Wait, did I dream I lived in a gingerbread house?

Home, sweet gingerbread home. The blue roof, the orca cutout on the front, moose in the yard, and yes, there is usually some wood to be split right about where she put it off to the left.

Another view with
the artist's cousin on his
snowmachine.

The front of the house with the
Orca cutout on the door.

My niece is halfway through her second year in a school for chefs.  

Slowly as I was coming awake this morning and checking facebook this note showed up and then the ensuing conversation.  Her project is a gingerbread house which I recognized almost immediately.

She and her significant other had visited there a couple of years ago.  She built this scenario mostly from memory (but admitted to a few peeks at the Internet) and the detail is pretty amazing.  I am putting explanations in the photo captions, so bear with us.

Here is a portion of the conversation as it went on facebook:

Niece: go look at pics i just put up

11:26am

The north side of the house.  The wood stacked under the house is
right where i put it. The design in the large window is
supposed to be the reflection of Mount McKinley.

Me: Love it.

do you mind if i share?

11:26am

Niece: go for it

11:27am

Me with a wiseass comment or two about my influence on your tender young mind

11:27am

Niece: well of course!

11:27am

Me the blue roof is the giveaway

11:27am

Niece: not the orca?

11:27am

Me  OMG i hadn't noticed that

11:27am

Niece: the blue roof almost didn't happen...  I had to look at the pics you have up on the web last night to make sure the colors were clos-ish

11:28am

This is the view of Mount McKinley from that window.

Me closish enough

wow that is just amazing.

11:28am

Niece: eh, there was some artistic license in there

11:28am

Me I am going to have to look for a picture with the orca on the door to compare

11:29am

Niece: everyone else was doing more traditional gingerbread houses...  I wanted one that told a story

11:29am

Me of course there always is......  but the story of a reclusive uncle?

11:29am

Niece:  or the Uncle who lives far away and has neato adventures

I almost hid a bear in the outhouse but decided against it

The back of the house. I love the candy cane pilings
supporting it.

Then there was this exchange about the quality of the work.

Niece:  i am way too critical

judging is tomorrow morning

11:32am

Me: ok let me know

11:32am

Niece:  mine is the most lively, but not the most clean

 11:32am

One of those chores that has to be done when we have
a heavy snow winter, shoveling the roof.  One winter
there was seven feet on it. Isn't the smoke 
coming out of the chimney cool?

Me: ok here is how to express that.   this is a rustic scene.   when building in the bush nothing is ever square and level lol (especially if it has stood there for almost 30 years and endured several earthquakes)

It is to be judged for her class work and then if she wins there, it will go to a city-wide competition, a cheffy thing as the artist says

And last, the raven in the spruce with a snowmachine
standing by.

To be honest I was knocked over.  How neat is all I can think of to say.

  

Thank you, Celeste, you just put a smile in Christmas.


AN UPDATE: This from the artist a few days later:  "End of the story I did not win.  Not sure of how the judging went down but a friend of mine did win so that was a happy thing.  Our Chef instructor said we all got A's and it was the best group of houses they have had in years to choose from."

However, she won with an A+ with a tougher bunch of judges, the Jones Family.