A Too Short Pit-Stop Visit

I noticed something this past Thursday.  I've always known it, but it really hit home for me on Thursday. Time really does fly.  At least when you're having fun it does.  But, you can squeeze a lot of fun into a little time!  You see, my older sister was passing thru Ohio on her way to New York City from her home in South Dakota.  She was traveling with two of her friends and two dogs; one a Vizla named Elton and the other one was her dog, a Spinone Italiano named Partito.   Elton and Partito were going to be shown at Westminster!   They left Rapid City around 11:00 am on Wednesday and arrived at our parents' house in Ohio Thursday around lunch time. 


As soon as I had heard they would be stopping there for an overnight visit I knew we had to have a pre-Westminster party!  We don't do "party" without plenty of food and plenty of laughter.  I told my mom if she made the salad, I'd bring the rest of dinner, dessert included.  Wednesday I got lucky and had a snow day from work - giving me plenty of time to cook and bake for a crowd.  There were going to be 11 of us who could make it.  I baked a pineapple upside-down cake and an awesome new brownie dessert.  These brownies are first a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough pressed into a pan, followed by a layer of oreo cookies, and then a 13x9 brownie mix spread on top and baked.  They were a hit, and I thank my co-worker for the recipe!  I also cooked and cut up chicken - enough for two 13x9 pans of chicken noodle casserole, saving the broth to cook the noodles in on Thursday.  I have decided that I want to make my own condensed "cream of" soups, so I made up my condensed cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soups and placed it in canning jars.  I then refrigerated them, wondering if it would be possible to can this stuff up.  That's something I'm going to research. It was good and it was cheap to make.  I also planned for us to have cheesy garlic bread, but that was in the freezer hanging out and I didn't have to do anything with that until Thursday after I pulled the casseroles out of the oven.


Since this was a party to not only spend some time; albeit very little time with my sister, but also a party to celebrate Partito (and Elton) being shown at Westminster I decided we needed to have something to have a toast with.  A man we knew well and who was a celebrity in the dog-world, Max Riddle, always hosted a cocktail party after our kennel club's dog show and served Fish House Punch.  Max has been gone for a while now, but he is still known and well-respected.  We always serve his Fish House Punch to celebrate dog-show accomplishments in our family.  When he served his punch it was always out of a plastic gallon jug, like the kind milk comes in.  I always make and serve mine the same way.  I was keeping my jug of punch a surprise, to be pulled out after dinner and to raise a toast with.


I made a deal with my boss that morning that I would work thru my lunch on Thursday and also on Friday, if he would let me leave an hour early so I could spend just a little more time with my sister, who I had not seen for over two years.  He very willingly agreed to my deal.  Sometimes my boss can be an OK guy.  Jon, myself, and Kristal arrived just before 3:00 pm.  We had never met one of my sister's friends, Adrienne, but we quickly felt very comfortable with her; she fit right in.  As we all chatted, my sister made the comment how Fish House Punch would be so awesome to have at a time like this, celebrating such a cool adventure.  I smiled inside and couldn't wait for dinner to be over. 


We all ate until we felt like we would burst.  I went into the kitchen and came out with a stack of plastic glasses (just like Max used to serve his punch in) and my gallon jug.  I poured the glasses for a toast, wondering just how would I word this toast, when Adrienne raised her glass and gave a fabulous toast - I couldn't have done half as well as she had - it was almost as if she knew we would be raising a toast to this occasion and had planned this little speech in advance!  Fish House Punch is deliciously smooth and very potent.  It doesn't take much to warm you up from the inside out!  Besides a liter bottle of club soda and a few ounces of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and gomme syrup it is made up of peach brandy, cognac, and dark rum.  It didn't take long for the party to really get rocking. 


Before we knew it, it was almost 11:00 pm and we needed to get home and get to bed.  I had to be at work by 7:00 am the next morning.  While driving to work Friday morning I wondered how I can spend eight hours at work and it seems like forever; but eight hours having fun flies by in an instant.  Friday morning my boss asked me if I had a nice visit.  Yes I did - if only it hadn't been such a short visit, it would have been perfect.  But, I've learned to take each moment and enjoy every minute of every hour, for each day is a true blessing.  It was wonderful to see my older sister.  My son, Steve, lives in South Dakota and it was great to hear his aunt and also her friends (they know Steve, too) talk about him and hear how he is doing from someone else's perspective besides his.  Though, his conversations with me seem to go about the same as what they had to say.  He really does love his job and is "living the dream" in the wild-wild west.


Deb and friends have arrived in New York City and are continuing their celebration and doing some sight-seeing before the show.  Getting to show at Westminster is an honor.  Taking home a ribbon or two would be sweet!