Sign Sign everywhere a Sign...

Still have lots more vacay pics to share, but these pictures are from this weekend. Since this was our last weekend with Anthony here, we wanted to make sure to get a fun outing in before he leaves us. We got up early Saturday morning and the four of us (Mark, Luciana, Anthony, and me) headed to Madison for the Farmer’s Market. He pointed out as soon as we arrived that it’s more than just a farmer’s market. He’s right—there’s a lot going on there!

We noticed that there was less produce than there normally is this time of year. The weather has slowed down all of the crops this summer. It was also harder to find organic produce. We picked up some organic veggies but we couldn’t get the organic raspberries, as they wouldn’t have survived the day in our car. We found a ‘sensitive plant’ for Luciana and picked that up. The challenge will be in keeping that away from the destructive little cats we live with. It’s such a cool plant! We also picked up some organic, veggie dog treats for our pups and handmade organic catnip toys for the cats.

I always enjoy checking out the political booths as much as the food. We ran into some friends working at the Primate Freedom Project booth and the Alliance for Animals booth. Anthony was finally able to meet Lynn (the new director) in person. Not only is Lynn beautiful, but she seems to be quite photogenic as well. She looks great in every picture I've seen her in!

There was an extremely conservative religious group with signs about hell. Those are my favorite. They had a group singing hymns, and poor Lynn had to listen to it for hours while she sat at her booth. I had to take a picture for posterity, and because it’s one of those things you have to see to believe. I don’t really know how to explain to people like that the signs about hell, heaven, god, etc. are laughable to most. How in the world are people supposed to be afraid of something they do not remotely believe in? Would they be frightened if I had a sign saying, “Repent or the Flying Spaghetti Monster will throw you in the eternally boiling pasta pot”? The effect of this would be humorous, not frightening, as are their signs. I hate to see anyone waste time that way, but...whatever works for them. The women and little girls, who were all dressed comfortably for a temp of around 60, looked hot, embarrassed, and miserable. Looking into their dead, sad eyes was heartbreaking and made me want to cry. I was quickly diverted from my sadness by a dude with a booth right across from the Alliance ’s that had the cheesiest, most ignorant creationist/anti-science signs I’ve ever seen. I’m glad Anthony was thinking clearer and faster than me and managed to get great pictures of the whole thing. I may have to send these on to Pharyngula, where they will be fully appreciated.

After the market, we went through the Museum of Modern Art . None of the exhibits really blew me away this time, though. Then it was lunchtime, so we walked down to Chautura, where we were actually able to get in without a reservation, and had a delicious lunch. We all ate too much!

We decided to walk our lunch off by going through Olbrich Botanic Gardens. They were having their butterfly event in the conservatory, so we had to go check that out. I thought there were fewer butterflies than we’ve seen there in the past, but perhaps that’s because of going in July rather than August. There also seemed to be fewer birds in the conservatory. We had a great time, both in the conservatory and outside in the gardens. L & Anthony paired up for the majority of the day and enjoyed spending time together, often picking on each other and playing like the best of friends. She had a blast, and we all got lots of good pictures.

We were all tired and ready to get back after Olbrich. We only had a half hour after we returned home to get ready for date night and get L. back over to my parents’ house. After such a huge lunch, we didn’t need to worry about dinner at least! M & I went to see the X-Files movie. We both found it pretty disappointing. We were huge X-Files fans, watching the series religiously until the end, and we also saw the first movie. This movie was just flat. It could have been so much better! We got back from the movie fairly early, and came home and watched a movie that Dej had rented and said we would enjoy watching, ‘A Scanner Darkly’. Since it was already there, we gave it a try. It was certainly better and more engaging than the X-Files movie was! It was certainly different—not something I would have picked out, but we did find it entertaining.

Sunday was unexciting but productive. We intended to get to bed at a reasonable time last night, so we could start out the week well rested, instead of on a sleep deficit. For unknown reasons, both M & I were up much too late and didn’t sleep well at all. L. was also up more than she should have been. So here we are again, starting off another busy week with only 3-4 hours of sleep!

Tonight Anthony and Allegrea will be coming over for our final farewell gathering. Anthony leaves tomorrow, and it will be really strange to not have him here!