No snow stuck in the Flathead Valley itself, but the mountains were white all the way down to about the 3300 foot elevation (1000m). Both a Bald Eagle and a Blue Heron were seen at Middle Foy's Lake yesterday.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Make a Spring (Ha!) resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Check out our new design at the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website -- there's still more changes to come! That multi-media presentation about the late Walter Hook premiered at the Member's Reception last night, and looked really good - congrats to Linda Grinde for getting it all together. We have a PUBLIC reception tonight.
Men and Women in the Military by Lt. Colonel Kevin Farrell finished off the Honors Symposium on a quality note. There was a tonne of information, but it was well-paced and organized. One thing Farrell didn't say was, "Good soldiers are good soldiers, no matter what sex they may be," but his history strongly implied it. His thesis was that sex integration of the Armed Services has largely been driven by military needs and expediency, plus the demands of civilian society on their troops over time.
The audience was lively, and many issues came up -- especially the fact that more women have died in the Iraq Invasion/Occupation than in all other US wars combined. Other things were mentioned -- like recruitment for both sexes in volunteer Army and Marine units is difficult in a time when combat duty is certain, but our Navy and Air Force have waiting lists. The existence of both sexual assault AND normal sexual behavior creates problems which are far from solved, but are neither unsolvable, nor fatal to the integrated services.

Media Watch: Bollywood movie stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai were married today -- best of luck to that very visible couple! We liked watching Dhoom II in a Calgary movie house last Thankgiving. It featured both actors, but informer Rai's very first screen-kiss was with policeman Bachchan's criminal nemesis Hrithik Roshan late in the second half -- an audience member called it "doing a John Abraham," since Abraham previously made screen-kissing respectable in Indian films. Ms. Rai looked more like she was tasting a lemon, but it wasn't exactly a tender scene in the plot either.


Three of my favorite movie divas, and they are all from India!
(L to R) Ace dancer Madhuri Dixit, bit-player turned star Urmila Matondkar, and versatile Aishwarya Rai.