Cup of Joe - February 8, 2026

Super Liminal: As in get-a-life or what have you been doing in that endless time gap between the NFL Conference Championships and the Super Bowl? It’s okay to admit you’ve been studying Bad Bunny’s lyrics. Stretching your quads is always good before a big game. You’ll be reaching for a chip to dip and you don’t want to risk a 1st half injury. Or do you? What’s a Seahawk anyway? An Osprey - large fish-eating raptor. And, if you are just in it for the commercials, fair enough, then the time between a Budweiser ad and a new Doritos is indeed liminal time. Use it well. Listen to Bad Bunny sing: I don’t know why I’m like this. Do you?

3 minutes: We are given the gift of time and some of us forget that and waste a few minutes or years. I was confronted with the gift of 3 minutes on E. Ellsworth approaching Santa Fe on a car parked/snow packed Wednesday morning - trash day. I couldn’t get around and no use trying to turn back to one way S. 4th Street. The sanitation guys hustled the carts over snow and ice. Oh, to be young again! It took about 3 minutes. Seemed like nothing. I thought I was in a hurry. Not. I came away with a renewed appreciation for people who work hard, people who help maintain this city, especially on frozen days like that. 

Brine: So, even when the streets are pre-treated they can mush into a temporary mess as you turn the corner onto a side street in Salina. Planning and pre-treating are a smart part of life. It should be relatively easy to navigate one-pass snow plowed streets. But, it’s not. Life in winter can be slippery. It’s the planning ahead that I like in city and life planning. What comes next? What should we be planning for? What salt brine do you use in your life in anticipation of coming relationship or work winter storms? There are things insurance may not cover. You don’t want your family to swerve into a guardrail or to accidentally slide into the ditch. Be ready. Pre-treat your days with care and love. And, watch those curves and turns. 

Hype: Ok, if everything is amazing and over-hyped beyond reality and possibility, doesn’t that sorta rub the shine off of almost everything? Not just talking about the Super Bowl, which is merely super, even if the game is competitive and the announcers occasionally shut up. Heard a commercial for the Burlington Store. It’s a positive for the local economy. They used the magic action word ‘grab’, which is cool, I guess. It’s not just Burlington. Buy a coat and wake up happy? Warm? Buy one of everything and feel content? Go for it! Maybe, this is the one. Grab it soon while you have a chance. 

Funeral Salad: When the text comes in that the church needs salads, sides and desserts for a funeral on Tuesday, someone is going to bring an actual funeral salad. Sure, there will be variations on 3 beans, jello, pasta and broccoli. But, to my surprise there is an actual recipe for funeral salad. No, it isn’t a miracle salad that transforms the event. Don’t serve this at a birthday or family reunion. I saw a recipe for Mom’s Funeral Salad. Was it served at Mom’s funeral? There are other names for the funeral salad, and of course variations, but pineapples are usually involved, as is pudding mix and sometimes mini-marshmallows are carefully folded in. Sound familiar?