Lisa Zahn

My own elder bush, corner of the front yard. George has been sick with a terrible cold this week. Due to having no voice, he actually missed three days of school, a record for him. Last night as he lay in bed, keeping us both awake with his coughing, I thought of my elderberry cordial. Fortunately, he was thinking the same thing as he went downstairs at about 12:30 a.m. to drink some. It definitely calmed his cough and we both slept better after that. (Okay, it also helped that he slept on the couch for the next four hours…he did say his cough calmed down, though.) Elder (Sambucus canadensis here in N. America; S. nigra in Europe) is my favorite herbal remedy, and one of my favorite plants ever. The Elder tree or bush grows wild all over Minnesota, on our farmlands near damp places, along roadsides and on the edges of woods. I’ve also seen it near my in-laws’ place on the Ware River in the Tidewater region of Virginia--a damp, low place very different from Minnesota but still providin...

The title is just to get your attention...and because this guy is proudly a geek! Sorry to just link to another video this morning. I'll have plenty to say later when I get home from work, but for now just a quick post for you. I just found this YouTube video this morning, linked on another blog. This guy's great! And, he makes a really important point about climate change that even naysayers might take to be valid. He's a high school science teacher, reminds me of my friend Jay who's arguably the best science teacher around here. (Laura, sorry you have slow-speed internet! You and Jay should really try to view this sometime...) Just click on the link above where it's highlighted and it'll get you there. I'm not sure how to get it on my site at the moment and I'm again running late for work. Oh, if I could get paid to blog...maybe someday. Lisa

My two beautiful kids, much smaller than they are now. This is a really beautiful video made by the parents of an autistic girl. For every time it's viewed, .40 will go to the charity AutismSpeaks.org. Neither of my kids is autistic, but as I've said Elijah has some Asperger's traits. And when he was around age two, he did show signs of being possibly Autistic. He used to do this thing called "echolalia" which some friends and family who have worked with kids noticed and knew to be a sign of austism. He also didn't speak at all until he was two and spoke "caveman style" until he was three (at which time he was diagnosed with esophagitis and put on Zantac; one week after starting the antacid he was speaking in sentences and smiling!). All those things, along with not making eye contact and several other things, are signs of autism. No two autistic kids are the same, but the diagnosis is skyrocketing to now 1 in every 150 children. We chose, on the adv...

Here's a link everyone should read today. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/haiti_eating_dirt;_ylt=At.SCYedMcllZmKLaFqaJqBw24cA Please rethink the "miracle" of ethanol! Lisa

I had to take the picture of the bank sign this morning for my blog. This is the sign at 8:30 a.m. when I was on my way to work(late but I'm always 5 minutes late and always have been). I'm actually a little disappointed that it was only 16 below! 20 below would be even more impressive, but probably I would've had to be out there at 5 a.m. to get that one. I hope it's cold enough to impress those of you in warmer places like Virginia, Atlanta, Phoenix, at least! Don't you wanna come visit us? Behind the sign you can see our new library in progress. Since it's only four blocks from our house, we can't wait till it opens in the fall. And here's my hat. I knitted it for myself a few weeks ago, inspired by SouleMama who made one and put it on her blog here . George says it really makes me look "crunchy granola" because of the color yarn I chose. I just thought it blended with my hair! I got my pattern for free here . I used the pattern for worst...

I got into this blog world after joining an online Yahoo group called the Riot for Austerity last June or so. Some of you have read my posts about that, way on down the list. Funny how trying to reduce consumption has ended up with me spending more time online. One benefit to that is that I now read hardly any magazines. I spend a lot of my reading time online now, which hurts my eyes more but doesn't involve any trees, I guess. Still, I hope someday to cut back on this yet... We have dropped the Riot for Austerity thing--actually I did that several months ago. The email digests I got from the group every day just got too judgemental for me to stomach. It was fun while it lasted. And what has lasted in George and me and the kids are some habits and ways of thinking that we got from the Rioters. (Did anyone ever riot for austerity? Probably not! Our generation is probably the only one looking for ways to downsize.) There are seven areas in which the Rioters are trying to reduce con...

We have one part-time job opening at the co-op. It is for an assistant in the Produce Department and pays about $8.50 an hour. The hours are pretty strict and involve almost every weekend. Today alone we received more than 20 applications for the job. They came by email, they walked in the door. The applicants ranged from students to middle-aged women to men who looked they would be supporting a family to just one guy who looked like a bum. In the year that I've been working at the co-op, we've had many, many positions open. Cashiers tend to be students and they come and go seasonally. The Deli always has openings, just about. Other positions have been open and filled several times as well. Just a few weeks ago, even, a full-time Produce position was filled in-house after almost no qualified applicants applied (and by "qualified" here I mean not smelling like alcohol, not having an obvious mental condition, etc.--in other words, the standards aren't the highest--w...

Along with the Barnelopet today (post below), we had a busy Saturday. Rose just before her performance. Rose played for her first piano contest and survived it well. She played Dance by Bela Bartok, a very pretty piece. We won't get the judge's results for a few days, but again we're just so proud she participated. Don't tell her we told you, but George did hear her practicing her speech for the first prize in the dining room yesterday afternoon. But on that we'll see. At least we know she felt good about her performance and maintains that Rose-confidance for which we love her so much. Rose's post-contest smile and twinkling eyes. The pressure was off and she was happy to have mom and dad and a bagel at the coffee shop all to herself. Playing chess with Dad at the Local Blend coffee shop in St. Joseph. And here's me making Moroccan Chickpea Stew yesterday morning: This was for my W.E.T. (Women's Enrichment Time--a name we just made up.) group potluc...

Taylor, Rose, Carter and Elijah before the race. Still wearing the coats and hats, etc.! Mr. Viking Guy, sounding the bull horn to begin the race. Here are some photos from today's ski race. The kids both did the 2.1k in St. Cloud's first ever "Barnelopet". They did great! Rose came in somewhere near the middle of the pack. Eli was closer to the end and we were just so proud of both of them for finishing it. It's a lot of work skiing about a mile as fast as you can! Plus, they both got very warm. It's currently 34 degrees F. here and we were all a bit overdressed for the afternoon. It was nice to be able to stand outside in the sunshine all afternoon though. Cabin fever is gone for the day at least! Eli looking tired just after crossing the finish line. Showing off their medals. Rose with Don, Taylor and Esther Scheele enjoying some apres ski hot cocoa. There was a bunch of Norwegians at this thing and I told them I didn't know there were so man...