long island for a year

Cedar Beach is a very nice place by the Sound, in Mount Sinai Harbor. Lot of pebbles, clear water, relaxed atmosphere and...not too far from our house.

Smith Point is one of the closest beaches for us, but we always have to keep an eye on kids, because waves are unpredictable. Last week-end the beach was closed, because Hurricane Bill was reaching this part of the country, not really causing winds or thunderstorms, but higher waves than usual. Well, it might not have been Surfers Paradise but it was impressive: waves rolling like cannoli and then sucking part of the beach away - I don't know if we can talk of inches of sand missing from Fire Island but you could feel the power of those waves just looking at them.

...cause we found a very good place where to eat ice-cream. It may sond funny to you, but it is a chain called Ralph's famous italian ices. Well, let's forget about gelato for a second and think more about a very thick, tasty and creamy crushed-ice dessert. It is GOOD and I definitely like the idea that this has my husband's name and it was founded by a southern italian ice-cream man: a perfect mixture of german reliability and italian foodability -neologism?here creating new words is a favourite past-time. The above mentioned parlor has an own version of the well known Starbucks Frappuccino: it's called Ralphaccino. Would it be cheap fun?Maybe.

That's our kitchen. Welcome back in the '70ies; ok, it's a bit old fashion and the toaster isn't really working, but there are basic features. This evening we were having cod on brown rice and vegetables. Sorry I didn't make any pictures, it went too fast down our tummies...

This is me and Carlotta, getting aquainted to our american way of life: eating cereals and bagels...checking our e-mails... We'll be living for the next two months in an apartment building at the laboratory where R. is going to work. There is definitely enough room, but we seem to need more than that: a car, a kindergarden place, some streets where we can WALK and small things we might NOT find in the Land of Plenty.

After an 8,5 hrs flight with our sweet kids, me and Ralph are very tired. This was our first long flight with both monsters and it was ok. What would you expect from a three year old girl and a six month old baby being "imprisoned" on an aeroplane seat for such a long time? We had brought toys and snacks and who knows what else - Mary Poppins would have been envious of my diaper-bag!!! Anyway, we made it and it was not too bad. Meals were probably the messiest moment: four people and three seats, three unplanned diaper changes, an undesired wet t-shirt meant we returned our empty trays after an hour or so. We landed safely at JFK, on Long Island, with wonderful weather and the most beautiful sight on New York; waited to get our rental car - another minus in the whole organization, getting at first one car with a trunk that wasn't big enough for 2 suitcases - and talking about a one year stay we were very brave!!! Jet-leg wasn't a big problem, t...

DER BÄR

BERLINALE Mhhh...ich habe in den letzten Jahren so wenig im Kino gesessen, dass ich diesen Namen nicht laut sagen sollte, aber: durch dieses Filmfestival, das wahrscheinlich weniger hip als Cannes oder Venedig ist und trotzdem interessant, könnte ich eine alte Freundin aus Italien wieder treffen. Die Welt ist klein. (Und der Sommer sehr kurz)

ON THE ROAD to long island

Wir fangen heute mit einem Countdown. Und mit einer Liste. Ich werde also in den nächsten 10 Tagen eine Liste der Sachen machen, die mir in Berlin gefallen. SCHREBERGÄRTEN Als ich vor sechs Jahren nach Berlin kam, war ich oft unterwegs mit der S7, die in Richtung Westen fährt. Es war der Winter 2002-2003. Reden wir nicht von den überraschend püntliche Zügen - als Italienerin fand ich das toll - sondern von der Landschaft, die sich entlang der S-Bahn Linie enfaltete. Kleine Stücke Land, getrennt von dem Rest der Stadt, Antenne auf Dächer... Schockiert sagte ich meinem Freund "Also, hier gibt es aus solche Slums, aber die sind viel ordentlicher als in Italien". R. fragte, was für Slums ich meinte. Ja, es war Winter, also es gab keine Blume und keine Früchte auf den Bäumen...und die Weite hat auch nicht geholfen. Nun, ich hätte es einfach nicht gedacht, dass man einen Garten getrennt vom Haus haben könnte. Inzwischen habe ich ein paar gesehen - in Sommer - und die sind richtig w...