It starts.Amy and my mom and I are leaving today for Miami. "I always make a bread pudding for Fernando." Fernando is her BIG brother. He's going to be 96 this week. So Amy and I try to dissuade her, in this time of travel restrictions, from bringing the 2 lb. bread pudding for Fernando. But she is undeterred. She ...
Archives for May 2007
Family Tree
I need to warn you that I'm feeling all nostalgic and Cuban this week. Preparing to leave on Wednesday for Miami. There are certain things that are on my mind now that I'd like to share. This is one of them. My grandmother had a "brag book" which included all her 20 grandchildren. One of my aunts brought it from Cuba and gave ...
Cuban Americans. versions 2.0 and 3.0
Mother's Day at Alina's house. I'll save you the trouble of counting. There are nineteen people in this picture. My big, fat Cuban-American nieces and nephews, and grand-nieces and grand-nephews (phew).The oldest (my mom) in the center, is ninety-three. The youngest on her lap, is three months old.Eleven out of sixteen cousins ranging in ages from ...
Labor Day
Even though she is 93, my mom can still describe, in great detail, (as most mothers probably can) exactly how many hours she labored with each one of us.Serious mom memories.I'll just hit the highlights, but here's what I remember (vividly): Amy - 36 hours (back labor). Adam - 18 hours. Lucy - 17 hours. Jonathan - scheduled ...
Leaving a Legacy
My mom taught me how to cook when I was about 8 years old. She taught me how to read a recipe, measure ingredients, grease a pan, boil water - stuff like that. As I got older, the process became a little more complicated. During the summers, my sisters, Miriam and Alina, and I would take turns cooking. We rotated between table setting, ...
Yes, but can we please see some credentials?
I run a state of the art Bed and Breakfast which is open 24-hours a day, year-round. I also provide these additional services . . . I am: A teacher.A nurse.A psychologist.A seamstress.A caterer.An event coordinator.A laundress.A chauffer.A moneylender. But they just call me . . . "Mom." =DHappy Mother's Day! ...
Right under my nose
Albert hasn't budged in the past 5 years. His brick-face is still intact and just as amazing today as the first time we saw it guarding the Mindstorms exhibit in Legoland. But, look at what has happened here. That is Lucy in 2002 and again just the other day, 2007. (It seems as if the first picture was "just the other day," too.) There ...
“Are you pondering what I’m pondering?”
Pinky: Gee, Brain, what are we going to do tonight? Brain: The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world! From left to right: The Cat Bastet, Nefret, and Poseidon. (we got them around the time we were studying ancient Egypt and mythology. =D) They are Bengals, which makes them super friendly and funny beings. They very ...
Apio Verde
Today is my sister's birthday. Hi, Alina! Happy Birthday! She shares this day with our cousin Ricardo, who still lives in Havana. Sometimes their birthdays coincided with Mother's Day and the frenzy of celebration was mind-boggling. In this picture, Alina and Ricardo get center stage, although being older, he was quick to understand and act ...
Worth a thousand words…
I don't have a picture to post today which kind of weirds me out. And I don't have wireless access, so I'm sitting in a public lobby typing away. And they have me on a 15 minute timer - can you believe it?? This is so not my life! Ah, but it is today and for the next couple of days. Let me paint a picture. The temperature is a balmy 80-ish. ...
