Better Together - Tumblr Posts

Together Through Imperfections...

In a world where shadows dance and play, A perfect love finds light in shades of gray. Not in flawless moments, but in the real, Where hearts embrace what time can’t conceal.

Through storms that rage and whispers of doubt, We hold each other, never letting go out. Hand in hand, we navigate the tide, True love, a journey, with you by my side.

Every flaw a story, every scar a thread, Woven in laughter, in tears that we shed. It’s in the struggles, the growth we find, A tapestry rich, two souls intertwined.

So let the imperfections come, let them be, For in our unity, we find harmony. Together we rise, together we stand, In the dance of love, forever hand in hand.

~ northern-spark-of-creativity

Video Source: Pinterest

Better Together - Jack Johnson

Image Source: Pinterest

“Everyone needs someone. My shoulders are wide. My back is broad. Let me help you carry your pain. When your attention is elsewhere, I will destroy it.”

- Master Knox

Dragons are henceforth a feminist icon. You’re no longer allowed to participate in the appreciation of dragons and dragons in culture unless you’re totally down for helping the equality movement. 

This is not a recipe blog. But have some cake and also what I thought about while I made it.

Spiced Apple Bundt Cake(s)

Cake Ingredients:

3 medium apples, chopped

1 c. maple syrup

3 eggs

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used dark)

1/2 c. butter, softened 

1 Tbsp vanilla

3 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground allspice 

(Optional) 1 c. chopped walnuts 

Icing Ingredients: (will make more icing than you need so maybe half this unless you want extra) 

1 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. milk

8 oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp vanilla

pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg as desired 

Instructions:

For the cake, begin by mixing the apples, maple syrup, eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla. (Bold Ingredients) In a mixer the apple bits may jump out of the mixer so cover it with a towel or duck!

Mix all the other cake ingredients together and add into the apple mixture. 

Grease your Bundt pan really well. Bake a full cake for 1 hour at 350F or mini Bundt cakes for 45 minutes. Overfill the mini Bundt cake pan a bit so that the icing can sit inside the cake. 

For the icing mix all the ingredients together. Ideally, it is a little bit goopy so you can fill the mini Bundt cakes but also get a good drip to make it pretty. 

This cake is also awesome with caramel sauce. 

Hey everyone, now that we have cake, want to know a fun fact? Much like the way that this bundt cake is just okay without the apples and the apples are just apples without the cake, Today we get to have this wonderful combination of apples and cake AND either caramel or cream cheese icing (or both if you’re feeling saucy), and we get to think about lichens. 

What’s a lichen, you may ask? Or you may not ask, because you already know, or because you are not interested, and in that case you can skip this bit and just think about cake. But for those of you still here, a lichen is, in its simplest form, a symbiotic relationship between an algae and a fungus, with the fungus providing structure and protection and the algae providing extra food with the ability to photosynthesize. Lichens grow on rocks and trees and pretty much anywhere else, and are among the very first organisms that colonize a place after a disaster such as a forest fire or a volcanic eruption. Because of this they are often called pioneer organisms, and they are able to persist in environments far harsher than post-volcanic wastelands. In fact, the poster child of natural resilience, the tardigrade, looks like an absolute wimp when compared to some species of lichen, which can withstand several orders of magnitude more radiation than our dear little water bears. Lichen are resistant to many kinds of damage, and there are several species of lichen whose presence can be used as a surrogate to determine the overall air quality in a region. 

But wait, you say, back up. Species of lichen? Didn’t you just say that a lichen is two separate organisms? How can a lichen be a species? Would you list a great white shark and her loyal remora as a single species? Of course not. While they both benefit from their symbiotic partnership, they are also perfectly capable of existing separately. Such is not the case for many species of lichen, which have spent so long living in tandem that the individual fungi and algae can no longer live apart. Thus, a single lichen is classified as a species, and not two individuals. 

This is what is beautiful about the humble lichen. It can look like nothing but a dusting of greenish powder, or it can hang off of trees in curtains. It can be sent to space, frozen, boiled, and irradiated, and will rebound faster than anything else even where disaster has devastated an area. However, take those two individuals apart and they may well falter and fail under the same stressors just like everything else. And just so, everything in the world will struggle on its own without the support of another. Lichen builds the communities we thrive in, and in itself is a tiny community, proving every day, in every corner of the world and beyond, that we are stronger together. 

Thanks for the idea, @vroom-shroom, and thanks for helping me make everything a two person job.

Faye stirred in his arms. Watching her wake up was always a good way to gauge her mood. Sometimes there was confusion in her gaze, or alarm - usually when she slept fitfully, haunted by bad dreams or memories. Today seemed like it would be a good day though. Her jade gaze was clear and bright and full of affection once she focused on his face. She closed her eyes again briefly, smiling, and he felt a smile form on his own face in response.

"Mm, where we going?" She asked sleepily, raising her arms to coil around his neck and bring him down for a kiss.

"Does it matter?" He kissed her back deeply, then kept on kissing her and touching her and gorging himself on the love she bubbled over with.

Eventually they made their way to the bridge where Jet was posted up with Ed and Ein. The latter two were engaged in a game of backgammon. They'd raided an antique store for all sorts of puzzles and games recently as a belated birthday present to Ed. Hacker and data dog alike were too engrossed in their game to pay much mind when Spike and Faye meandered up.

Jet favored both new arrivals with a grin and a nod. "You guys sleep too much."

"No such thing." Spike replied lazily.

Jet chuckled. "Well, anyway, where should we go? Got a couple options for bounties..."

Faye's hand snuck into Spike's. She pressed up against him as she slipped past to ruffle Ed's hair and then Ein's scruff.

"Doesn't matter," She told Jet. "Wherever we go is fine by me." After all, they already had everything they needed right here on the bridge.

After he came back, things fell back into routine. Once he physically healed. Work out. Breakfast. Shower. Bounty. Sleep. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes days went by without the bounty but that's always been how things went.

Months went by and one drunk night he woke up in Faye's room. He hadn't known what to do - hadn't meant to do anything - perhaps hadn't even done anything... It was hard to say with the liquor memories so hazy. They'd been playing a game of some sort - weren't they always?

He snuck away while she slept on.

But before he left, he tucked her back in. Pressed a kiss to her forehead. He had long ago come to the conclusion that she was too precious to fuck up with his hangups but he couldn't leave without a tender goodbye.

It was only a few nights later when they tumbled together into his bed. Still intoxicated but not nearly enough to excuse it happening. Just enough where they could claim it hadn't meant anything. She was gone before he awoke but there was a lingering feel of her fingers carding through his hair as if she'd mussed it before departing.

They played this game for weeks.

And then one morning... In neither of their rooms... They woke up together. In a jumble of clothing and a jumble of blankets they'd both gathered from the ship. They were on the bridge and dawn was breaking on the horizon.

Her emerald eyes sparkled at him.

"Good morning.''

Never had two words held so much promise and potential.

Never had two words sounded quite so good to his ears.