Erwin's Birthday

Back in college, I worked as a camp counselor at a camp in Hartland, WI called Camp Whitcomb/Mason.  It's affiliated with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.  I still can't believe it was something that I did and I even went back for a second year because I loved it so much.  The kids were great.  Challenging?  Absolutely.  But they were great.  The rest of the staff was a hoot!  I've honestly made some wonderful life-long friends and that place will always have a special place in my heart.  The beauty in that land...gosh, there are no words.  

Anyway, it's there that I met Erwin.  Well, her real name is Erin, but her camp name was Erwin.  She chose that name because a priest at a church she went to when she was a kid called her Erwin and the name just stuck.  I was Walleye.  Don't ask.

Anyway, Erwin was an interesting character when I first met her.  She immediately had friends and made herself at home with the camp staff.  She'd sometimes give me a hard time and I'd laugh it off and ignore it the best I could.  You know, I'd have a sunburn on my shoulders and she'd come over and smack them.  Or, I'd be standing talking to a fellow counselor and she'd come up behind me and knock my knees out and cause me to collapse.  She was a real jokester, that Erwin.  She'd have all of the kids seated at her table with her at mealtime show me their half-eaten food in their mouths.  Awesome.  

Well, I was done being the "victim" and started writing her "wrong-doings" down and sharing them with the rest of the camp staff.  And then things got fun.  Or should I say, funny.  We still laugh about the ridiculousness of Erwin's teasing.  One of my favorite "Erwinism" was from a night where we had a camp-out in Thompson Woods.  Waaaaa-aaaaay out the middle of a forest.  We literally had tents put together with band-aids because no one wanted to walk aaaaaalllllll of the way back to get the necessary items.  Anyway, this was a night where the campers were crabby, it was hot and we were being eaten alive by mosquitos.  Erwin and I happened to be the last two awake and I was on fire duty, trying desperately to get the fire to go out.  The only light in the middle of the forest was coming from the red coals that I was actively poking.  And then Erwin whispers to me, "Walleye, that's what you'll be doing in hell."  I nearly died from laughter.  

Anyway, it was because of Erwin that I laughed as much as I did at camp.  And all of these years later, I consider her one of my dearest friends.  

Here's Erwin and Walleye.  

One of my favorites of Erwin.  Did she fall asleep and someone wrote on her forehead?  I don't remember.  

Soooooooo, when Erin's husband emailed me requesting that I make a cake for Erin's birthday, I was super excited to do this!  She was evidently very specific about the kind of cake she wanted and I was super excited to oblige because it sounded delicious.

I made a lemon poppyseed cake with homemade strawberry curd, sliced strawberries and cream cheese filling and frosting.  The scraps tasted amazing.  I decorated it with a fun piping technique I found on Pinterest.

Here's a picture taken by Erin's sister of the inside of the cake.  Mmmmmmm!

Happiest of birthdays to you, Dear Erin!  Here's to many, many more!