lunabee34

1. Ever since we moved here, I've seen little mounds of earth here and there in the yard like crawfish make, but I thought they must be something else although I didn't know what. My grandparents' property on the Gulf Coast had crawfish, but they were close to the Gulf, and I just assumed it couldn't be crawfish where we live now.

Several months ago (gah, more like many months ago the way time is flying LOL), the people who own the lots across the street had them mostly cleared; they were heavily wooded and difficult to see into. Once they were cleared, I could see that they are swampy, marshy land. I've already posted that now that I'm out walking every day, I realized that what I thought was water in the ditches from January and February's excessive rain is actually a series of streams; the water is constantly flowing. It has a million tadpoles in it, turtles (Josh saw one yesterday, but alas the rest of us missed it), minnows!, and as of yesterday--CRAWFISH!!! There's an expanse of the stream with a ton of teensy baby ones crawling all over the bottom. Mystery solved!

2.

The Poems of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've never read Doctor Zhivago or seen a film version of it, so I think these poems lose a lot in being removed from their original context. Many of them are religious in content; they're fine, but none of them really speak to me.

The real draw of this volume is the beautiful sepia toned drawings throughout; I don't know much about art, but they look to me as if they were drawn with a fountain pen in sepia ink.

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3. Westworld season 3 ep 2

This is such a sad episode. I've enjoyed Westworld immensely the entire time I've watched it; it's funny and intellectually engaging and badass, but this is the first time it's made me cry.

The big question for me is who is playing Charlotte. Dolores trusts whoever it is. I don't remember enough about the end of last season to guess. Is it Teddy? Is it Clementine? It's killing me that I can't figure it out. Regardless, I love her struggle to embody Charlotte. It is so heartbreaking. She can't remember she even has a kid, much less feign caring about him. He knows on some fundamental level that she isn't his mother and that she doesn't love him. She watches that video Charlotte sends during the massacre (which is so upsetting on multiple levels, not least of which that it actually *is* Charlotte's final communication to her son) and seems to find some way to connect with "her" kid finally. If nothing else, she saves him from that predator. Of course Charlotte is the mole; that 100% lines up with her behavior in the park. I'll be interested to see how that develops.

Caleb's back story is equally tragic and upsetting. His mom develops schizophrenia when he's a boy. Dolores shows him the way the AI has predicted he's not worth investing in because he's just going to commit suicide within ten years. So he throws his lot in with her. I'll also be interested to see how this relationship develops. Dolores has never interacted with a regular person before. She has to realize on an intellectual level that most people are just living regular lives and trying to get by, nothing like the people who frequent the park. Now she'll get to actually interact with one.

I love all the little world building stuff, like Caleb having an implant to help him be a more effective soldier.

Can't wait for tonight!