A New Dawn

My birthday began this year with a beautiful sunrise that became an omen for the day. With the call of a new morning, the Chicago skyline emerged, at first unnoticeable, but then more apparent as the softness of the clouds across lake Michigan brought to evidence the rigid structures of men.

Later that day, I met Suhail, Evgeni and their families for dinner. It had been a while since I last saw them all. Now, Noor is a 1st grader, Deni and Nadine are 4 years old, and little Eli is a strong 18 months toddler. Their personalities and temperaments come to surface as they keep themselves busy with games while the grown ups talk, eat, laugh, but still watch them with the corner of our eyes play. It is hard to believe that Rita and I will be joining the club of parenthood this year.


The journey as been good so far, and I am blessed for having crossed paths with these two extraordinary friends ...and dads.

New Year's in Chicago

This New Year we had the fortune of connecting with my sister Nancy and her lovely family in Chicago. Here is Josue, with his sleek hat in a striking pose. On the background one can see the ornate ceiling of the Shed Aquarium. I gave my camera to Josue. He shot a few pictures here and there. When he came back, we previewed the pictures together and found this candid shot of a mother with her two kids. "Did you ask to pose this family for you", I asked Josue. "Yeah", he replied in his usual debonair tone. As we continued our tour of the galleries, I noticed some familiar faces. In front of me, was a poster of the family that was perfectly framed by Josue with the camera...the poster was advertising a picture service for the patrons of the Shed. Josue's photographic skills sure fooled me.
From left to right: Nancy Sr., Nancy Jr. Rita, Sofia, and inside Rita's jacket baby Lucia.
Here are the Reed-Maldonado's posing in front of a gorgeous mosaic at Marshall Fields, where we had lunch at the Walnut Room.
Josue found a lovely young lady with whom to practice some waltz steps...

Bollito

Bollito is the big brother in this family. When we first got the cats we would often find him cleaning Cookie and recently I saw him grooming Caramelo. It's true that he can be a little impatient and pushes the others out of the way, but what big brother doesn't. We fully expect him to be this way with the baby too. This is where he was last night as we caught up on the last Project Runway.

Recalling Warmth

We're here warm in our house, but snowbound today... and it's great. So far it has snowed at least 18 inches. And we have spent the day wrapping gifts, walking the dog, making pizza and bread, playing music and just enjoying our home.

I thought today was perfect for posting a few pictures of our adventures last month in Puerto Rico. When we left it was fall, when we came back it was winter.

Day 1, we arrived.

Day 2, a visit to the rain forest. It was truly magnificent.

Day 2, in the afternoon. We went to San Juan and toured the forts.

Day 3, we enjoyed the pool and the beach. Juan got a little homework done (it was unavoidable) and we iguana watched.

Day 4, the island of Culebra. To get there we had to take a ferry ride (about an hour and a half away). Once there we walked about 20 minutes and got to a pretty deserted beach with a coral reef. We did a little snorkeling and a lot of laying down.

Day 5. Resting. We spent the whole day resting, it was wonderful.

Day 6, we met up with Creation, who we met the night before. He made us this really beautiful sculpture out of a coconut. It's for the babe.

Then we went back into San Juan for a little more touring.

and then we came home.

Meanwhile, the snow just keeps falling, doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon. I think our car might disappear soon.

Enjoy warmth wherever you can find it.

Postcard from Puerto Rico

more when we get home.

Garden Update

I've been meaning to write this post for some time to wrap up what happened in the garden this year. So, here are some pictures.

Here are the sum of the black beans:

This is one of about 15 tomatoes--picked before the other garden creatures could get to it. (PS. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago when the baby was the size of a large heirloom tomato, according to babycenter.com. They say she's the size of a spaghetti squash now.)

Thank goodness for all the local farmers around keeping us fed!

She's... Under my skin

That's right, it's a girl! She now has a proper pronoun, no longer an "it". And boy, is she cute or what? I mean, look at these pictures.

For a week I've had the song, I've got you, under my skin, in my head. I heard it in a Starbucks the other day and I just thought it was the perfect song to sing to the wee one, except I don't know the words. So I had to download it. Except, I thought I downloaded the Frank Sinatra version and actually got the Franki Valli and the Four Seasons version. haha. oops. poor baby.