Lately, I’ve been kind of a whiney sad sack on account of my recent job shakeup. This is me sighing into my coffee with Ryan at the West Side Market Cafe. We recently made a list on a napkin of the best places in Cleveland to get the best meal of the whole week: BRUNCH. The first eight are regular spots for us; the last two are on the to-be-attended list. From my napkin to you in no particular order:
1. Borderline Cafe (Lakewood)
2. Lucky’s Cafe
3. Original House of Pancakes (a chain, but not a ubiquitous one…there are only about 100 of them)
4. Grumpy’s Cafe
We’re always looking for new places. Where do you eat brunch in (or around) C-town?
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE LEAVE THE CITY: Ryan and I were driving down 301 right past the best Post Office ever (it’s in Spencer and about 100 square feet), and I nearly ran over a turtle in the middle of the road. I made it about 100 yards farther down the highway (looking in my rearview mirror worrying about whether the next five cars would hit it) when I turned my car around and made Ryan rescue it. It, apparently, made it halfway and panicked because it didn’t want to come out of its shell. I wanted to say, dude, you have to commit to something like crossing the street.
When Kyle and I were younger we had a turtle, which we also found in the middle of the road in a space called Widget Run in southern Ohio. We named it Widget (which was not as creative as Georgette and Dudette, our hamsters). It was kind of a feral turtle, so it had to live in the hemmed in “dirt pile” area of the backyard. Until, of course, it ran away. The kid down the street found it and claimed it was his, and we didn’t fight it mostly because his mom was blind. I was recently happy to commiserate about this with Moffat who is perhaps the only other person in Ohio whose turtle ran away from home.
FREE SMELLS: I’m not big on decorating and (lately) on cleaning (I pretty much only clean when people are coming over), so I try to distract from the messiness at the Starkweather residence with pretty flowers. I got these tulips at Trader Joe’s for $6, and I got the lilacs for free from my dad’s shrubbery. Check out the cool pic of my ‘rents bein’ hip at college on the right. Also, I was thinking the human race needs to get a little adventurous in our plant-giving traditions. Why isn’t it acceptable to give someone a bouquet of leaves, for example? Or branches? Or a handful of tastefully arranged grass?
CONGRATULATIONS: To my dad who is about 10 cups of coffee away from retirement. Your life is about to get about 17 times more amazing. The soil of Lorain County is, reportedly, despondent at the loss of its great protector. To lovely Lana, of my Borders Friends, who recently got married — I am so happy for you and your lucky new husband! To Sue who is also celebrating her retirement. There are so many teachers and students who are better because of you.
CLASS IT UP/CLASS IT DOWN PART II: I’m currently reading “Light in A
ugust” by Faulkner, which is dark, twisty, and amazing. Check out this description: “His voice sounds light, trivial, like a thistle bloom falling into silence without a sound, without any weight. He does not move” (89). B.A., Faulkner. B.A.
In a complete departure, Erin recently informed me of some more current and exciting “literary” news — the author of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” is releasing a fifth book about Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget when they’re in their 20s. I’m pretty psyched. Don’t judge. I spend a sizeable chunk of my reading time looking for Gramsci’s ideas in postmodern literature. So I allow myself this indulgence. You should allow it for yourself, too. They’re actually pretty good — they get to the heart of the kind of indescribable lovliness of finding people with whom you are your truest self.
CLEVELAND IS 3,913 MILES FROM PARIS: Nothing will make you want to cut your own bangs and move to Montmarte (in Paris) like Audrey Tautou in “Amelie.” I don’t know anyone (or at least not anyone female) who didn’t like this movie about a girl who secretly does nice things for people, and I’m pretty pleased to be seeing it again at the Cedar Lee for $5 tonight. Ryan jumped ship as soon as he found out Erin was willing to go, so if you’d like to join us for some girly French filmery (and maybe some incongruously Latin gouda grits at Lopez across the street) give me a ring. Happy Saturday, darling friends and family!
SUNNY DAY FLOOR MUSIC: Step 1) Open a window. Step 2) Press play. Step 3) Find a sunny spot, lie down on the floor, close your eyes, and listen. The You Tube comments for this song are: “The Arcade Fire saved my life,” and “Sometimes I feel like we don’t deserve Arcade Fire.” Love it.
GETTING THERE: Belizean Bush Hunter and father of three Ernesto Blanco drives us to San Ignacio. He once scared a jaguar into a tree with a pack of dogs.
JUNGLE LOVE: There is a walkway 30 feet above the forest floor to get to our jungle bungalow. At night, it’s pitch black, and the jungle noises are so loud they wake everyone up at night. Once, Ryan shined his flashlight out the window and saw an armadillo.
‘OFFICIAL’ TOURS: A guy picks us up in a truck that doesn’t start right away. He doesn’t tell us who he is or where we’re going. We pick up a lady and a guy on the way, and the guy jumps in the back of the truck and bangs on the roof when he wants to be dropped off. After about 15 minutes, the driver guy pulls over to the side of the road, jumps out without explanation, and is quickly replaced by a merry guy who says the first driver was his brother. Every Belizean in San Ignacio is out on the road waiting for a bike race to come by, so eventually we pull over and watch hundreds of bikers fly by — they’ve just ridden across the ENTIRE COUNTRY. One of them was another of our driver’s brothers. He was in 16th place. We eventually got back on the road and were dropped off at a store on a side street somewhere. This was where we met up with our cave tour.
MAGICAL CAVES: The Mayans believed caves were an entrance into the underworld and that taking hallucinagenic drugs could help you to have religious experiences. Directions: take a 45 minute ride on a dirt road, hike/cross rivers for another 45 minutes, find a blue jungle pool with an hourglass cave entrance, jump, swim in, and swim/hike for another hourish, climb up a rickety ladder held on by a single rope. At the top is the crystallized skeleton of a woman archeologists (or at least tour guides) think might have been sacrificed in a plea to the gods in a moment of desperation. Eerie, sad, and amazing.
CREOLE: Many of the cool folk we met in San Ignacio speak English, Spanish, and a Creole that one of the guys driving us around described as “crappy English” — basically they just cut off significant parts of words and use, according to him, truncated sounds and body language to communicate with each other. They said their American teachers in school could never figure out what they were saying.
EASTER: Everything in Belize shuts down for Easter, and people party all night in San Ignacio at their carnival. We stopped by for some rice and beans and chicken. The R & B was amazing, the chicken was a little gross. People off work all day hang by the river, so we did that for a little while after cavin’.
POST-HIKE VERANDA HANGIN’: Open air, twilight, kinkajous, jungle sounds, Belikin, and a bunch of people hanging out in wooden chairs every night.
BREAKFAST: Warm bread, fresh mango and watermelon, fresh juice, and black coffee every morning in a screened room with a bunch of people from all over the world.
GUATEMALA: Just crossing the border made me think of Jutiapa, Antigua, and all of you I met last time I was there. I thought of you when I had a Gallo post-Tikal, and I told the story about the ti
me we stayed so late in town that they literally ran out. There was nothing like carrying cinder blocks and mixing cement all day, taking a shower, and heading into town for some Guacamole and imprompu dancing and karaoke (Carley and Nora, I think that was you). Guatemalan nostalia!
TIKAL: The second largest Mayan civilization in Central America was just chillin’ below some dirt until somebody dug it back up. Almost as cool as our guide Hugo.
Thanks again to my high school friends Tom and Jess for all of their travelin’ ideas. It’s fabulous how someone you haven’t seen in 10 (11? 12? ) years can drop back in for a second. Great to hear from both of you!
And then I came home and went to the Lady Gaga concert. Oh, life.
WANDERING WATERLOO: Even if you’re not headed to the Beachland Ballroom, there are some pretty fabulous things to do on Waterloo these days. Ryan and I spent a chunk of last weekend’s rainy Saturday playing around in Music Saves, Blue Arrow Records & Boutique, and Native Cleveland on what turned out to be a pretty stellar Record Store Day. Music Saves was packed, Blue Arrow had a pretty good band with some great keyboard action, CLE had free drinks, hot dogs and cake, and there were a enough trendy eyeglasses to keep trendy eyeglasses manufacturers in the black for the next couple months, at least. I wandered around Music Saves for a few minutes before Ryan found what I didn’t realize I needed in my life: “The Tallest Man on Earth” on vinyl. All the stores were offering 20 percent off. If you didn’t make it down this year, check it out next year. Even if you aren’t a record listener, the free food, music, and Ohio paraphernalia will remind you that Cleveland is pretty rad.
DEAR OBERON: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (III.II121). Love, Puck. If Oberon’s here, it must be (almost) summer).
BELIZE, GUATEMALA, and ANCIENT CAVES: Guate friends, I’ll be thinking of you this weekend when Ryan and I head over to Guatemala from where we’re staying in the Cayo District in Belize. Thanks again to Tom and Jess for your advice in planning this last-minute quest! What I need in my life right now is a quest that does not involve getting to the bottom of a stack of papers. Also, caves are magical. Conor Oberst says, “In the caverns of tomorrow with just our flashlights and our love, we must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge.”
“BELOVED”: Beautiful, betwitched house, be literary, be illuminated, be knee-deep in Southern conjure and the dark, twisty path into the forest of the past lit up in the clearing of Toni Morrison’s words. Read “Beloved” (if you haven’t already).
APRIL’S MUSIC: If you’re looking for something to do tomorrow, track down your local record store for Record Store Day. Local shops like Music Saves are hauling out exclusive releases, live music, and lots o’ record love. More than 60 stores are participating in Ohio. Click here for why I find Music Saves to be glowy and magical and here if you want to search for a local shop that’s involved in the spinny merriment.
Record Store Day was started a few years ago, and hundreds of stores celebrate by selling records and CDs made just for the event. Pretty rad if you’re a music snob, but also fun if you’re just looking for some Saturday entertainment (and I fit more into the latter group than the former). I’m looking forward to some possible Ryan Adams on the turn table with the windows open on Saturday night. Hope to see you there!
Music Saves opens at noon tomorrow.
CLEVELAND CHIC: My new favorite shirt by Gray Cardigan creator Brian Andrew Jasinski sends proceeds to the local non-profit “Girls With Sole.” They’re for sale at Banyan Tree on Professor in Tremont. (Photo from Banyan Tree)
TED x CLE: If you missed the local TED lectures at the Capitol Theatre today, you can watch them online here. Check out some of Cleveland’s most creative, innovative thinkers talk about sustainability, community, historic preservation, urban education, the arts, and other Cleveland-centric issues.
Dear Cleveland
I regret to inform you that we can’t see the Avett Brothers in town this summer, but they will be in Columbus and Pittsburgh. Or you could just listen to “Swept Away (Sentimental Version)” over and over again. Who does that? Happy listening, and, I hope, happy driving. Ryan and I are headed to Columbus, so maybe I’ll see you there!