Lisa Zahn

Okay, I messed up on my business cards by putting the wrong blog address on them. So, I've made a new blog to match them rather than pay for another 500 cards made. Oh well! The new blog address is: www.herbalistlisazahn.blogspot.com The cards look great! Ask me for some... Lisa

Okay, we did see some grass *almost green* poking out under the snowy lawns yesterday, but for the most part we saw snow. And then we got two more inches of snow last night. And now as I sit in my kitchen there is a lovely snow falling outside the window. So much for spring. Here is what I photographed... Elijah playing in the snow Eli's snowball "ammo" in the treehouse (perfectly round thanks to Aunt Martha sending the snowball-making thingy a couple years ago) Rose playing in the snow Rose's snowperson (beautifully outfitted thanks to Aunt Penny sending a box of snowman gear last Christmas) (BTW, thanks to the aunts and uncles for those treasures!) A far cry from spring in Minnesota yet, but at least it's warm enough to play out there.

This morning Rose asked at what time spring actually began. So, of course we Googled that question and found out that spring actually started at 11:58 p.m. central time last night. But today's the first full day of Spring, and we decided to welcome her in with paintings of springtime. Before "Y" time at 2:00 today, we'll get out for a walk and see what evidence of spring we can find out there. That is, before the predicted snow comes in tonight! Let's hope we find something...

As I washed a couple loads of laundry on Monday, it reminded me of my Grandma. She's now 89 and a home health aide helps her with laundry, but it's still done on Monday at her house as it's always been. I often long for my life to be as routine and rhythmic as my Grandma's. It seems housewives all over used to follow these rhythms. When we lived in Iowa among the Amish, the best day to drive by their farms was Monday when their beautiful black and jewel-toned clothing hung on the clotheslines all over the community. I've always loved seeing wash hung out on clotheslines and the wash of the Amish is most colorful of all. In the Little House on the Prairie books, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote of the traditions her mother followed, in the following saying: Wash on Monday Iron on Tuesday Mend on Wednesday Churn on Thursday Clean on Friday Bake on Saturday Rest on Sunday Barbara M. Walker writes in her book, The Little House Cookbook , based on the frontier foods of Laura ...

For years my family made no claim to Irish ancestry. We're English and Swedish/Norwegian/Danish, we thought. But then last year I started a family tree on http://www.ancestry.com/ and through their vast catalog of US and UK census data I found out that not too far back we do have some Irish roots. Which shouldn't be much of a surprise, being that the British Isles are awfully close together. And being that a streak of red hair and tempers most definitely runs through the family! (But I've been told that last one is more stereotype. What do you think?) The above photo shows my English family, the Adams, on my maternal side. I found it at my Grandma Adams' house a few months ago, right out in the open much to my surprise. I had never seen it before but there it was stuck into the frame of a huge picture of my Great-Grandpa that had been hanging at Grandma's as long as I can remember. The origin of this photo, and how it got to my Grandma's recently, is a mystery ...

Me, way up high! Julie and Paul, our belayer Here's what I did yesterday! The W.E.T. group went to nearby St. John's University to climb the walls for a couple of hours. We had a blast, had the whole place to ourselves (which was good for a bunch of novice moms) and had two students help us with belaying--holding the ropes, in other words. Angela took the first climb I'm so proud of myself that I wasn't scared, I made it *almost* all the way up, and I really had fun. I've done this once before, in New London, Minnesota on an outdoor wall. I feel like an old pro now! Vicki and Molly, another student belayer All six of us who climbed did a great job. Elizabeth, however, was the star. Never having done it before, she right away scaled the wall like a monkey climbing a tree. Well, as it turns out, she did grow up in the Ecuadorian rain forest climbing trees. No fair! Elizabeth, the natural Nikki on the descent And the babies came, too (Lily and Sara)