Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Happy Summer Happenings!


Happy Month of July! I hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer. The twin fawns that were born in our backyard --click here to see that post-- visit us from time to time, and are growing well. They are very curious and full of energy, and their Momma Doe keeps a close eye on them.
 


My front garden perennials are all growing well. I did not plant any annuals this summer as all of Colorado is in a severe drought and we are under outdoor watering restrictions. Happily, the decorative plaques and statues help fill in the blank spots.



Our neighborhood was once a functioning cattle ranch, and the barns and a section of land have been converted into a very active equestrian center.



 The main barn has actually been placed on the National Register of Historic Places! You can read a post I wrote about this at this link.


Our oldest granddaughter took riding and horsemanship care lessons in the riding school in June. They learn how to care for a horse, their nutrition, grooming, and hoof care, saddle, bridle, and tack care. How to mount a horse, lead, turn, gallop, and go over obstacles. Also, barn safety and arena etiquette.



 A short YouTube video of our granddaughter practicing a slow gallop.  *Edited to change this to a trot, not a gallop, as Beth explained to me in her comment.

She really enjoyed the lessons and now feels more confident horseback riding and may pursue taking more involved Western Riding lessons.


Our daughter, son-in-law, and her brother-in-law were fortunate to see a FIFA World Cup game at Los Angeles Stadium between Spain and Austria. Spain won the game 3-0. 





She sent us this video of how the Los Angeles Stadium reacted to Spain's first goal!



It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since the first photo in the collage above of our grandchildren at a Fourth of July barbecue we had at our house! 
This 4th, we celebrated with our son, daughter-in-law, and family in their neighborhood at a delicious catered barbecue in their community park. The gathering also included a water slide, a bounce house for young children, and face-painting artists. 
They usually begin the event with a large bicycle parade led by the local fire department, but this year, many firefighters from fire departments across Colorado have been sent to help with multiple wildfires burning in our state. 
Many Wildland Urban Interface areas in Colorado also canceled fireworks shows this year to keep safe.




I hope summer will bring joy to all!







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Sunday, June 28, 2026

The United States of America's Semiquincecentennial!


It's almost July, and July 4th, 2026, the USA will be celebrating its Semiquincentennial--the 250th anniversary of becoming a nation!



I looked at my digital photos from over the years to pick out a few that symbolize patriotism and celebration in our country.
 

This August 2026 will also be the Sesquicentennial--150th anniversary--of Colorado becoming a state!

Read President Ulysses S. Grant’s statehood proclamation admitting Colorado to the Union on that date in 1876.


Did you know that the first official battle for independence of the United States of America, after the Declaration of Independence was read on July 4, 1776, was fought on August 27, 1776, in what is now called "The Battle of Brooklyn"?
General George Washington's Continental Army fought against tens of thousands of British and mercenary Hessian soldiers in what is now the borough of Brooklyn, in the city of New York.

Many years ago, I wrote a three-part post about this monumental battle that almost ended our independence, showing the area of Brooklyn, NY, where it took place.

The links to those posts are here:




How about making a Mixed Berry Pie for the 4th of July?  I made this one for a family celebration a few years ago, and have a recipe for a similar--Berry Cherry Almond Tart on this link.




Happy Fourth of July to America!


  Happy July to all!


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Sunday, June 21, 2026

I've Looked At Clouds From Both Sides Now


 We enjoyed a nice Father's Day barbecue celebration at our home this past Saturday. We celebrated a day early because the weather forecast for Sunday predicted rain, but I should have known better, because it turned out to be a beautiful day on Sunday. 

In typical Colorado fashion, the weather was unpredictable!
It made me scroll through the sky photos in my collection since moving to Colorado thirteen years ago...


The Spring and Summer seasons often bring the most amazing cloud formations!

These towering, high, full clouds are called Cumulonimbus Clouds, and when I see them, this is what I think of...


...hail!

The first year we moved to Colorado, we experienced our first large summer hail storm. At first, we thought it was fun, as we had never seen such large hailstones. The streets and lawns looked like they were covered with snow in August. My husband joked that he never thought he'd need to shovel in summer. Fortunately, I thought to go down into our basement and was shocked to see a waterfall of melting hail come pouring in through our window wells. I used almost every towel I owned to mop up that water as it seeped through. 

Similar to hail is Grapel -- a new word we learned that first winter. Graupel is precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water freeze on a falling snowflake. It looks and feels like large drops of slushy ice falling from the sky!


More often than thunderstorms and hail, however, we are more likely to see Virga in Colorado.

A virga, also called a dry storm, is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation that evaporates or sublimates before reaching the ground. It is a new phenomenon to us, and another new weather word we learned. 


Of course, we do get our share of thunderstorms. This one was approaching the city of Denver a few summers ago. 


In years such as this one, when the West had unusually dry weather with very low snow and rain levels, we worry about lightning strikes causing wildfires, but rain is seen as a blessing for our high desert climate...


...and rainbows are always a welcome sight to see!

Speaking of rainbows, we learned another new weather word when we moved to Colorado...



Iridescent clouds are a diffraction phenomenon caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering light. We usually see this in the winter months.

On our trips to the mountains, one of the most beautiful sights is watching clouds being formed.





A beautiful assortment of different cloud formations in my neighborhood.



An angel cloud in the sky?


Sunrises and sunsets are reminders that, regardless of the weather, each new day is a blessing.   

Happy Summer to all!
 
Please tell me what new weather words you have learned where you live.

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Sunday, February 22, 2026

Chinese New Year Party Fun!


We attended a fun Chinese New Year celebration at our friends' home this weekend! 
They have been celebrating this event for many years and have collected quite a few fun decorations.


According to Wikipedia, "Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, marks the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture and was placed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2024. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, this festival takes place from Chinese New Year's Eve (the evening preceding the first day of the year) to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year. The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February.

Click on the photo to enlarge it to view the information

A paper placemat our friends had at each place setting described the Chinese Zodiac signs associated with different years.

This year, the New Year was celebrated on February 17, 2026.

The Chinese Zodiac sign for 2026 is: Year of the Horse


According to Chinese astrology, Horses are confident, agreeable, and responsible, although they also tend to dislike being reined in by others. They’re fit and intelligent, adoring physical and mental exertion; they’re decisive but also easily swayed and impatient.



Our hosts had prepared a Pork and Vegetable Egg Roll filling--see the recipe they used on this link.  We all had fun taking turns to fill and roll the egg rolls to bake. We then had fun eating the hot-from-the-oven egg rolls as appetizers, dipping them in assorted sauces.

 

Our hosts prepared some delicious stir-fried entrees buffet-style, along with Hot and Sour Soup brought by one of the guests.

Dessert was fortune cookies!



My two cookie fortunes told me I was going to have an adventure in August and enjoy some culinary delights on my trip. 

That sounds perfect to me!


Thank you to Bekki and Will for a wonderful party!



Happy Year of the Horse

Good Fortune and Prosperity to all!




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Sunday, January 4, 2026

Happy 2026!


I hope everyone who celebrates had a very Merry Christmas! 
We were excited to see a bit of snow in December, after an unusually dry and warm fall along the Colorado Front Range.


Unfortunately, the weather soon returned to a "La Nina" weather pattern of warmer than average temperatures and lower than average precipitation, which melted all the snow. 
Snowpack levels across the state are currently 53% of normal, which means we will need many snowstorms to catch up
We also had a few days of extreme wind in December--a Chinook wind pattern. The winds blew many leaves into our gardens, but the deer that frequent our property enjoyed dining on them.


Despite all the weather concerns, the Christmas Season looked beautiful in Denver! 


I was busy making our traditional Christmas cookies...


...our house was all decked out for Christmas Celebrations...



...and I prepared many fish dishes for our traditional Italian-American "Feast of the Seven (plus) Fishes" Christmas Eve dinner...



...including a tray of chicken cutlets for our grandchildren who do not like to eat too much fish!



I also follow the Italian tradition of making lentil soup for New Year's Day for 'Buona Fortuna," which means "Good Fortune." Some families actually make a bowl of lentils to eat a few moments after the hour turns to midnight, but I wait until dinner the next day to make sure we can really enjoy the soup as dinner. There are many recipes for lentil soup, and it is easy to make as lentils do not require pre-soaking and cook fairly quickly. It can be made vegetarian or with sweet Italian sausage, which is the way we like it. Here is a link for a Lentil Sausage and Escarole Soup I shared many years ago.


I took a couple of weeks away from blogging to enjoy the Christmas season, and now feel ready to rejoin with a fresh new year's perspective.

Wishing all my readers a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2026!


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