Fables 2: Animal Farm

Yesterday we had to wash all three of Mia's winter coats. She spent much of the day outside, and most of that splashing in mud puddles near the barn. Her boots are sitting out by the back door to dry out. She tried out her bike for the first time in the driveway and exploring the yard with Doogie. We were all walking outside in the early evening when we heard some klooo-klooo sounds overhead. A sandhill crane flew directly over our heads calling to its companion who was flying a little farther south over the house. Mia stopped splashing and stared upward with her mouth agape at the graceful bird. As it flew over the treeline to the west, she ran toward me wanting to know what it was. This is why I love living here.

For an interesting take on the left's conservatism and Al Gore's personal inconvenient truth, check out this article from TIME Magazine.

Fables 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham is an unsatisfying sequel to Legends in Exile. Snow White takes her sister Rose Red up north to check on the Farm whose caretaker has mysteriously disappeared. Snow is hoping that she and Rose can reconnect after the events the previous book. Upon their arrival they stumble on a suspicious meeting of the Farm inhabitants that snowballs into a calamity for everyone there. Anyone who is familiar with George Orwell's classic story of the same name will not be surprised by the events of the story. I was disappointed in a few aspects of this version. The story seems truncated; this is a tale that could/should have been given more pages. It flies by so quickly, that I often felt like I had missed an issue. Also, Snow White is nothing like the take-no-prisoners version from Book 1. She's clueless and nearly helpless, relying on others to keep her from harm. Since this is a series known for turning stereotypes on their head, reverting Snow to a damsel is distress is frustrating. The denouement book covers too much time and glosses over too much. And a major plot problem: why can't Snow White die because of her popularity, but another well-known character dies without any significant notice? All of that said, the artwork is again divine, and the dialogue flows well. I'm looking forward to the reappearance of Goldilocks, and I definitely want to read more about The Farm and try to understand Red's motives.

We are spring cleaning, which for me means rearranging the cupboards, and for Jesse means rearranging the furniture. I really hate prednisone. I'm back up to 20 mg a day, which means that I may put on more weight and will get the jowls back. But it also makes me feel like I have a ton of energy. It's next to impossible for me to sit down, but my body still gets just as tired, so I end up working harder than I should, and now I'm trying to recover from my morning's exertions.