My husband tells me on the telephone, while I am 900-miles away in New Jersey, that hey, something got in the coop and got a bird. “Feathers everywhere,” he said. We were down to three guineas, from the original 12, plus two babies who hatched last July. (They’ve passed on with the help of cars [...]

When we went on vacation last month, the neighbor girl took care of the cat, the guineas and the garden. As I handed her instructions and the keys, I told her that in 25 years it will be her telling the just-graduated-from-high-school-kid how to feed the cat and water the ferns. She laughed. My wheels [...]

I am not sure why I am surprised to find Spanish language goods in local stores. Maybe because when I was growing up, the Spanish seemed insulated to the Miami and North Jersey zips where I lived out a bilingual life. I think it was two years ago that I got all sentimental in the [...]

A post for Sundays in My City, an Unknown Mami regular feature. Visit her site to see other lovely spots around the globe. I love it because it encourages me to show you the wonder of Boonie Life. There’s a park not far from our home. It is where Maria crawled around in the grass [...]

Do you know that all I want to do these days is sit near a lazy Tennessee creek with this borrowed Boxer-mix puppy? Is she not heaven? The creek is a few miles from us and runs through the front property of a friend’s house — same friend whose house was flooded in May when [...]

The idea for Los Pollitos Dicen, the line of Spanish baby tees I co-launched with a Cuban-American friend, came in 2004. We took off in 2005. The goal was to capture the color of our culture for the children of a new generation, a generation that would likely get less of the loving crazy Latinisms [...]

Miami was delicious. I was there to witness the unveiling of General Mills’ revamped Que Rica Vida site. It was awesome. General Mills comes off of this looking genius in the way it has smartly reached out in such a huge way to Latinos, Latino media and Latina/os who blog. Plus, my father just called [...]

A lot of people are sad and ticked the national media, and the country as a whole, doesn’t get the magnitude of what has happened here. Do you now know, I am curious? Did you see Anderson Cooper last week? Do you realize that an entire 52-county region flooded, that street after street after street [...]

Until this weekend, my spring had been enchanted. The dog and I have been strolling the woods for the necessary breaks, and though dreaded at the night hour, the early morning walks have given me a chance to watch the trees leaf and the wildflowers bloom. I have cursed the ticks, but have drunk in [...]

Maria asked me to read “Los Zapaticos de Rosa”…in English. “Can’t, Ma. It’s a poem. Have to read it in Spanish.” “But, then I can’t understand it!” “Look at the pictures and I will translate as we go.” “But, I can’t understand!” “Just listen to the rhythm and keep your ears open, you’ll get it.” [...]