Lisa Zahn

Our cat, Mrs. Buttercup, is showing early signs of spring fever. Here she is venturing outside for a few minutes yesterday, to sniff at the boxwoods for any sign of chipmunks out of hibernation. Finding none, she quickly ran back in to the warm house... So much to post about today, so little time! This morning we had our 3rd annual Lake George Neighborhood Annual Meeting. Among other things, we voted on a neighborhood motto to go with our neighborhood logo and our neighborhood mission statement. The new motto? The Lake George Neighborhood: It's a Great Neighborhood, by George Clever, isn't it? It was submitted by a neighborhood resident and voted number one by the group at the meeting today. If you missed it, too bad! Oh, and I have to update you on the neighborhood art scene. Our local Salvation Dolly himself has decided to auction off his now-infamous art on ebay. Here's the announcement email I received yesterday... The art installation as it stood yesterday. Tod...

Obviously priceless art, in the manner of Constructivism, perhaps Socialist Realism, or according to its creator, Surrealism (?). We live on the best corner of the best neighborhood in the--um, well, a pretty good city--in Lake Wobegon Country. This fun started as an email exchange in which one neighbor (tongue in cheek I believe) complained about another neighbor keeping his city recycling box out all week. The offending neighbor wrote back that this was not an oversight on his part but an art installation of the highest form. Art for the masses. Art in sympathy with the masses. An empty box. An obvious symbol of the futile, the forgotten, the homeless and forlorn. Said neighbor, now a self-proclaimed Salvador Dali, is a social worker by day so it is no surprise that he would take up a hobby with a social conscience. A day after the accusatory email, his box appeared on the curb with the proclamation: “Don’t Touch. Art.” on a sign using the medium of the Everyman--cardboard and duct ...

There's a new call among those concerned about our environment, and our country as we are at war, to bring back the Victory Garden. Many of you may know that during World War II, the government called on citizens across America to "Garden for Victory", to grow as much of their own produce as they could in order to save fuel and other resources for the War Effort. Did you know that over 40% of America's fruits and vegetables were grown in these gardens during the 1940s? It's astonishing, really. All across America today you can see gardens both beautiful and humble, and HGTV and other television networks are full of gardening shows. But how many of us are growing our own food? And how many of us are growing a substantial amount of our food? It is said that in a small urban yard (and we have a small city lot only), and particularly in a larger suburban yard, it is possible to grow most of your own vegetables, even fruits. For those of us with small lots, this will ...

Okay, I know we're five days into February, and here in Minnesota we've got relatively warm temperatures to boot (22 degrees F. right now--not bad). But last week at parent-teacher conferences, Rose's teacher showed us her January poem. Remembering that Eli had written one in 3rd grade, too, I found it and decided to post them both today. Who Said It's January by Elijah Zahn, 2006 The skis did when they were on me. The teeth did when they chattered. The wind did when it was cold. The snow did when it turned to ice. The hot cocoa did when it was warm. The sled did when we went sledding. Who Said It's January by Rose Zahn, 2008 The snow did when it fell every which way. The music did when I went to concerts with flowing music. The sled did when I zoomed past every body. My Cat did when she went outside and right back in. I think they're wonderful poems! Maybe I can get them to write one for February...

You'll notice two new things on the side of my blog today. One, as of next week, I'll again be a homeschooling mom. This has been one frustrating school year. I'm a homeschooler at heart (a homebody at heart, too). After this week, starting the 11th of February, I'll be bringing the kids home to learn at least most of the day again. I still have a few final things to clear up with my work schedule, the kids' teachers, etc., but we're looking forward to a new beginning to our home learning! I'll post more on this later. Two, my "I support Barack Obama" widget. I've decided to "come out" with this on my blog because I feel more and more strongly that I support this man. His speeches make me cry and give me so much hope for America. It was hard not to fully support John Edwards because he's such a great guy and his family is awesome and they homeschooled for a time, but since he's dropped out I can lend all my support to Obama. I...

Okay, today I remembered how to put video on my blog, so I thought I should add one from last week's Barneloppet ski race for the kids here in St. Cloud. Just because Eli hasn't had his own video on the blog yet. And here he is, at the end of the race. He made me so proud! Slow and steady is more his style, but he was determined to finish the race and he didn't come in last, no sir... Unfortunately, the video timer on my camera ran out before I could get him receiving his medal, but he did really finish and get one!

This is the beginning of the race, trying to get all those kids started. You can see Rose up and down, then moving ahead finally, in the far left corner of the video. This video shows Rose's triumphant finish and receiving her medal. She did race the Tiny Tots division, coming in about 5th or 8th place (according to her) out of all kinds little kids. This was actually a 1k race, which she decided to do because she knew someone else doing it, and didn't know anyone in the 2k. We figure at age 8 she's still a "tiny tot" to us, and we're just so proud of her for being a go-getter in whatever she tries!

Here are photos from yesterday's Zahn family adventure, the City of Lakes Loppet in Uptown Minneapolis on the Greenway. It was pretty crazy trying to find a place to park and we thought the whole idea of a ski race in Uptown was really cool but also really a pain. The beginning of the Minneloppet 2k race. Eli, overwhelmed with all the people there, decided not to race and just watch. We ended up parking at Lake of the Isles and skiing the 1/2 mile in to the start of the race. There was a rumored 500 kids racing the Minneloppet, of which our ski league was a part. Another crazy mess! You can see in the photos above all those kids at the start. I don't know that it's actually 500, but it was a whole bunch and trying to get started wasn't easy... Rose tired and hot after her race. And, enjoying the hot chocolate before heading home.