I’ve been teaching in this room for most of my career, so it’s strange to imagine it won’t exist at all in a few days when they knock it down to finish the new high school.
This is actually the only thing I wish I could take with me:
One of my freshman took the clock, which has literally been on the wrong time for the entire time I’ve been in this room.
We’ve been spending a few minutes hanging out in on our street before school. The stars are usually out when I start teaching, so it’s pretty fantastic to be able to see the sun coming up on the east end of Starkweather. We mostly hang out on the Wine & Design bench across the street. It’s amazing how different our street looks from the other side of the road.
Isn’t the light on the bricks pretty? We also play with shadows:
Tremont love:
One of our favorite summerthings is to go to Cleveland’s fine festivals, but usually they don’t start until Memorial Weekend. This year we kicked things off a little earlier than usual with the Hessler Street Fair. I can’t believe we’ve never been. The fair opens up on Hessler Road, which is kind of tucked back in the University Circle area. It’s been going on since the 1960s. If you’ve never been, go. It’s might be my favorite festival right now.
We’ve never been on this beautifully bricky little road even when the festival isn’t going on. But the trees kind of arch over it, and the houses are all crumbly and viny. It’s like if Athens, Ohio, and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream had a baby.
And they have a poetry wall. And food. And art/stuff for sale. We only brought $7, so we just got some lemonade. But if we had planned a little better, I would have gotten the plate of falafel from the Algebra Tea House and this mobile made out of forks and spoons that some guy was selling for $10. Maybe next time.
The best part was the Harmony Park, which was snuggled way back on Hessler Court through a stone archway. Inside this gardeny-brickwall area, there was a veryshort but verylong tea table covered in cups and little kids playing tea. They had giant flowers everywhere, face painting, chalk drawing, and balloons. It was probably the most adorable little kid thing I’ve ever seen in Cleveland.
More teatime: We hung out here in the shade of this big, old tree for awhile. This is what I imagine baby dreams look like.
Don’t eat the chalk!
Ryan and I got to go out for a bit last night to celebrate our friend Neil’s birthday thanks to my parents who came over to watch supposedly-sleeping Nora. It was short-lived since our wee dreamer woke up and wanted to play with her grandparents, but it was a beautiful night to get out nonetheless (outdoor sitting, warm breezes). I only had time to take one picture, but it was pretty adorable, so I figured I should post it:
We love Thursdays.
One of my freshmen told me this week that he met a guy at a Quinceanera recently whose job it is to sit at a table at special events with a typewriter and write newborn poems on topics of people’s requests. And he apparently hangs out in the gazebo at Lincoln Park and does the same thing. He wasn’t there today, but we still had a good time. May your Thursdays be poetic (with or without a typewriter).
Just before dark on Friday
And one more of pretty, pretty Starkweather
…that I am the kind of person who enjoys when everyone in the family wears matching shoes.
Nora’s First Swing: Friday night walk and swinging party in Lincoln Park
Flower picking: Baby Daisy
Strolling ’round the neighborhood
Cutting through parking lots and more Mary shots (I’m not sure why I’m into these lately?)
Then we ordered some food from Crust, ran into Pete on a crosswalk, and picked up a cupcake to share (because I only had $2.50 including all the quarters at the bottom of my purse). The Crust folk were adorably kind, and the ricotta mushroom gnocchi I got for dinner exceeded my expectations entirely. This picture doesn’t really capture the truffle-oily beauty of this windows-open dinner. So jazzed it’s Friday.
Nora found her presents after breakfast 1 (blueberries and milk, of course):
Excited, Blueberry Mouth/Adorable Frog PJs
Breakfast 2: Mango and pancakes from her da-da-dy
Tea Party!
The Ladybug Labyrinth at the Botanical Gardens
Clapping for the butterflies
…and a vegan vanilla cupcake and a birthday song…
