We’ve been gone. Oh, you noticed? That makes us happy. Our site has been down and having some technical difficulties for a couple of weeks. But we’re back and with a vengeance! You might notice some bumps and scrapes as we swing back into full gear, but our hearts and best intentions will still be there behind the glitches. In the meantime we leave you with these beautiful chuletas de cordero. Mmmm…
What’s Cookin’?
It’s About Their Needs, Not Yours
The house is quiet today. There is no “music” streaming – no, blasting – from some electronic device in my oldest’s room. There is no complaining about how “the twins ate all my cereal” Even her room is neat. Normally this would make me happy except… except…
We dropped her off at camp yesterday. It is her third time away. She doesn’t stay all summer, just a few, short weeks which seem interminable to me. My buddy is not here with me, my sidekick who is my size. The first baby. She looked so pretty when I walked into the cabin. And as I looked around at her new cabin mates for the first time I expected to see little faces of little girls, but there was something different about them this year. They were nameless to me, but these weren’t the faces of “little girls” anymore. These girls looked different. Young and pretty but in a “big girl” kind of way. It surprised me, but I don’t know why. My “baby” doesn’t look that much like a baby anymore, either, but I see the toddler in her still. I know what a “Mommy I’m a little nervous” feeling looks like on her, but other people don’t. They see a beautiful, petite girl with olive skin and dark hair and eyes. I still see her at 20 inches and 8 pounds.
So “Daddy” and I hugged and kissed her goodbye and stepped back. And then I went to give her a second big hug and she said “Mommy, don’t. I will start to feel homesick and cry.” Her eyes teared up a little bit, and she put on her glasses. And instead of going in for the second hug, which I realized at that moment was really for ME, I smiled and stopped. I realized that the first big hug and kiss was enough for her, and that she was OK. I realized that I was the one that needed a second hug, and to give it to her and to unbalance her would be unfair. And I remembered when she started pre-school and the teachers all said, if she turns around to play with her friends and isn’t crying or running to you, just walk away. She will be OK.
So Daddy and I turned to leave, and as I looked back she and her friend walked into the cabin.
Maleficent: My First Witch
The first Disney animated movie I ever saw in a theater was Sleeping Beauty (or La Bella Durmiente). I remember it through a haze, but I remember it nonetheless. I was so young, probably about 8 years old. And here is the interesting thing. I saw the movie in Spanish, because I saw it at one of the beautiful teatros on La Gran Vía in Madrid.
Three things stood out for me and captured my imagination about this movie. The first two, in reverse order, were the three fairies (Flora, Fauna and Merriweather – Flora, Fauna y Primavera in España), and the music. The score, of course, was a variation Tchaikovsky’s ballet, yet having heard it in the movie first I will always love it in a special way. A good score is an uber important component of a movie. Is it possible to beat Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky? It would certainly be difficult. After seeing this movie, my Tía Mar bought me a 45 (that’s a vinyl record for those of you who don’t know) with a book incorporated into the cover, which only had Sleeping Beauty’s theme music and the lyrics to it in Spanish. I listened to it a MILLION times and still remember the words by heart…
¨Eres tú mi príncipe azul que yo soñé, Eres tú tus ojos me vieron con ternuras de amor, y al mirarme así el fuego encendió mi corazón, y mi ensoñación se hará realidad, y te adoraré como aconteció en mi sueño ideal.¨
I learned two big words in these lyrics, “ensoñación” and “aconteció”. I even looked them up in my father’s Spanish-English dictionary. If anyone could ever claim that watching movies is fruitless is wrong. From this Disney classic I learned a greater appreciation of classical music and improved my vocabulary. And this does not even include the lessons learned from the story itself.
But what was the first thing that stuck me so intensely about this movie? Maleficent! ¡Maléfica! She was so bad, so evil, so cold… and the moment you saw her you knew it. She was shapely yet shapeless in her evil – long, lean and horned! She was green* and yet possessed what should have been the classic features of beauty personified, and yet her ugly nature shone through. She was complex, angry. paranoid and insecure. And her name was, no is, the best name for a witch of all time. “Maleficent” – desirous of or causing evil. None of Disney’s other witches can touch her. She is aloof, poised and composed. And her demise, at the hands of the Prince in her form of a dragon… well that just says it all, doesn’t it.
I am excited to see the new Disney adaptation of this old witch.
Recently Walt Disney Studios announced that March 14, 2014 will be the US release date for Maleficent. This new adaptation of the story will star Angelina Jolie as the witch! The film will be live-action and is said to explore:
“…the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent and what led her to curse Princess Aurora in Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Leading a team of visionary filmmakers known for creating and transporting audiences to new and exciting worlds, Academy Award®-winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Avatar, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful) will direct with a script by Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Alice in Wonderland) Maleficent is produced by Joe Roth (Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful).”
This sounds like an all star team direction and production team for certain. I am looking forward to seeing it, although March 2014 seems so far away. It will be fun, though, to watch and listen for the trailers, interviews and sound bytes as time passes. (I’ll do my best to bring them to you along the way.)
And so, I wait to see if Angelina Jolie as Maleficent will spark my daughters’ imaginations in the future, as much as the animated Maléfica did to mine in the past.
*It’s not easy being green!
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I was not compensated in any way for writing this post. It is just a happy childhood memory shared, as sparked by an announcement.
El Día E is for Me and You
What is ¨El Día E¨? El Día E is a celebration of the Spanish language, which started in 2009. It was created and organized by the venerable Instituto Cervantes (http://www.cervantes.es/default.htm) , an organization developed by the Spanish government in 1991 to promote the Spanish language, and the varied and beautiful cultures of the world’s Spanish-speaking countries, around the world. It is an organization created for all lovers of Spanish, whether they are Spanish or not. It welcomes people who wish to learn the language or perfect it, and for countless individuals it has provided them with a new understanding of just how beautiful and diverse it is. According to the website for El Día E in NYC (http://www.eldiaenyc.org/home.html), there are currently 73 outposts of the Instituto Cervantes worldwide, and growing.
Why Spanish? For me personally that is an easy question. It is the language of my ancestors. It is the language in which I speak to my family. It is ancient. It is evolving. It is beautiful. Language grows and changes. Languages evolve. All languages evolve. In our ever shrinking world it is easy to note that languages are blending, as well. Words from one language are adopted into the common parlance of others, and just as the world’s cultural boundaries are softening and vibrating and occasionally spring leaks, so do those of language. Is there one language that is more beautiful than others? That depends on the nationality of the person you ask, doesn’t it? I don’t think there is. I suppose it depends on what your ear is accustomed to hearing or what might seem melodious to you. I am not chauvinistic about my love of Spanish. For me it is simply evocative of home, and it is beautiful.
This June 23, the 4th annual Día E will be celebrated around the world. The day on which it falls is determined by the summer solstice. The Saturday closest to it is the day on which it is celebrated. Why not? The longest day for one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. More than 495 million people speak it worldwide. (Would you like to see more staggering statistics? Visit http://www.eldiae.es/la-situacion-del-espanol/) That is a lot to celebrate! What it IS NOT is a celebration for Spaniards, or Mexicans, or any specific nationality or ethnicity. What it IS is a celebration for everyone from every country and ethnicity and culture, to learn and explore the Spanish language and ALL its beautiful cultures.
Here in New York City it is going to be a tremendous day! There will be live performances, tastings, dance workshops, Spanish workshops, raffles and more, organized around a street fair at 49th Street between Third and Second Avenues, from 11AM to 4PM. There will be authors, musicians and tons of activities for people of all ages. It will be a wonderful experience for kids and adults alike. Don’t be shy about coming out to this one, or the one nearest to you. As they say on the Día E site, it will be celebrated from Sidney, Australia to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (http://www.eldiae.es/el-dia-e/) You don’t need to know Spanish to go. All you need is the desire to have fun, eat great food and become a joyful part of the world around you. Locate your local Instituto Cervantes here (http://www.eldiae.es/actividades-en-los-centros-2/) and find out what they have in store for you.
See you there!
Ready New York Giveaway
In case you missed it in my post last week Ready New York, thanks to the New York City Office of Emergency Management and the Ad Council, Mommylogue is able to host a worthwhile giveaway of a great “Go Bag“. We have already had a few entries, but I thought you might like to see what the prize actually looks like.
This sturdy backpack comes with useful items which would come in handy in the case of an emergency or evacuation. If you would like to participate in the giveaway, all you need to do is:
- Visit the Ready New York Hurricane guide and write a comment below letting me know something you learned. Please also email me at Maria@mommylogue.com with your comment. All comments must be left by June 22, 2011 at 11:59PM EST to be eligible for inclusion. Only US Residents may participate. Mommylogue will choose a winner at random using Random.org (http://www.random.org/). The winner will be announced at the end of this post.
- For a second chance to win, tweet “Hurricane season 2012 is underway. How prepared are you? http://www.mommylogue.com/2012/06/an-irene-awakening/ #ReadyNewYork #giveaway“. Then send me the URL of your tweet (click the tweet’s timestamp to get it) to Maria@mommylogue.com. Please remember to send me that email to confirm your second chance at winning.
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The “Ready New York Go Bag” prize and its contents are provided by the Ad Council and the New York Office of Emergency Management. This post is part of a campaign with the Ad Council and the New York Office of Emergency Management. I received a Go Bag in exchange for writing this post. However, all the opinions, photos and experiences expressed are my own. The Ad Council and OEM adhere to the FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials.
Creepy Carnivals
Summer is upon us and you know what that means boys and girls. It means scary, dangerous, parking lot carnivals. You know – the kind kids especially love.
Not all carnivals are creepy, but we’ve all been to one that was. The one where giant black electrical cables run out from under the rides across the lanes where people walk, covered by black and yellow “safety mats” which you have tripped over many times. The one where the port-o-potties are lined up along the outer ring, beckoning your kids to “take care of business” in the most awful way possible. Or, better yet, the one with the “fancy” port-o-potties/trailers where a mysterious liquidy substance leaks from the bottom thereby making you BEG your children not to walk on the “wet stuff”. The one where you were forced to buy a minimum number of tickets that will never match up to the number of rides your children will go on, forcing you to either (a.) disappoint one of your children by making him/her sit out a ride, (b.) buy more tickets so one of your kids don’t have to be disappointed, or (c.) bring a pocket full of tickets home which you will find four months from now and make you say to yourself “boy was I a sucker.”
This particular carnival was the perfect storm of creepy. All it was missing was a scary clown. The employees were miserable, and looked and acted miserable. They could not be bothered to stand at the entrance to each ride, groaning each time they had to stand up to open a gate and let kids on or off. Heaven forbid you asked them a question, each answer was prefaced by a deep sigh and a muttered response that you had to make them repeat three times since the first two were inaudible. They never checked my kids’ heights unless I asked them to check it. (Let me tell you, there is a BIG difference between 44″ and 48″ and if you are a professional carnival ride operator and this has to be pointed out to you, well Mr. company owner, you better hope your insurance policy is up to date.) You’d think in this day and age for liability sake alone they would do it. Most of the cables didn’t even have the rubber mat over them, and even my nimble kids were tripping over them. The port-o-potties… there were none! (That might have been a blessing, come to think of it.) And on the pirate-boat-ride-from-hell the edges of the seats were bent out of shape and so sharp that I actually ripped my shirt. And the fish tank had the least fish to water ratio I have ever seen. I can’t believe the fish actually survived in that tank.
There were two saving graces. The first a lovely woman with almost no teeth (reinforcing my point about low pay) who operated the “fun house” and actually made sure the kids went through it safely. The second was the lady who worked at the win-a-fish game who treated my girls very kindly and mentioned that she had four daughters of her own. I reflected on these two women yesterday evening and thought about how hard life must be when you can’t afford to replace front teeth, or you have to leave your four daughters behind to hand broken beach buckets full of ping pong balls to other people’s kids so they can win a crappy fish which won’t last a week. And yet these two women, who were the only carnival employees who were working like they actually cared about their jobs, showed pride in what they did. They are noble people in my eyes.

Cables ran all over the walkways and around the rides where the children mounted and dismounted them.
And so, with all that said, here are my two cents on how to attend one of these events with your kids, as safely as possible:
- Watch out for automatic safety bars on rides. Give them a lot of clearance on their way up or down. The one on the scary pirate boat ride snapped up with such force at the end of the ride that, had it not been for the 2 inches between it and my daughter’s face, it would have easily broken her jaw.
- Check the ride height requirements for yourself. Don’t rely on the workers to tell you whether it is safe for your child to ride it.
- Look at the faces of the riders who have been on the ride before you. If the majority don’t look like they enjoyed it, chances are your kids won’t either.
- Look where you walk so you don’t crack your head open on the pavement in a moment of distraction.
- Don’t stand next to speakers, generators or blowers.
- Stay hydrated particularly if it is hot out.
- If you want to eat something while you are there, consider whether the food operator is the same as the carnival operator. If they are one and the same, and the carnival is not clean and safe, walk away and get food elsewhere.
- Check out the rides before you buy tickets. If not you may realize too late that your youngest kids won’t be able to ride, and chances are there are no refunds.
- If you aren’t sure they place is safe, get out of there and take your kids somewhere else. It’s hard, I know, but better safe than sorry.
And if you are a member of an organization planning to host a carnival, please make sure to do some due diligence on the companies you are considering to run the event for you. The last thing a well meaning, hard working, concerned and caring not-for-profit company (whose business it is to take care of others) needs is a tragedy on its hands.
Have you ever been to a creepy summer carnival?
Ready New York: An Irene Awakening
We were all excited about our second trip to the Outer Banks. As we entered Cape Hatteras the sun was shining, but not as brightly as I had remembered from our previous trip in 2009. It was a portent of things to come. As the week started we began to hear rumblings of a storm in the Caribbean. Just something to keep our eyes on, according to the Weather Channel. But with each day that passed, the storm intensified until it became something nameable. Irene. It seemed impossible that the storm would head toward the East coast, at least to me. But head for the East coast it did and on August 23rd, 2011, as we were riding the ferry to Ocracoke Island, I received a phone call from my Dad. “I just heard they issued a mandatory evacuation of the Outer Banks.” “Ha ha,” I replied. But he wasn’t kidding.
Lunch was a little unsettling that day. All eyes were glued on the news, and I was feeling a little lightheaded. I thought it was a little delayed reaction to the ferry ride when I felt the deck where we were sitting move. Nope. It was an earthquake. It was too much for me to handle. First a hurricane, then an earthquake. I wanted to go home… but I was scared of that, too. We returned to Avon a little earlier than we’d planned, not wanting to stick around to get caught in a crush of people wanting to ferry out a bit early. Ocracoke’s mandatory evacuation was to take place one day earlier than the rest of the Outer Banks.
We spent our last day on Hatteras trying to forget what was coming. And so were all the locals, it seemed. Even our usual kayak rental place had written a request to please refrain from talking about the hurricane. It was ruining everyone’s summer.
We left the morning of August 25. My husband and I woke up at 5AM to pack the car, and we were all out the door by 6:15AM. The roads were lonely still out on Hatteras, with one care heading South for every 10 heading North.

Kitty Hawk/Nags Head, August 25, 2011 ~ 7:15AM
Traffic became a little heavier by the time we got to Nags Head. Road workers and emergency crews were out in force by 7:00AM to direct traffic off the island. All the stop lights were set to flashing yellow and police officers waved cars through to avoid congestion on the bridge out. I was both relieved and sad to leave. I was sad for a lost, very much anticipated, vacation. And I was sad for what might happen to the people who remained. We met many locals who said they would stay and even had their own hurricane rituals. They knew how to board up, they knew where to meet up, and it seemed that as much alcohol was being sold as water.
Not wanting to completely disrupt our vacation, we stopped for an overnight in Washington D.C. The capital was eerily quiet, though life went on. The oddest and most beautiful thing about it was the sky that evening of August 25. It was a strange, purple hue – beautiful and daunting.
We were home on the 26th. We bought water and toilet paper along the road home, stocking up just in case. We charged our cell phones and laptops, and I took my daughters downstairs, away from the roof, to sleep. It was a loud evening, but gratefully the storm was not as strong as had been expected and feared. But even with the diminished power, the damage was tremendous. In our neighborhood just north of New York City we lost a few trees, and our sewer just damaged.
But the damage in the Bronx where my parents lived was incredible. The Bronx! In a million years I would have never expected it to take the hit it did. New York City? Affected by weather? That kind of thing happens in Long Island, or Westchester, or Rockland. But not the city!
Not so. Century old trees were uprooted everywhere. It was impossible to drive down the streets. And those that didn’t fall during the storm did the eeriest thing. They fell AFTER the storm, taking with them power lines and light posts.
Hurricane Irene taught us an important lesson. It is important to be prepared for an emergency. The next week my husband and I went out and purchased a backup generator for our property and hired an arborist to inspect the trees on our property. We prepared an area in our home where we keep emergency supplies for good measure, purchased a hand crank radio and charging station, and we take routine good hard looks at our home and property to make sure it can withstand the worst. Since the turn of the millennium, two events have shaped my outlook on the importance of emergency preparedness. I don’t need to name them. You know what they are.
Are you prepared?
The 2012 hurricane season is beginning. It seems crazy to think about it now, in June. And yet it is important to be prepared. One resource you can use to prepare is New York Office of Emergency Management’s (OEM) guide, Ready New York: Hurricanes and New York City. It was eye opening for me as a New Yorker to see how much damage a tropical storm or hurricane was able to do to the City. It was just as incredible to see it happen. The guide includes general tips on how to prepare for an emergency, instructions on how to develop a hurricane disaster plan and secure your home, and a map of New York City hurricane evacuation zones.
Give Away
If you are the “ready for action” type, or even if you aren’t, here’s a great opportunity for you to start preparing. Enter to win your very own “Ready New York Go Bag“. The Go Bag includes the bag itself, a pocket radio, flashlight, first aid kit, batteries, worker’s gloves, light sticks, an emergency blanket, and more! All you need to do is:
- Check out the Ready New York Hurricane guide and leave a comment telling me something you learned in the comments field below. Then email me at Maria@mommylogue.com with your comment. All comments must be left by June 22, 2011 at 11:59PM EST to be eligible for inclusion. The giveaway is open to US Residents only. A winner will be chosen at random using Random.org (http://www.random.org/), and will be announced at the end of this post.
- For an additional chance to win, tweet “Hurricane season 2012 is underway. How prepared are you? http://www.mommylogue.com/2012/06/an-irene-awakening/ #ReadyNewYork #giveaway“. Then send me the URL of your tweet (click the tweet’s timestamp to get it) to Maria@mommylogue.com.
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The “Ready New York Go Bag” prize and its contents are provided by the Ad Council and the New York Office of Emergency Management. This post is part of a campaign with the Ad Council and the New York Office of Emergency Management. I received a Go Bag in exchange for writing this post. However, all the opinions, photos and experiences expressed are my own. The Ad Council and OEM adhere to the FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials.
La Mer
Today, by accident, I happened upon a link to a Young People’s Concert which aired on December 1, 1961. Of course, the presenter, the lecturer, was Leonard Bernstein. Leonard Bernstein was ahead of his time, although you could make the argument that promoting the study and love of music is not a modern concept. Yet the way he embraced the technology of his time, and his conviction in promoting his cause by using one of the greatest orchestras in the world, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, is remarkable. I am a big fan of the Young People’s Concerts, but I’ll leave that for a later post.
The fact, though, that Bernstein chose “La Mer” as the jumping point for his lecture on Impressionism thrills me. What a combination of two things I love so much.
La Mer has a special place in my heart. It ties many beautiful memories of my youth together. I began to love Debussy around my Freshman year of High School. (I was not your typical high school student, that’s for sure.) I credit my piano teacher, Doña Sonia Vargas, with that. She, too, holds a very special place in my heart. But curiously it was my Junior year physics teacher, Fr. Timothy Donohue, who introduced me to La Mer. One day my friend Meg and I were hanging around the physics lab at lunch time (I told you I wasn’t your typical high school student) when the subject of “classical” music came up. We asked Fr. Tim if he liked it. He responded that he was not terribly familiar with it, but that he recalled once hearing a piece called “La Mer” which he had liked. (Yes, yes, I know La Mer is not a “classical” piece, but I am writing in laymen’s terms here.) Naturally Meg and I went on a search for the music, and I was hooked right away. I was, in fact, so enamored with the piece that I purchased a cassette – yes a cassette – of it. I listened to it night after night on my Walkman – yes a Walkman – with the lights off, completely depriving all my senses other than my sense of hearing, absorbing the music. It was transfixing to the 17 year old version of me.
I loved the music so much that I brought the cassette with me on my Senior year trip to France. I remember sitting quietly on the edge of the tub in the bathroom of my room in the Hotel Terminus in Caen the night before visiting Mont St. Michel, and listening to it while my friends chattered away in the room. I was trying to steal a moment of privacy during a very fun and decidedly “unprivate” trip so that I could prepare myself musically for what I was about to see the next day. I wasn’t wearing my headphones as the coach drove up the causeway before Mont St. Michel the next morning, but La Mer played like a soundtrack in my brain as the looming medieval structure grew larger and larger before me. If I ever return I will do everything in my power to have the music present and playing as it comes into view.
If you have never heard it before, I urge you to take nine minutes out of your day to listen to the first movement. You can do it here:
The version of La Mer I first listened to was also conducted by Herbert von Karajan. And if you love it so much you want to hear more, watch Leonard Bernstein conduct the third movement below. The quality of the recording is not great, but if you watch him conduct it, it will give you a sense of how much he loved it. And maybe you will spring a tear as I always do beginning at minute 7:30 (or especially at minute 8:10 of the first movement).
Thank you, Fr. Tim, for introducing me to La Mer at such an important time in my life. Perhaps you have met Claude Debussy already. Say hello for me. Rest in Peace.