On the grounds of Nora’s recent obsession with raspberries, we went to this raspberry farm that is — oddly — right by the city.
“Blueberries for Sal”-style, she ate most of them while Ryan and I put in the hard labor. We might have overcompensated because I made a pie and we were still eating them for every meal for about a week.
Eating on the job:
There was a massive storm about five minutes before this parade, but I’m so glad we stuck around. Beautiful light and ring pops for everyone.
Puddle stomping:
Ryan:
We love hiking in the woods with Nora, so I went searching for a place with a lake, good hiking, and not too much driving distance, and I found Ithaca. We learned that Bemus Point is an excellent place to take a road trip break, that you should never take a 1-year-old out to dinner (but that takeout — especially bread pudding — can be amazing), and that throwing rocks in the river is always a good fall-back plan.
Here’s a shot of Nora at our rental house in the awesome evening light.
Pretty Ithaca:
Out the screen door:
Baby in a backpack running on 6-Mile-Creek Trail:
Baby at the beach:
Nora loved Cayuga Lake:
PACKING WITH A 1-YEAR OLD: This summer has been about saying goodbye to one home and hello to another. Here’s Nora helping pack The Books. I will blame the packing for my failure to post pictures for ALL OF JULY. Sorry.
FOREST CITY to FORESTED CITY: We weren’t sure if we wanted to move from Cleveland to Bay Village, but our Tremont place was getting a little too small, and we were suffering from yardlessness, so we decided to update the house we were renting in Bay and test out the waters here. This is my favorite room so far. It has a hand-blown glass light, new green paint on the door, and a welcome mat that says “I like you.” Come over, and I’ll bake you a cake!
LITERARY LOTS: I am IN LOVE with literary lots. City + books + whimsy? We’ll pretend I just went because I thought Nora would like it. A lady who lives in Ohio City is in charge, and she is making little-used or vacant city spaces into super magical literary spots. And they have a bunch of events there every day until next weekend. Here’s the link if you want to go to one: Literary Lots. They’re showing “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” next weekend. We went to the breakfast on Sunday. They had cereal, books, a little tea party area, and this amazingly beautiful mural.
THEY HAD AN OTTER BOOK: Take your kids. Or your dog.
LOT LOVE: Classic Snore face.
Sunrise coloring (in yellow, of course):
Morning hair is (in) the cat(‘s) pajamas:
Looking for buses and animals:
Lincoln Park after dinner:
Finding weird things in Tremont, like this arrangement of hundreds of little roses in the gazebo. A guy we don’t know stopped by and told us that kids from the church across the street made it. I like to imagine their hundreds of little fingers placing them there one at a time. So cool.
Nora and I are so lucky to have such great fathers in our lives. Hooray for Nora’s dad, my dad, Glen, and Tom, who are all very different, in a good way, for all the different and fantastic things they add to our lives.
I’m in love with this song on the Avett Brothers’ new album called “A Father’s First Spring.” Here’s a link to the video. And a few lines:
“Kiss of the wind in the hills,/The clearness, the morning, the late evening thrill/Blurry and grey like the roar/The wheels on the highway above them I soar./When I’m in my sweet daughter’s eyes/My heart is now ruined for the rest of all times/There’s no part of it left to give./There’s no part of it left to give./I never lived til I lived in your light” — A Father’s First Spring, Avett Brothers
Yesterday’s foot-kicking party on the way back from Lucky’s:
We were all over Cleveland on this day in late May. This is our stop at Edgewater. I love Nora’s ridiculous face in this shot:
Jazz hands:
We saw these gorgeous murals on an abandoned gas station in Detroit Shoreway, so, of course, we stopped to take pictures.
No. 2:
One more:
Nora parties it up at Julia’s graduation party:
Congratulations to Julia, valedictorian of her class!
Nora takes a stroll in Lincoln Park’s Playground:
