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    

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)