Sandy, la gata bloguera (Sandy, the blogger cat(esse)

This is the first of Sandy's posts. We have agreed that we are sharing this blog, it is going to be written in English and in Spanish. We are going to make up some characters so neither Sandy nor me are real. Just for fun and entertainment.

Hola chicos y chicas (de todas las edades), antes de empezar mi blog voy a presentarme.

Me llamo Sandy. Tengo 13 años. Vivo con Matilda una señora simpática que me quiere mucho y me trata bien;  Aunque habla varios idiomas a mi nunca me entiende. 
Esta es la primera lección del uso de (me too) (me neither) (I do) y (I don't) cuando hablamos de gustos y preferencias.


Mi ama Matilda y yo tenemos poco en común.  Yo soy una gata, ella no.  Yo soy extremadamente guapa, ella no.  Ella es elegante, yo también. Ella es generosa, yo no.  Matilda es una mujer progresista y abierta de ideas, yo no.  No es materialista, yo sí.  Ella es espiritual, yo no.  Matilda es inteligente, yo más.  A ella le gusta el arte, a mí también.  Le encanta el cine, yo prefiero la tele.  Le gusta el cine europeo, yo prefiero los 'shows' ameericanos Oprah, doctor Phil etc. No le gusta hacer deporte, a mi tampoco.  Le gusta el tenis, a mi también.  No cocina bien, yo tampoco.  Lee libros yo prefiero revistas Cosmopolitan, Vogue eyc. Hay una cosa en la que coincidimos: las dos somos seguidoras del Barcelona.  En fin ... que somos muy diferentes y sin embargo nos llevamos bastante bien.

La casa donde vivo no es muy grande pero tiene un jardín bonito que es todo mío, es decir me pertenece.  Hay un par de árboles y bastantes plantas y flores.

Nuestra casa está en la parte alta de la ciudad.  Vivimos en una calle tranquila con vistas a la ciudad.  De noche vemos las estrellas arriba y las luces de la ciudad abajo.  Es una vista realmente hermosa.  Matilda y yo tenemos suerte de vivir aquí. Tenemos vecinos nuevos. Han llegado hace poco.

Bueno, no sé qué más puedo contar.  Por la foto podeis ver que soy una gata gordita, ya no tan joven  ... tengo mucho pelo de color melado (el color de la miel). Creo que en inglés soy un "ginger cat". Como todos los gatos soy independiente, egoista, perezosa, comilona y dormilona.  Mi actividad preferida es 'no hacer nada', o como muy bien describen dicen los italianos: me gusta il dolce far niente. La dolce vita.

Bueno, creo que para empezar es suficiente por hoy.

Hasta pronto,

               Sandy

me tratan bien = they treat me well

me pertenece = it belongs to me

contar = to tell

melado = honey colour

comilona = a good eater

dormilona = a sleepy head

il dolce far niente =  'the sweet doing nothing'

The real Sandy

Sandy did not arrive at our house in this box but she was a present, nevertheless. The best Christmas present ever. That was almost 14 years ago.  She is getting old but is still very beautiful.  She is a demanding creature and always expects 'the best'.  We do our best to comply.  I mean, why would you have a cat anyway? When she was younger she used to chase birds, mice and rabbits.  She stopped doing that and now, in her mature years, she has become more contemplative and to our surprise she has now decided to write a blog. I don't know what is she going to write about but I hope it is somehow interesting or at least entertaining.We will have fun in this household!

How do you start a blog?

How would you start a blog?

I would start like this:

"In a faraway place in the Southern Hemisphere, the name of which I do not care to recall, there lived not so long ago one of those 'nice' families who owned 'the most beautiful cat' that human eyes had ever beheld.  This marvel of Nature was known around the place as 'Sandy the Beautiful' .

She was known, admired and adored not only for her incomparable Beauty but also for her countless other qualities, to name a few: intelligence, intuition, class, glamour, wit, perseverance, imagination, an almost impossibly long tail, and a thoroughly impressive set of whiskers ..."

But ... starting a blog like this wouldn't be entirely original because I am plagiarising the most famous Spanish novelist, the one who wrote what is considered the first 'modern' novel of our time; do you know which novel I am referring to?

About this blog

I started this blog after attending a PF seminar for teachers of Spanish in Melbourne. I thought it would be good 1) to catch up with the times and 2) to improve my written English and Spanish. Later on I saw that there were too many blogs in the blog sphere and my contribution was far from remarkable. But I had fun writing it so I kept it going. Languages are my passion. I speak Spanish, Catalan, French and English well, I go by in Portuguese, I mumble some Italian but I understand it well, I have basic German from my university years. There are 34 posts I wrote between 2010 and 2011, none of them is serious. When the cat died the blog did too!



UPDATE 19-April-2012

This blog was my first attempt at blogging back in 2010. I wrote it in English and Spanish mostly as a writing exercise. Cat lovers may like it and people interested in Spanish language and culture may find something of interest here. It is light reading. The blog is now closed.

Sandy, the goddess - Sandy, la diosa 

Sandy passed away on 1 December 2011. Since then I have made several attempts to keep the blog going but I have been unable to do so.  Without her I lost my inspiration.  I can't see the point in continuing with Sandy's blog when she is no longer around. So this is the last post. The blog has 34 posts in all. You are welcome to read them.

 Perdimos a Sandy en diciembre del año pasado después de una breve enfermedad. Tenía 16 años. Con ella se han evaporado la inspiración y las ganas de escribir, así que lo mejor es cerrar el blog y cambiar de rumbo. Este es pues, el último post de El blog de Sandy que escribo. Quedan 34 posts del blog abiertos para quien quiera leerlos.