Minnesota natives take a fist full of Oscars

I don't usually give a rip what happens in Hollywood. Afterall, who cares what Britney and Lohan are up to, there are much more important things to worry about - but as a film lover I usually watch the Oscars and I pleased to seee that the Hollywoood took notice of the Minnesotans in the room. The amazing St. Louis Park brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen, took 3 oscars for their film version of Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men". Their 3 statues were in the categories of "Best adapted screen play", "Best directing", and the highly coveted "Best Picture". As a long-time fan of their work, I was thrilled to see them take this sweep.

Minneapolis' delighful and quirky Cody Diablo took the oscar for "Best Original Screenplay" for the film "Juno". How exciting to see such crisp and poignant writing get the attention it deserves.

As they say around here...Uffda!

WHERE THE WOMEN ARE STRONG, THE MEN ARE GOOD LOOKING, AND ALL OF THE CHILDREN ARE ABOVE AVERAGE

Steve and I attended a live performance of A Prairie Home Companion last night on the Winona State Campus, with our friends, Jennifer and Jeremy. Winona State is celebrating their 150th anniversary this year and last night's live broadcast of Garrison Keillor's radio show was part of the year-long celebration. The show was as delightful as always, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the musical guest was BeauSoleil, with fiddler, Michael Doucet. Eh Toi! It was pretty hard to stay seated while listening to that amazing cajun music! Winona native, Simone Perrin, joined the show as well. Her stellar voice and accordian playing was fantastic.

Katie's First Crush

Katie recently came home from afterschool care, having watched the film "The Game Plan". In a flurry of disjointed phrases, she gave me the play-by-play of the plot and then enthusiastically told me that the film starred Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson.

Katie then wanted to know: did I know who he was? Have I ever seen him? Did I think he was handsome…nice… smart....? Of course she was blushing as she asked these questions.

I asked her if she thought he was handsome, nice, and smart. Katie replied that she thought he was very handsome and told me that she wanted to marry him some day. I told then told her that I thought he might be too old for her; after all, he is closer to Mom and Dad's age.

Katie thought for a moment and then replied that she will most likely: "marry The Rock's son....who is probably named....The Pebble...."

She definitely has her dad's quick wit.

Winona Walt and Mississippi Marv

Sometimes I think that our culture has removed itself from the environment so much that we miss the subtle signs that nature sends. My drive to work follows the Mississippi River and while it is beautiful all year round, each season is very different. Today as I drove along Highway 61, I happened to see two huge bald eagles hanging out in a tree. They were obviously scanning the horizon for food. Yes, it was pretty cool to stop my car and to be less than 25 feet from these amazing birds; but all that aside, this can only mean one thing - SPRING IS COMING!

Forget about Puxatawney Phil, these guys make their way south when winter comes and then start to make their way back north as the weather warms. Even though it is -4 degrees out today, I would like to trust in the fact that these two know something I don't. At least I can hold out hope.

Mock Elections - Obama takes Jefferson Elementary

Apparently, Katie's entire school participated in a mock primary election today. She was very excited about the fact that everyone voted in the gym and she shared the details with us over dinner tonight. According to her reports, here are the results: Barack Obama came in 1st, Hilary Clinton came in 2nd, John McCain came in 3rd, and "The Old Guy" (Huckabee) came in 4th.

We asked Katie who she voted for and she replied: "Obama, of course." Her assessments on the results were: Obama won "because he is a nice guy who cares about everybody." Hilary Clinton came in 2nd "because she picked on people in the '80's", McCain is a "nice man, but kinda old", and Huckabee "is an old guy who will probably die soon."

Hmmm.

Oh well, as goes Jefferson Elementary, so goes the nation.

We're Almost Done Shoveling...

Our snow blower has seen more action this winter than during the last three. Here is a photo of the accumulation from the 2/5 snowfall. (This was after we had a warm spell and most of what we had received had melted). Since then it has snowed a couple of times - hey it's snowing right now. According to Sunday's paper, we've received about 34 inches this winter. I'm only getting by with the thought that it will melt and the water will be great for the garden.

I know, it's been a while since my last post. I'd like to say we have been busy with lots of fun and exciting events such as travel to warm places. In reality, the semester started and we are just pretty busy with planning and teaching classes, answering student emails, and grading...etc. (I can hear my siblings now, "Yeah, but you get the summers off...").

Sweet Sleeping Siblings

I arrived home the other night and found Katie asleep in bed with her life-sized doll Ella. Ella was a gift from Santa two years ago when Katie asked him for a sister. She has gone from being a big sister (and taller than Katie) to a younger sister now (and of course, smaller). Katie would have been a wonderful big sister. She is so tender and sweet with Ella. Of course Ella is the most well-behaved and agreeable little sister around.

Is it Audacious to hope?

This is not a political blog and I have no intention of dragging a soapbox in to this venue; however, for the first time in a long time I feel hopeful about the political prospects for America.
Hats off to Iowa for showing us how to turn up on voting day.

As reported by MSNBC.com:
"A wide-open race in both parties sparked a turnout far exceeding previous contests.Projections showed a turnout of 220,588 for Democrats, compared to 124,000 who participated in 2004. Most projections had estimated turnout would be about 150,000."

Amen!

Christmas Get-away

This year we spent Christmas without other family members. Since it was just the three of us, Steve and I decided that it might be fun to take off on an adventure. The day after Christmas we packed the car, arranged for a student to watch Sadie, and headed off to Jellystone Park in Warrens, WI.

This is one of Katie's favorite vacation spots; she loves to swim, loves the water slides, loves floating on the "Lazy river", and of course Steve and I enjoy the hot tubs. This year, Katie decided she felt safe trying the huge water slides all by herself - that is she would go down alone, provided I went down first to make sure she would not drown when she came out of the slide into the huge pool. She did well. These little baby steps toward independence are so important!

She and Steve had a great time playing water volleyball and basketball. She really loves hanging out with dad, or "Father" as she has begun to call him. I love the fact that we spent three days creating fond memories which Katie will look back upon and treasure. Isn't that what Christmas is all about?

Preparing for St. Nick

I have never seen Katie so excited about Santa's arrival. Of course now that she is reading and writing, she prepared for the holiday by reading every book about Christmas that she could get her hands on, and also by writing in her journal about all the items she hoped to receive. Here is a copy of one of her "letters to Mr. C."

My favorite item - my own cell phone that real. Speaking only as her mother, I have a very difficult time believing that a first grader needs a cell phone. I can only imagine the conversations; many would begin with "knock, knock..." and would also include the singing of songs from High School Musical or Hannah Montana (as if I'm paying for that Cellular One phone bill!). Thankfully, Santa agreed with me and didn't bring her one.

.

Speaking of songs, the most requested Christmas songs in the Allard household changed this year as well. This year's favorites: "The 12 days of Christmas" (Katie choreographed dance moves to this one), "The Chipmunks Christmas Song" (I will be singing "I still want a hula-hoop" for weeks to come), and "Grandma got run over by a Reindeer" (Sorry Mimi and Beni). Needless to say, we have had our share of holiday laughs this year.

Katie was indeed very good this year and Santa did bring her most oft requested item:

She is already learning the chords to a Dan Zanes song - we are expecting big things from this little songbird!