Wonderland

I went to see Alice in Wonderland at last; it was quite entertaining & MUCH more enjoyable than any stuffy Lewis Carroll tome I was ever forced to read during my youth. (Johnny Depp reciting the opening lines of Jabberwocky was fun to hear!) Upon leaving the theater with my youngest, I recalled that the book was originally interpreted as a satire on Victorian society & politics (e.g. "jolly caucus races," a decapitation-crazed female monarch obsessed with red roses vs white ones, interminable tea parties featuring a loopy milliner, a randy rabbit, & a ditzy rodent). I had to explain to her that the queen in question at the time was Victoria, not Elizabeth (who actually DID live in the era of decapitation as punishment, which was carried out on her own mum!).

Glad we are quite far removed from some of the Victorian social conventions that are presented as "fashionable" in the film (to say nothing of the decapitation if you screw up bit!).

Parenthood Pitfalls

Is it rewarding? Yes. It is a pain in the neck? Yes. Is it the most thankless job in the universe? You bet it is; even God would say so. Just recall the e-mail joke in which Adam & Eve compare notes: "No way! We have forbidden fruit? Cool!" (You can almost see the Almighty rolling his eyes at this exchange, plotting to strike the serpent with a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky for letting Eve in on that secret!) This weekend I'll be seeing all of my children, and one of them may be fortunate to survive the encounter unscathed. The youngest is swimming in a regional championship competition; the oldest is returning from his spring break jaunt to NYC, the second oldest is coaching at said swimming contest.

As for child #3...

Right now I'm looking forward (with trepidation) to witnessing the "wailing & gnashing of teeth" my husband is so fond of watching when one of our offspring is doing poorly in school entirely because they haven't done assignments & turned them in on time. Daughter dearest, the social butterfly, has said she "pulled up her grade" in Algebra, which, actually, she did. To her eternal dismay, however, her weekend is going to include a great deal OF Algebra (supervised by the parent who HATES math & struggled with Algebra herself) because this so-called improvement was from a 52 to a 64. STILL an F at her high school, though yes, the score IS higher. While she didn't lie, neither did she give her best effort to the cause, which I intend to resolve this final weekend before report cards are sent home. If all goes as I hope, she'll be kowtowing before her 22 year old brother, the math god Civil Engineering major, who is likely to be a FAR better Algebra instructor than I.

Patron Saint of Engineers?

OK, so there's a title St. Patrick has I didn't know about until earlier today, when minutiae about his various patronages were shared by a friend. I knew he was the patron saint of Boston, but not of Nigeria; this engineer thing was likewise a revelation to me. I managed to celebrate the day quietly without green beer or cabbage, but with corned beef & mashed potatoes for supper after my Bible study gathering at church. I also received early birthday gifts in the form of flowers & Lindt truffles from hubby, who'll be working late tomorrow evening to make up for his being at home tonight to help me out with the children. (I suspect I may be as well, catching up on paperwork for my job!)

Dubious Recognition

While perusing a certain Atlanta-based news website, I happened on an article about the best and worst roads in the USA. Not surprisingly (since I live here!), South Carolina is ranked as the second deadliest state due to DUI, and the third deadliest state due to speeding.

Way to go, Palmetto State. Yet again you've managed to embarrass those among the citizenry who do NOT consider these statistics a good thing to garner headlines for! As if we weren't already the national whipping boy over "You lie!" and our AWOL governor on the Argentine tail trail. :P (Our state bird, the gamecock, often abbreviated only to the second half of that word, sort of sums it all up!)

In the words of the immortal Monty Python, RIGHT.

So, what does our perpetually backlogged state legislature intend to do about this latest boost to the state's ego? Likely nothing, as usual.

But hope springs eternal. I also learned from a radio broadcast I heard this afternoon that the offices of EVERY politico in the state are UP FOR GRABS on November 2, 2010. That means EVERYONE--both US senators, Congressman, the governor, lieutenant governor, & the ENTIRE state legislature--will be bombarding us with rancor as they try to keep the seats in which they've been less than effectual for the Palmetto State.

Time for a bit of fresh air in Columbia's halls of power? Maybe a different crowd could manage things better than the current lot has done...?

Trajectory mapping

Sounds like NASA, doesn't it? Dream on! I pre-date the first launch of the Apollo program, but metaphor is as close to rocket science as I'll ever get. I'm obviously not headed into orbit around another planet with this, tempting as a real life trek to Mars has been to one of my children.

I'm participating in a weekly Bible study with a small group at church. This week's most challenging assignment has been to identify "spiritual markers" in my life to date. I've obviously recalled a few, though I'm sure there are many others I've completely forgotten about because they were an awfully long time ago. While it's been interesting to go through them, I'm not particularly eager to share all of them. A few stand out as markers despite my not having personally determined a course of action (because I was far too young to do so). The goal of the exercise is to discern where God is leading me. I haven't firmly figured it out yet, but I'm grateful he's given me an ideal mate for the journey.

Now to make sure our JOINT trajectory remains in the same general direction for the next four or five decades...

Weather Reports & cancelled flights

Mercy has come our way in the past 24 hours, in that we've been able to give some blessed relief to two weary travelers who ended up NOT traveling thanks to a comedy of errors on the part of their airline due to the poor weather on the ground in New York. I'm grateful for the opportunity to do some good for my nearest & dearest, particularly since I haven't seen my eldest since Christmas break (that is, until about 10:30 last night). While the weather up north shows no sign of abating until Monday night or Tuesday, their travel plans now call for a flight to the city tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, here in beautiful downtown Hot House (where we actually got SNOW on SEVERAL occasions this winter!)...

The annual sprinkling of the pine pollen has begin (usually does so JUST in time for Easter, which is three weeks from today). Looks like I'll be washing my car MORE often for a while just to keep the "yellow snow" from tricking folks into thinking my white car IS yellow! Daffodils & narcissus are blooming, joining the pansies & ornamental kale that have been imbuing gardens with color since the holiday season. One of my camellia bushes started blooming shortly around early February & another looks set to pop into bloom in time for Easter. (That's a sign of how cold our winter has been--usually the early bloomer is festooned with flowers for Christmas & the late bloomer is coming to a stop for the season about now.)

I'll be watching for leprechauns later this week, trying to grab one & his pot of gold. ;) Hope you find one too.

Life has interrupted the flow of words for a while, between children's obligations & my own, but hopefully this has settled down for the foreseeable future.

Been participating in a Bible study group at my church, where my personal definitions of "mercy" & "wisdom" are being expanded. (That never hurts!) Meanwhile, numerous personal goals are close to being realized and others are being set aside for a while longer. I've found the person most in need of some merciful wisdom is myself. ;)

More ponderings to come...