Category Archives: Winter

¡Salud!

1 Reply

Since it is the first of the year, I thought I would give a quick Spanish tip: ¡Salud!

The word salud is used for three different occasions with slightly different meanings. 1) Most commonly, it means “health” 2) when someone sneezes it means “bless you”.
3) it means “cheers” as when you are giving a toast, instead of saying “cheers!” you say “¡salud!”

When I was in Mexico I learned a more intricate rhyming toast that goes a little something like this:

“Arriba, abajo, al centro, pa’ dentro.”  (Literally : “Up, down, to the center, inside”)

This means “raise your glass up, lower it down, bring it to the middle (clink them) and then drink up (bring it inside the body)”.

A todos mis lectores: ¡a su salud en el año nuevo!

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (0)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (1)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)

Christmas 2010

1 Reply

We had a nice, slow Christmas this year and just stayed in Greeley. Even so, it was more stressful than usual with my mom having a hard time adjusting to life without my dad (the holidays are the worst) and all of us trying to help my brother along in his process of moving out and growing up. I really have been missing my dad a lot too even though he visits me in my dreams almost nightly. On Christmas, we were looking through our posts from last year and it’s hard to believe that he was doing so well less than a year ago.

Anyhow, this year Britton and I had two meals again. One at his family’s house and the other at my mom’s. We were hammed out! 🙂

We made a snack/cookies/tea/cocoa basket for everyone and had fun baking up the cookies together. And even though Christmas day was actually quite a nice dry one weather wise (in the 60s or so) we now have a white blanket on the ground just in time for the New Year.

Here are a few photos from the day. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday.


My aunt Laura, my mom, and Rob cooking


Me and my Grandma


Christmas dinner


Cookie Baskets (plus Schnoodle)

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (0)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)

Christmas Cat

1 Reply

There’s another cat in the neighborhood here in Greeley. It’s like Cat City here. When I first saw her I thought she was Kitty because she’s a greyish calico (Kitty’s solid grey).  She looks to be just out of kittenhood (if that’s a word). She seems to be comfortable around humans (and dogs, other cats such as Kitty and the chickens thankfully), so I think she must have come from another family, maybe another neighborhood family cat that had kittens? But, she really likes our house a lot even though we’ve tried to ignore her. She sits at the back door and the front door and just stares at us -or sometimes mews.


Mirror Cats -Kitty inside and the other one outside

“Please, please just acknowledge my presence,” she seems to plead with those eyes.

Britton put some food out even after we had some discussion about whether we wanted to encourage the behavior or have another cat to feed. We just hate to see an animal starve! But she didn’t seem too interested in the food. No, she just wanted some lovin’.

So, I finally gave in and picked her up and held her. She purred and purred as she rested in my lap.


With Christmas Cat

Maybe she just wanted out of the cold for a few minutes. I’m not sure. Callie showed up in the same sort of way, except she was a Halloween cat. She showed up in October a few years back and she had black and orange fur. This one, I think we’ll have to name Christmas Cat.

I don’t want another batch of kittens to show up in the window well of our basement again as happened with Callie, so I’m going to call a few veterinary clinics and see if any of them do free or reduced spaying for stray cats. At least we know Kitty couldn’t be the father as he’s been neutered for a long time. With Callie we waited too long thinking, well, she’s not really our cat. This little girl looks to be just entering her fertile maturity so it would be good to do that sooner than later. I’m going to ask around the neighborhood to see if she belongs to anyone first though. But take it from Bob Barker, people. Spay and neuter your animals! Please!

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (0)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)

The Empty Seat

Leave a reply

We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal and time with family at our house this year. Britton’s mom and our niece and nephew stopped by for a few and my aunt’s family (her husband and son Tommy) flew in from out of town to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.


The Kauffmans

We had a sort of pot-luck and we were in charge of drinks. So in addition to egg nog, hot apple cider, milk, izzies, beer and wine, I made some great sangria! We enjoyed our drinks and listened to music and talked for a while before we ate.


Sangria

Then we all sat down at the table for a meal. Except one chair wasn’t filled. And that was the chair for my dad. We decided to honor him and his memory by placing a plate at his seat at the end of the table. We remembered him there for all the Thanksgivings past and it was nice to think of his spirit joining us for the meal. The holidays are the hardest after you lose someone because these holidays are about family, about coming together and enjoying our time on earth. So when someone is no longer there with you, it stings a little more.


The Empty Seat and lots of full ones too!

But my brother Justin did a great job taking over some of Dad’s traditional roles like peeling and mashing the potatoes. I think Dad would have approved! They were great. And Laura’s husband Rob trimmed the turkey and we all said grace. We really hardly ever say grace, but it’s such a nice tradition. To be thankful for the bounty of food, everything we are blessed to have and to be in the company of friends and family.

And this year, I think grace was even more poignant without my dad. It seems perhaps that we tend to under-appreciate what we have until it is gone. Death has a way of waking you up to your life and aligning your priorities. Live it while you can! And maybe, just maybe, after you go, you will leave a mark on the people in your life so profound that you never truly die. For me on this Thanksgiving, that seat may have been empty but my dad will always be here with me on Thanksgiving or any other day.

BONUS: I had never made sangria before, but I think I made a winning mix for Thanksgiving. So in case you are wondering….here is:

Cassie’s Secret Sangria Concoction -err- Recipe

Franzia Chillable Boxed Red Wine (or white if you prefer)
Some Pineapple Juice
Some Cranapple Juice Concentrate
Lots of fruit and squeezed juice (Orange, lemon, lime slices, pomegranate seeds, pineapple)
Chill overnight
When you are ready to serve, add champagne and/or seltzer water to make it fizzy. By using the juice concentrate you don’t water it down too much this way.
Add fruit garnishes like lemon, orange, lime and maraschino cherries.

And, finally, enjoy!

What do you think of this post?
  • WOW (0)
  • Awesome (0)
  • Interesting (0)
  • Useful (0)
  • Bummer (0)
  • Whoa (0)