We celebrated the Mexican Day of the Dead,  This way we don't  have to  compete with all the Halloween parties at this time of year.  Anyway, part of the celebration is having an altar called an "ofrenda", where you place photos or remembrances of loved ones who are no longer with us.  We also burned incense call "kopal", which smells a bit like charcoal (it's resin based).  Although we've been having the party for 4 - 5 years, this is the first time we've actually gone to the trouble of observing it with more of the traditional rituals (mind you, neither of us are Mexican, but Nora really likes Latin culture).  We invited friends to bring their objects to place on the altar while we celebrated Life and their memories. 

 

We're not certain, but we may've had another ADC from Max on Friday, when Nora found one of his hairs on her clothing she doesn't believe had been there when she left the house.  Of course, with as much cat hair as there is in our house, it's easy to discount it, but we choose to believe he was letting us know he was thinking of us.

 

Anyway, we put Max's photo, along with the whisker he left behind for us, plus the hair, on the altar.  Next to it, Nora put one of his catnip toys.  I felt bad that I hadn't thought of anything to place there (completely forgetting how much he loved catnip), but I did remember that he loved to play with tracing paper crumpled up.  So I put a ball of paper on the altar next to his picture.  He had so much fun with those that he would yelp like he was in pain.  Weird animal.  I miss him so much.

 

Other items on the altar included pictures of other people's cats, loved ones relatives, dog tags from a brother lost in the first Gulf War, a leather tankard a departed person had made by hand, and a favorite candy bar of Nora and her sisters' mom.  It was a very.... healing, very nice event.  I look forward to doing this each year from now on, and hopefully more people will participate next time.

By the way, We had a chiminea (small clay, semi-portable fireplace) on our patio, so guests could step outside and enjoy the fire.  Mooch showed up and gots lots of attention and treats from people's plates.  He really charmed them.  While no one offered to adopt him, maybe someone will mention him to someone who'd like to adopt a cat. 

Meanwhile, I've sent off for a certificate for a cheaper spay for the little girl.  So her day is coming relatively soon, although we still don't have a place to park her for a week after surgery, yet.