Sunny - Hi 68 Lo 47 for Baghdad, Iraq
Partly Cloudy - Hi 76 Lo 37 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Rainy - Hi 48 Lo 42 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: The Walls Came Down, The Call

The Call was a band that I was crazy about during my high school years. Along with U2, The Police, The Alarm, and many others that I have mentioned countless times. The Call was edgy and new. The Call was a political band that I forgave time and time again for their lyrics. I can't say that as a 17 year old this was a conscious effort... "oh that was a slap against President Reagan... I forgive you..." It was more about ignoring the slam... and just listening to the music. The Walls Came Down was so stinkin' danceable....

I was originally going to post a song by The Psychedelic Furs called President Gas because I thought I'd write about my thoughts on the 2008 election... but the song doesn't hold the same appeal it once did. As an adult...sometimes I just can't ignore the lyrics...

Ramble:

So I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We certainly did. Of course, Adriaan was missed and Michael's mother will really have a difficult time making it through the holidays. She has the support of her family.

I just bought Michael tickets to see the annual production of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol . Watching the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim is something he looks forward to every year, so I think he will love the stage production.

Also, we are going to make a trip up to Cleveland before Christmas... Why you ask? To see the house from A Christmas Story of course! As many times as we have traveled to Cleveland... it never occurred to us that the house that the movie was filmed in would actually be open to the public. So, I'm thinking we can make a trip up there to take a picture of Michael in front of the house w/ a Red Rider (either one we buy there or maybe we can borrow JoAnna's) and we can shop at the Arcade and at Tower City... make a nice little weekend of it...

Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

In searching for a myspace for The Call... I found The Call... but it's not the same band... not bad though... kinda liking them right now... The Call

Have a great week everyone!

A Needed Get Away, Part 6

We left Cleveland and headed home. About an hour south we wanted to make a stop at Grandpa's Cheesebarn.... yes.... Grandpa's Cheesebarn. This is a place I have seen for years as we drive up and down I-71... I've always been curious. Well, with Patricia, she was game... so we went. The downstairs is an icecream parlor and brick-a-brack shop. Upstairs (in the barn) is where the cheese is... Let me tell you... Grandpa had it going on.... canned fruit, preserves, jams, pickles, and cheese.... If you like cheese... this was an incredible place... The cheeses were unique and tasty... We had to buy some...

So, that ends our little road trip...

A Needed Get Away, Part 5

We woke up at our leisure the next morning and had breakfast in the dining room. Afterwards we took another stroll around the campus in the opposite direction and decided it was time to head into the city.

Patricia had not seen Cleveland in 37 years... it was time. We took Euclid all the way into town. One thing about Cleveland... the streets are horrid. You can not call them roads... maybe one large continuous pot hole... Anyway, it looks as though they are putting in a light rail down Euclid which made the drive awful... lots of orange barrels and driving on shoulders. Businesses must be taking a beating. The inability to get to the entrance of a building will definitely stop patronage.

As you get closer to the city, there is a section of town that looks deserted... an area where you don't walk alone at night... or during the day... Up on the right behind the orange barrels was an Econoline-- old rusted, beat up... a couple of police cars. Michael was driving and as we passed... it was apparent that this was a crime scene-- violence, serious assault, possible homicide? I don't know. I did not see anything in the Plain Dealer about it. The back of the van was open and a police officer was taking photos... not something you want to see everyday...

On over to Tower City... That whole area was also torn to bits... so it was quickly decided for us that shopping would not be on the agenda. I don't think Michael was real torn up over that... Instead, we made our way over towards Burke Lakefront Airport and the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Typically, Michael and I make the trek up to Cleveland every year to see the Cleveland Air Show, but this year we had not made any concrete plans until the last minute. We parked at Burke and walked back towards the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. There is a great little museum right on the lake-- it is a WWII era submarine called the USS Cod. If you are in the Cleveland area, this is a little gem of a museum. Over Labor Day Weekend (and I would imagine other holidays), they have folks dressed as WWII era sailors, there are folks camped out in tents and kids seem to really enjoy it.

We walked down to the George Voinovich Bicentennial Park. Because George has been doing a lot of crying of late... Michael wept a few tears on Mr. Voinovich's behalf. Why did they name this piece of earth after him??

A lot of folks were sitting over in this area watching the airshow.... free... not bad... but they are missing all the up close and in your face stuff... to each his own.

The airshow was on top of us and nothing makes me happier than seeing one of these behemoth's flying overhead. I just love the C-17 Globemaster. Click for a larger "in your face" view.
Moon over the Hall of Fame.


The best part was that Patricia had never seen anything like this before... ever. And she really enjoyed it. She was dazzled by the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team and amazed by Sean Tucker flying like a mad man. A little later an F/A-18 Hornet took to the skies and since Michael and I have been to a couple of these we knew to expect a high speed fly by. My mother in law was blown away! I wish I had gotten that picture. Terrific. In hindsight, we should have stayed so she could have seen the Thunderbirds in their F-16's...

My most favorite aircraft-- The C-130. Herkeng, you'll have to tell me exactly which one this is. Behind it, you can see a WWII/Korean War era F4U Corsair. As we left Cleveland the C-130 took to the skies and if you have ever been to Burke... well the C-130 is as large as the runway...

We left Cleveland... if you've never been... it is a wonderful place for a quick getaway. The city has something for everyone-- sports, amusement parks, museums of all kinds, the arts, the neighborhoods, the lake.... it's a great time.

One final post... Grandpa's Cheesebarn...

A Needed Get Away, Part 4

The Hungarian restaurant we wanted to go to, Balaton, was closed for the holiday. So, it was suggested we head to Little Italy where we ate at Maxi's. It was a cozy atmosphere- the food was good although a little overpriced. The best part of the meal was the drama between the wait staff and kitchen staff. There were only 2 servers and they were excellent. Based on our observations Patricia and I decided that the cook and one of the servers had a thing going on. We created a fun little scenario about love and betrayal and life in Little Italy... So all in all we had a lovely time.



Afterwards, we headed back towards the University and made our way to a little place called the Barking Spider Tavern. It was a nice mix of locals and college students and gave us a real feel for the folks in this area. We sat outside and had a couple of frosty beverages (actually I had a glass of wine) and listened to the folk band through a couple of sets.

All in all, we had a full day.

I think one, possibly two more posts on our jaunt will do it...

A Needed Get Away, Part 3

It was a beautiful day and the weather was terrific. After we explored the hotel the blue skies and green grass and trees drew us outdoors to explore the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

I wanted to explore the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, but unfortunately we did not have time to go- a reason to go back and visit.


We walked down and found a street filled with historic homes.However, the most intriguing building that caught my eye was...


the Peter B. Lewis Building. This was designed by architect Frank Gehry. Among some of his more famous structures--- the Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain I'm a novice when it comes to architecture. I don't know much about it, but I know what I like and what I don't like. I was absolutely struck by this buiding. It is surrounded by old structures and the Lewis Building complimented everything on the surrounding streets. I can assure you that I will do some reading and learn more about this architect.

A Needed Get Away, Part 2

It's lunch time and I have polished my grandmother's silver tea set-- awful job... no wonder no one buys silver anymore...anyway... it was worth it... all shiny and sparkly again. But now it's time for a bowl of soup and to offer up Part 2 of our little road trip.

So... we left Parma and made our way to University Heights where we checked into our hotel at the Glidden House- a beautiful mansion built in 1910 by the Glidden (paint) family. It is located on the campus of Case Western University-- I'll chat about that later... Patricia wanted a suite, but unfortunately due to the last minute planning, the best we could do was adjoining rooms. The rooms were lovely... done in bold primary colors and an incredibly comfy king size bed and a 42 inch plasma screen television...

We left Patricia to take a nap and once I unpacked we left the room to explore the hotel and the neighborhood.

We went down and spoke to the concierage and asked him to make reservations for us at a Hungarian restaurant Michael and I had gone to a few years prior over in Shaker Heights. We asked if we could explore the hotel and in an incredibly deep and wonderful voice (Michael suggested to him that he should be doing voice overs for commercials and movie trailers) he told us we most certainly could.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge and get a great look at the detail...

The craftmanship in this place was astounding-- the stone detail and wood paneling and built ins throughout were stunning. In addition, there were several pieces of original arwork. I felt as though I had found a secret museum.

Later, the campus...

A Needed Get Away, Part 1

Well, we are back and Michael is at work. I slept in until 7:30 this morning and thought I would look at the photos I shot. We packed a lot in to our quick little jaunt. The weather was beautiful and as we drove north on I-71 it became quite apparent that they have received more rain than us. The humidity was low, the sky blue, the drive was pleasant.

Our first stop was in Parma, Ohio which is home to one of the largest American-Hungarian populations in the country and the location of the largest Hungarian Scout festival. We spent a couple of hours taking in the sights, sounds and smells. Had a few frosty beverages and shared some cabbage rolls and saugage. Once we walked through the gates, I felt as though we had tranported ourselves to Europe. Everyone around us was speaking Hungarian. Folks were polite enough to realize we did not speak the language and kindly spoke to us in English and answered our questions. I took some photos of some dolls and the woman said something to me and apparently I had an expression of stupidity on my face so she then asked me if I would like to guess the region that the clothing represented. I was happy that I could find Hungary on a map, but to guess regions based on dress? Good gosh... out of my league. In any event, these are hardy folks- physically and spiritually and emotionally. The language is fascinating and must be one of the most difficult to learn. But here we were in Parma, Ohio listening to young and old alike speaking fluently. Michael's father was born in Budapest and escaped from the Nazis and the Russians during World War II. Michael has the ability to pronounce words correctly, but does not understand the language. Like my mother not teaching me Japanese or Okinawan, his father did not teach him Hungarian. Michael would like to learn and I keep urging him to sign up for a class.

Now, a few photos. There were some wonderful faces that I fell in love with.




Michael tried this.... He was just shy of having 2 horseshoes per notch. His arm was a tad sore the next morning. The young scout really knew what he was doing to. He feigned ignorance about speaking English and smiled and said some things in Hungarian and slowly loaded the horseshoes onto the notched piece of wood. It was quite funny.
This was toward the entrance to where all the shopping was.... no idea... what it says... no idea how to pronounce it.
All right... I have to start getting the house ready for a baby shower... I'll post some more later... I have a lot more photos and experiences to share.