suddenly pictured my 6-year-old self looking at the screen of the old Telefunken TV in our living room in one of the Southern most countries in the world, Argentina.
I remembered the feeling of "this is not a movie, this is all true. They really exist." I did not question it for a second. And I longed to go where Luke and his grandmother went on their English summer break when they came across the witches.
OH! Just thinking about it all over again, I am overcome with a sense of disbelief! I never thought that I, little me, would ever stand in front of this building or retrace the steps that Luke took running away from them down the dunes and onto the beach below. I never imagined myself standing at the bottom of the stairs where the Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston) glared at Helga (Mai Zetterling), or overlooking the restaurant where Bruno Jenkins picked all the raisins off the afternoon tea cakes.
Being born and growing up in such a remote part of the world can make you feel like everything is so far away and out of reach, especially when you are so young. So this was like a dream come true to me and at some point in my life I know I will have to stay in the same room where the Grand High Witch or Luke stayed. Whichever one's available.
I am very grateful that despite not being guests there, we were offered a warm welcome and we were allowed to enter the hotel and enjoy a cup of coffee in the restaurant overlooking the patio (yes, where Luke jumped over the little garden wall when he was running away from the witches). Of course I pointed at absolutely everything while I was there, do you even have to ask?
"That is where...!" and "Here she looked at Helga and walked around the little round table..." and so on.
You get the picture.
I was very annoying for the whole duration of the exploration of the Headland Hotel and surrounding beach.
One of those days that will forever remain in the deepest recesses of my witch-loving heart.
"Because..psst...Witches and magic, are real."
If you haven't seen the movie, please do yourself a favour and watch it.
Let's park our brooms and back to the world of miniatures...
I have some Halloween cupcakes planned, more in my head than in actuality; so I am very curious to see how that will pan out. I also have a Halloween-Disney-themed cake design in my head, which I would love to bring to life, but seems rather time consuming; so will probably have to sketch it out first to anticipate any hiccups.
My Halloween cakes will be available on my website and Etsy Shop as soon as I figure out a way to package them so that they arrive safe and sound (never wrapped anything so intricate before!)
"So bear with, bear with..." (Miranda quote there, big annoying "know all the lines" fan BTW).
Thank you for reading and I'll catch you next time,
Love, Mai
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