The Garden Thread - March, 2025

March 1,2025 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Jane Long]

Thank you, thank you!!

Saved ... and, can’t wait to try this on a beautiful Spring day. Maybe for Easter 💜

[FamiliarFace]

Quick update. Surgery for hubby is finished and we are back home! Thank you all for your prayers; they were truly answered. The doctor was simply amazing, and the macular pucker has been repaired. Rest is ordered for the next few days especially.

They didn’t need to put him under general anesthesia, so that was a HUGE relief! We are very impressed and grateful for the care team he had this morning. I thought I would be an anxious wreck, but the doctor and anesthesiologist put us both at ease with their know.edge and explanations.

Thank you for the prayers. I really felt them!

[MomwithHope]

Great news thanks for posting!.

[Qiviut]

Glad to hear it all went well - prayers now for a speedy, uncomplicated healing!

[FamiliarFace]

Thank you. So far, so good!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

So HAPPY for you guys! Always nerve-wracking when someone has any kind of surgery.

Sounds like you were in good hands and prayers up for a quick recovery! :)

[Pollard]

Off the Grid | Director’s Cut - Live Premiere with Thomas Massie Q&A

https://x.com/freethepeople/status/1894796629502287889

Mar 5, 2025 at 7:00PM ET, @RepThomasMassie will join @mkibbe & @tkibbe to discuss how things have changed since the filming of Off the Grid. Post questions below for a Q&A after the film

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Bookmark! Thanks!

[FamiliarFace]

We feel immensely blessed. The doctor who did the surgery was recommended by our regular ophthalmologist as a second opinion, and he took my husband’s case right away. The other doctor is in the same practice, but according to our ophthalmologist, this one has the better skill set for this particular surgery. If it hadn’t been for the recommendation/referral of our regular doctor (who went to med school with him), he might not have taken him on so quickly, and apparently, time was of the essence. Without even realizing it, it has become apparent that God was watching out for us throughout this process.

Our big concern will be making sure that his eye doesn’t get an infection, which means limited time with our cat who adores my husband, much more so than he does me. So lots of handwashing, trying to keep the cat off of him. Good news is he is allowed to read for a limited time, and instead of needing to be face down, he needs to make sure that he doesn’t bend over at all. Not allowed to bend down to tie his shoes. If he has to sneeze or cough he’s supposed to keep his mouth open (so good luck with how you’ve been trained not to do that your whole life).

The bottom line is that the surgery was much less complicated than thought, at least by the preop info people. Our instructions are much different than what they led us to believe going in.

My background was as a research technician, and I worked with doctors at every level of their training. PhD’s at first, and then MD/PhD’s later. I have always said that good/great doctors are a dime a dozen, but extraordinary doctors are PRICELESS. I stand by that. I always look for the extraordinary doctors, and we were given 2 more today. Thank you God, for blessing us in his way!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

So glad to hear this! This should be a piece of cake compared to what you THOUGHT you would be up against! :)

[FamiliarFace]

I agree! The one hard thing will be the cat! Nobody ever even mentioned this until the discharge nurse came by. Their one slip up! But we will make it through this!

This morning, when we left for the surgery center, I remembered something from a few years ago.

Don’t tell
GOD
how great your storm
IS,
Tell the storm how
GREAT
your God is!

Feeling God’s Greatness, Love, and Divine Mercy so much today! ❤️🙏🏼

[Diana in Wisconsin]

You’re doing great! Keep your Sunny Side Up! Hubs will need it at some point in his recovery. :)

[Liz]

Looks like an impossibly elaborate cake but all you need to do is layer in a mixing bowl.

Zuccotto / Creamy Italian Dessert Cake / Yield: 12 servings

Ing sponge cake baked in a 9" tin (can use leftover cake) 2 oz plus 1 Tb Grand Marnier or Cointreau, bit Kahlua 4 oz best semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces 2 oz grated dk chocolate 18 oz h/cream (10 oz for filling, 8 oz to decorate) 4 tsp (divided) instant espresso-coffee powder 1 recipe of Italian pastry cream (below) more grated chocolate or chocolate curls for decor Italian Pastry Cream (Crema Pasticcera) 4 egg yolks 6 tbl sugar 2 Tb flour 17 oz milk 1 tsp vanilla

Steps Line 2 1/2 qt bowl w/ saran much larger than you need to cover top. Place cake slice in bottom; cake strips to line sides. Sprinkle cake w/ Kahlua. Pastry Cream Off heat, stir yolks and sugar briskly w/ wooden spoon. Add flour a little at a time to incorporate. Heat milk to boiling and add vanilla; add hot milk little at a time, mixing well after adding. Once milk is added, put pot on med heat and continue to stir. When mixture comes to a boil, cook 3-4 min then remove offheat. Keep stirring as it cools to prevent skin. Micro-melt Chocolate. Set aside. Zuccotto Filling beat 10 oz h/cream w/ instant coffee powder to stiff peaks; set aside. To the cooled pastry cream, add 1 Tb Grand Marnier, 2 oz grated chocolate and whipped coffee cream. Fold mixture until completely combined.

Set 2/3 of mixture into cake-lined bowl almost reaching the top, but not completely. Leave hollow in the middle. Add melted chocolate to remaining cream. Mix well til color is uniform, then fill center. Close up bottom w/ cake pieces. Sprinkle w/ liqueur, then saran and refrigerate 6-24 hours.

Decorate Beat 8 oz h/cream, w/ 2 tsp coffee powder, 2 tbl sugar to stiff peaks. Spread all over w/ swirls or peaks on cake inverted on cake stand. Sprinkle w/ chocolate shavings. Refrigerate an hour or so, or serve immediately.

[Pollard]

Also on youtube — https://www.youtube.com/live/272o4lBn0Cc

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks!

[Pollard]

Blue Grass Music by Thomas and Rhonda(RIP) Massie

[FamiliarFace]

Had the first follow up today. Things are going along as the doctor expected. The surgery was very successful. The wrinkle and scar tissue are all gone. Mild discomfort, no pain. Hubby has to take it easy for another ten days, but may be released to normal activity soon after. Hurray! (Full recovery may be a few months.)

I think all in all, we are both feeling very blessed, with great doctors, great family and friends.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! I’d say we are doing better than we expected at this point. We are following doctor’s orders to a T.

And guess what?! Doc said we don’t have to worry so much about the cat at this point, so he can be in the bedroom again! Which means I can be in the bed next to hubby again!

We haven’t slept apart for more than a handful of days during our marriage. Of course, when he was away on work trips, but otherwise, I can count on two hands the total number of days we’ve been in the same house but not the same bed since we were married (almost 40 years ago).

Truly, truly blessed. Happy Friday, everyone!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Such great news all the way around! I mean, seriously? Who EVER wants to inconvenience THE CAT? LOL! :)

[FamiliarFace]

LOL. That made me smile!

[Diana in Wisconsin]