Now I'm really LOST!

So, last night was the much awaited season finale of LOST. In true LOST style, they managed to introduce about 20 more questions without answering any. I need to rewatch and do some serious pondering to try to figure out just what the heck they are pulling with this and where they will go from here. I have 8 months or so to ponder, I guess, before there is any chance of getting more answers from them. I am very unhappy about the ridiculously long wait!

Weds. afternoon, we went to Peace Park for a play date with the homeschool group. Delayney, another 7-yr-old girl who used to be in Luciana's dance class, was there. They said hi to each other when I first arrived (we were a bit late), Luciana kicked her shoes off as Delayney had already done so, and they took off giggling and squealing. They ran around playing, laughing, and had a blast together until it was time to go. I'm so glad she had lots of fun. She asked on the way home if I could schedule a play date with Delayney soon. We will definitely have to do that. They are too cute together.

Today we had a pretty productive day. We did a lot of work with poetry. The poem she is currently memorizing is Robert Frost's, "The Road Not Taken". That's such a wonderful poem and fun to talk about with her. She did some lovely illustrations of it, which will hopefully help her with the memory work. We didn't use pictures on her last poem, but this is longer with much bigger words, so I thought it may be a good time to introduce mental imagery. Her story problems this week were at the end of 3rd grade/beginning of 4th grade-level, and she whipped right through them. I planned inside activities for today, as it was supposed to be rainy/stormy all day. It didn't rain until this evening, but it was terribly windy throughout the day. Tomorrow should be clear and nice, though, so other than piano lessons, I have mostly outside activities planned.

The ridiculously cruel Zor Shrine Circus, usually inflicts itself on Janesville on Memorial Day. For the last several Mem. Days, we have had two protests--one for each show. This year, they are coming next Thursday, instead, so we have Mem. Day free for the first time in a long time. That will be kind of nice. We will still have the protests Thursday.

If people were only more aware of the training methods used and the conditions in which these poor animals must live and travel, circuses would disappear. They would go the way of the other cruelly-outdated forms of entertainment once enjoyed by uneducated/unevolved humans--the barbaric coliseum matches of ancient Rome, public hangings, etc. The ironic part is that, much like zoos and nasty pet stores like Petland, people go to these places because they like animals. They just aren't able or willing to think it through logically to the realization that, while it is great to see/experience animals, if it hurts the animals, it's not okay. The sheer number of people who are willing to go through life with blinders on, because learning the truth may take a bit of effort or may cause them a bit of guilt, constantly amazes me. Knowledge truly is power and is the most important thing that one can acquire, yet it seems the majority of people actually hide from knowledge rather than seek it out.

Tonight we (Mark, the girls, my parents, and myself) attended the Rotary Botanical Gardens volunteer dinner. Mark did a great job on his program, as usual, and it's obvious how much he is loved and respected by all affiliated with the gardens. We got a chuckle out of the "vegan" meal that the caterers brought: potatoes and carrots with an orange wedge. They just took the meat portion away and tossed some extra baby carrots on. We're used to that, but it does make me chuckle--only in the midwest (Madison excluded, of course) would anyone call that a vegan dinner. I got a peek into one of Dej's sketch books that she brought with her to alleviate her boredom. Wow! I have to try to find that one and sneak some scans of it. There is some amazing art in there. There is also some of her trippy, kind-of-scary art, too. It's very well done, but not so much my thing.

Oh, and for my Ms. Snotty-Pants commenter on the last post (you know who you are). Maybe, just maybe, someday, you will be worthy of viewing MY dingo picture ;)

Tonight's pic is of the azalea bush Mark got me for Mother's Day last year. I just love the color. The blooms are slightly past prime in this photo, but still pretty. Behind it is the reliable but slightly invasive geranium phaeum. The roses are starting to open this week, so I need to get out and get some pics of those. They are stunning already! The garden continues to produce weeds at an alarming and unbelievable rate, so I will have more weeding to do over my four-day weekend than I care to think about.