Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the garden transplanting and thinning and generally cleaning up. I still have day lilies that I have too many of, so lemme know if you would like some.

And of course things are really starting to bloom. The peonies are at the end of their bloom cycle, but the day lilies are starting to bud, and there are clematis flowers and pretty much all in all things look quite nice.

Ferns and the bleeding heart on the North side of the house in the shade.
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Just spent two hours in the garden.

Anyone in the area who would like some Stella D’Oro day lilies and is willing to come pick them up can have them. Mine badly needed thinned, and I decide to thin them on the day when temperatures were in the 60s, rather than waiting until they bloomed and then temperature were in the 80s or 90s.

We’ve been complaining forever that the deck is too dark, but never done anything about it.

That finally changed. One light was not added because we seem to be missing some pieces (our fault) but we have the other light up, and also added a light switch.

Here we are at the beginning of the project. Existing light has been removed to access wiring.
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Yup. Still really busy. But still as far as you know this is a shiny fresh post!

rain

Realized I haven’t made a depression update in awhile.

Mostly because there hasn’t been much to update. I’m in a holding pattern, and trying to decide whether I need to increase the dosage of my medicine or not.

I’ve been extremely tired recently, but then I’ve also been extremely busy at work. The work busy is a good thing (and kinda fun I have to admit), but exhausting, so it’s hard to tell precisely where my head is right now. Unfortunately, work isn’t going to slow down much at all for awhile, so I’m going to have to take all this into consideration as I try and determine how I’m really feeling.

Doc gave me a prescription to up my dosage if I felt I needed it, but I’m going to have a hard time separating out exhaustion from depression. Though I did get a lot of sleep this weekend (naps even!) which was very nice. Not sure what that says though.

On the bright side, I haven’t had any really dark days. Of course, I’ve been so tired I’m not sure I would have noticed.

So that’s where I am right now. Holding pattern. No better, but no worse either, so I can live with that.

Needed a dessert, but had multiple limitations placed upon me by Grandmom’s diet (No dairy, no nuts, no chocolate…) so decided on lemon cake. Found a recipe for lemon pound cake with lemon sauce, but then found these lemon pudding cakes and decided to try them instead.

I warning in the recipe would have been nice–the batter is extremely runny, and the egg whites just didn’t want to fold in smoothly. But all in all it tasted pretty good. Will I make it again? Haven’t decided yet.

Lemon Pudding Cake
2 tbsp butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 fresh lemon juice
1 cup milk
boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease six 6-ounce ramekins. Place the ramekins inside a rectangular baking dish.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy (here is where I first ran into difficulty. 2 tbsp of butter is not a lot, esp with 2/3 cup sugar. Fluffy just didn’t happen. Especially since I put the sugar and lemon zest together in the food processor to mince the zest) Add egg yolks and beat. Add flour, (lemon zest), and salt and beat until combined. Add lemon juice and milk and mix well. You’ll need to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times, and the batter is going to be extremely runny.

Using a spatula, fold in the egg whites. Pour batter into ramekins.

Place ramekins in a large baking dish, place the baking bowl in the oven, then add boiling water to the baking dish.

Bake 20 to 35 minutes, until tops are brown. Cakes will still be jiggly.

Remove ramekins from baking disk and allow to cool for 1 1/2 hours. Either run a paring knife along the inside of the dish and invert the cakes onto a plate or just serve them in the ramekins.

Cakes will shrink somewhat.

Thank you to friends, family, and strangers alike who have served this country so that I and those like me may continue to live in peace and prosperity.

World War I 116,516 killed, 204,002 wounded.¹
World War II 407,316 killed, 670,846 wounded.¹
Korea 33,651 killed 103,284 wounded.¹
Vietnam 58,168 killed, 153,303 wounded.¹
Gulf War 382 killed, 486 wounded.¹
Iraq War 4,301 killed so far, at least 31,285 wounded.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
~John F. Kennedy

What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.
~Robert E. Lee

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
~Thomas Jefferson

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
~Abraham Lincoln

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~Benjamin Franklin

Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
~H.L. Mencken

We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
~William Faulkner

If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.
~Pentagon official explaining why the U.S. military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War

War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.
~Georges Clemenceau

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
~Mahatma Gandhi

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
~Mao Tse-Tung

It is well that war is so terrible – otherwise we would grow too fond of it.
~Robert E. Lee

We make war that we may live in peace.
~Aristotle

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
~Isaiah 2:2-4

Vietnam War Memorial
Korean War Memorial
WWII Memorial
The Great War

¹ from here.

Written by Michelle at 8:00 am      Comments (0)  Permalink
Categories: History  

Tags: Memorial Day

Don’t forget your towel!

Spiderwort. I’m thinking I should move this to the top of the hill and perhaps put one of the azaleas down the hill in its spot.
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Grandmom: I don’t want to go out! My hair looks terrible!
Michelle: It looks fine!
Grandmom: No it doesn’t! It’s too long!
Michelle: Well call and schedule a haircut!
Grandmom: I don’t want to take up your weekend with things like that.

(sigh)

LINOLEUM!

I realized I’ve been completely ignoring a genre: Comics (aka Graphic Novels).

I don’t read weekly comics for a couple reasons: I like story arcs to be completed in a single book, I hate waiting, the “graphic novel” format feels more sturdy than the paper comic format. I’m sure there are more reasons than that, but those are the three that come immediately to mind.

It’s actually a surprise that I like any comics. I read extremely quickly, and the slower format of a comic where I’m supposed to pick up details from the art is often an problem. And in general I’m not a visual person, so the artwork is often wasted on me as I zoom along devouring the words. Yet there are several comic series I’ve come to enjoy–some of which are on going. Here’s a look at one of my favorites.

Fables written by Bill Willingham with Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and others.

You know all those fairy tales you read as a kid?

They’re true. All of them.

They didn’t take place here in our world, but those stories have power, and the individuals from those stories have in many cases have run here, to our world, to escape from a terrible war that has all but destroyed their Homelands. Many can easily fit into our world: Snow White, Prince Charming, Little Boy Blue, Beauty, and even the Big Bad Wolf walk the street (mostly) unnoticed among the mundanes. But those who can’t fit in are relegated to the Farm, and there you’ll find the Three Little Pigs and the Gingerbread Man and Baba Yaga’s hut, living in upstate New York in freedom from the Adversary, yet in many ways not free, since they cannot be seen by the mundanes.

I love folk and fairy tales, and even eleven volumes into the series new characters are introduced all the time, and I adore seeing these figures come to life. And just like the stories from which they come, these characters are complex individuals, some good, some bad, but most falling somewhere in between. Prince Charming is, of course, a jerk. Beauty and the Beast have occasional marital problems. The Big Bad Wolf is reformed and no longer hunts the Three Little Pigs or any other creatures unless they’ve broken the Covenant, because the Big bad Wold (or Bigby as he’s known in human form) is the sheriff of Fabletown.

Of course things change as the story progresses, and often wander in places you’d never expect.

There is an overarching story arc in the first eleven books, and that is the battle for the Homelands: the story of what happened to the Homelands and the war to take back the Homelands. The early books can easily stand alone, but later books build upon the story to retake the homelands from the Adversary.

What does this mean? It means you can pick up any of the earlier volumes and dive into the story, but don’t try to pick things up at volume 8 or 9. You’ll be sorry, because you’re missing so much of the back story.

There is also a stand alone book, 1001 Night of Snowfall, that is possibly my favorite in the series, and if you’re trying to decide if Fables is your thing, would be a perfect place to start.

Mind you, this is not a series for children. It’s full of sex and violence just like the original tales, which may come as a surprise to those who are familiar only with the Disney version of those tales. (For instance: in the original version of Sleeping Beauty, she is awakened not by the kiss of true love, but by the birth of her twins. And Rapunzel is also unwed and pregnant. Fairy tales are not what you remember from Disney.)

But this is a fun series, full of excellent storytelling, complex characters, and tales and characters that are modern, while keeping true to the feel of the original tales.

If you have any interest in fairy tales and folk tales, then you must check out Fables. Its many volumes contain some of the best stories around. And characters that are some of my favorites.

Fables: Legends in Exile (2002), Animal Farm (2003), Storybook Love (2004), March of the Wooden Soldiers (2003), The Mean Seasons (2005), Homelands (2005), Arabian Nights (and Days) (2006), Wolves (2006), Sons of Empire (2007), The Good Prince (2008), War and Pieces (2008)

1001 Night of Snowfall (2006)

Hot ant on peony action!
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Another busy week, but as far as you know, this is a fresh post! Ha!

Ready? Set?

Purple

This was another request. The original recipe called for a cake mix, but I’ll have none of that. If you’re going to make cake, then by all means make cake.

Rum Cake
Cake:
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1-3/4 ounce (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup cream
1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
Syrup:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter and flour a bundt cake pan or a tube cake pan.

Beat butter until creamy. While butter is being beaten, whisk together dry ingredients. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla and lemon zest. Add half the flour mixture. Mix. Add half the cream. Mix. Add rest of ingredients. Mix.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle nuts on top of the batter. (Original recipe called for nuts on top of cake/bottom of pan. I prefer this.)

Bake 60 50 75 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the syrup. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and carefully stir in rum.

Note: The rum will cause steam. Be careful not to burn yourself.

After cake as cooled for 5 minutes, carefully turn out cake from the pan, then carefully return the cake to the pan. With a bamboo skewer or similar tool, poke holes through the cake. Allow cake to sit for a couple hours, then you can remove the cake from the pan again. Wrap.

This cake freezes extremely well.

Quirky Liberal Alpha Female.

Of course I am.
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skulk
intr. verb 1. To lie in hiding, as out of cowardice for bad conscience; lurk. 2. To move about stealthily. 3. To evade work or obligation; shirk.
noun 1. one who skulks. 2. A congregation of vermin, especially foxes, or of thieves.

I didn’t know the second noun definition, but I am definitely going to have to add this to my vocabulary.

“The discussion was overrun by a skulk of Republicans.”

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It’s Armed Forces Day.

Thank you to all those who have served in the military, past and present.

Thursday night was dark.

I don’t mean it was rainy or overcast, I mean that I was dark.

It was an extremely strange feeling–one I hadn’t felt since my dissolute and wild college days.

By the time we got home from the gym, Michael and I were both exhausted and neither of us wanted to make dinner, so we convinced Grandmom to go out to eat. We eventually ended up going to IHOP, and it was there that the darkness fell.

Mind you, the IHOP is relatively new and in good shape, so what I felt was not a reaction to my surroundings.

As I sat there, I felt a despair fall over me, as if a piece of the Snow Queen’s mirror had fallen into my eyes, and like Kay, wherever I looked I saw ugliness and hopelessness.

A grandmother walked by with her grandson, and all I could see was how wrinkled her clothes were–as if she was trying to look nice but had fallen short and instead looked simply worn and tired.

The girl in the booth across from us was heavy, and all I could notice was that her shirt had ridden up in the back, and a roll of pale fat was bubbling over the top of her jeans. Her companion was scrawny and his pants were falling off. His hair was greasy, his face unshaven, and he spent more on his ball cap–cocked at an asinine angle–than he did on any part of his wardrobe, including his ratty shoes.

A mother walked by with her kids, and all looked dirty–not filthy dirty from playing outside, but as if a dust had fallen upon them, turning everything slightly gray.

A group of teenage girls walked by to their table, and all I could see was over treated hair, too much makeup, and faces that would too soon lined with cares and worries for their futures at that moment were not bright and hopefully, but instead the struggle of living on the edge with too many kids too young and not enough education to pull them out of the hole.

The life and hope and joy were drained out of everything I could see, from the ripped number on our booth, to the dead leaves and branches on the trees outside.

It was all I could do to continue to sit at the table, to try and choke down my meal.

Thank the gods the despair lifted and today was a relatively good day.

But the darkness still lurks, just out of the corner of my eye, waiting for a moment of weakness to surge back and lead me to despair.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

I will fear no evil.
I will fear no evil.
I will fear no evil.

This week I want to talk about one of my favorite authors: Charles de Lint.

In my opinion, Charles de Lint is a master of the short story. Some of my favorite books are his short story collections, and if someone wants to start reading, that’s the direction I recommend them.

Many, if not most, of his stories are set in Newford, which is a small city that may be in Canada, but may be in the northern US instead. Not that it matters, because the important border of Newford is the border with the magical realm–the world where coyote and the moon walk and talk. Newford is a city where fairies and crow girls can live and interact with us mere mortals. Newford is the place where I’d love to live, even if I couldn’t see into the magical realm that is so close there.

His world is also a place full of music and beauty, where many of the characters are artists and musicians and writers. But don’t the wrong impression, it is most definitely not all sweetness and light. His characters are runaways, recovered junkies, and abused kids. Most of the characters are damaged or outsiders, but throughout the stories there is hope. Not ‘wish upon a star’ hope, but the hope that comes from hard work and effort.

Although Charles de Lint writes many short stories, most of those stories are set in Newford, and they tend to have a recurring cast of characters: Jilly Coppercorn, Geordie, Christie Riddell , Sophie Etiole and all the others I’ve come to love. Each short story is a vignette into the lives of the people who live in Newford, and you can read any story without having read any other story before it.

He has also written several novels set in Newford (and also some novels set elsewhere as well). Although you can read any of the Newford novels at any point in time, I personally think they’re more enjoyable if you have the background of the different characters and know their histories.

If you wanted to start with a short story collection, I would highly recommend Dreams Underfoot. Moonlight and Vines is probably my second favorite collection, and you could easily pick up either collection and start reading and delve into the characters.

If you’d like to start with a novel, you may want to start with Jack of Kinrowan (which is a reissue of Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon. The stories are not set in Newford and contain none of the usual characters, but the feel is the same–of magic just around the corner, or glimpsed out of the corner of your eye.

His books also contain a great deal of folklore and folktales. There are fairies and goblins, but also coyotes and crows and other trickster figures, who act as you would expect trickster figures to act. The earthy coyote of folklore of drinks and steals and takes advantage of women when he can. These are the characters from folklore–not the characters from the cleaned up fairy tales.

Charles de Lint also writes excellent young adult fiction. And by young adult I mean very good fantasy that has teenage characters. (I have to say that some of the young adult fantasy out there is better than much of what you find on the shelves in the SFF section of the bookstore.)

If you have even a passing interest in folk lore and folk tales, then you would almost certainly love Charles de Lint’s books. If you enjoy short stories, then you will also want to read his short story collections and then get pulled into his novels based on the characters in those short stories. ANd if you enjoy good writing and would like to see how you feel about urban fantasy, you should check out Charles de Lint. I’ll admit he’s not for everyone–Michael has never been able to get into his books and stories–but if he is your thing, you’ll end up loving him.

Wolf Moon (1988), The Harp of the Gray Rose, The Dreaming Place (1990), The Little Country (1991), Dreams Underfoot (1993), Into the Green (1993), Memory & Dream (1994), The Ivory and the Horn (1995), Moonlight & Vines (1999), Jack of Kinrowan (1999), Tapping the Dream Tree (2002), The Onion Girl (2002), Waifs and Strays (2002), Spirits in the Wires (2003), The Blue Girl (2004), Widdershins (2006), Promises to Keep (2007)

It’s that time of the week again!

Ready? Here you go:

nap