Lisa Zahn

These are some funky pictures. I like to play with the light and my camera, which doesn't always turn out quite right especially if the people are moving. But, I think these are kinda cool anyway. The star boys and the tomtar (plural for tomten), part of the Lucia tradition in Sweden. For the Santa Lucia Festival this morning, George, Rose and I woke before dawn to go to Salem Lutheran Church here in St. Cloud for the 6:30 a.m. service. Those Swedes have crazy traditions, eh? Karla is this year's Santa Lucia and since she's one of George's private instrumental students, we had to go see her all dressed up! But this tradition wouldn't look right during the daylight. The candles on the wreath on St. Lucia's head shine brighter in the dark. It's a tradition in Sweden that the oldest daughter wakes the family on December 13, Santa Lucia Day, wearing a wreath of candles on her head and a white dress with red sash. She brings Christmas buns and coffee. The legend...

Yesterday I took a day of rest, literally not going out of the house (even for church) and sitting on my butt all day. I watched a few movies, which made me cranky with that "brain dead" feeling I get from watching hours of TV. But anyway, I had some good movies from both Netflix and the library so I thought I'd tell you about them. First, Elijah and I watched Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash . Now, maybe that's the real reason I was cranky--starting with this day brightener! But nah, I've been reading about peak oil for about 18 months now, lived with the rest of you through the peak in oil prices this past summer and the subsequent economic crash and current major deflation in prices, and none of the movie was really news to me. Still, I'm glad Elijah and I could watch it together. Yeah, he's only 11 going on 12 but he's been overhearing me talk about this so much and he is a bright enough mind that I think him knowing the facts will get him thinking a...

This is bad news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081207/ap_on_bi_ge/recycling_bust The price for recycled materials has just plummeted, making the business of recycling very difficult to maintain. It's time for us to focus more on the REDUCE AND REUSE parts of the mantra than on the RECYCLE part. More trash in the landfills or shipping barges is going to be very ugly...

Now I know what the saying means--the table groaned under the weight of the holiday feast. Fortunately, our table is quite sturdy. George made it himself, the legs out of thick slabs of pine and the top of the fir beams of a torn-down old Lutheran church in Wisconsin. He made it over a long weekend in a class at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Here are a couple of photos of the desserts and drinks on the table last night. Along with George's grandmother's handmade tablecloth and my Advent wreath (with three blue candles, one red and another in the center white for Christmas Eve--the proper Lutheran colors), they made a table pretty enough for a picture. The party was great. We were about 20-plus neighbors in all, going to five houses for our annual (10th for the neighborhood and we've been here for five of them now) Progressive Dinner Christmas Party. I didn't cough too much. Didn't drink or eat too much either, which is a feat--especially...