A TOURIST VIEW

(note: all text in bold caps is a link..having technical problems changing the link colors)


Have you ever taken a tour of your own city?
I did, and it was a blast!
With my daughter Jamie and my Sister Deb
We love our hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
It's a beautiful city, with a great history and full of things to do and see. Including of course the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Great Lakes Science Center as well as great restaurants and shops.
Click on the links I provided, to learn more about some fun things in CLEVELAND!

Jamie, who recently started a new job in downtown Cleveland, and also became a volunteer for "Positively Cleveland" suggested going downtown and do the "tourist thing" It was so much fun!



With a nice early start, our first stop... Taking a
Rapid ride Downtown!..... believe it or not, it was my first Rapid ride... Jamie's too! The Rapid station was..... eh.... interesting. But the ride was really fun! In about 20 minutes we were at Tower City. Tower City, is the Major landmark of Downtown Cleveland. Originally referred to as The Terminal Tower, it was re-vamped and turned into a beautiful shopping mall complete with food court, dancing waters and of course the Rapid terminal. After a few quick pics of the gorgeous lobby and ornate ceiling We were on Public square. It was a gorgeous morning and perfect for touring. After a few pics on the Square,


we headed to 4th street,
4th. Street for coffee and a cab.
along with so many areas of downtown, was recently renovated, and it's gorgeous! Featuring cool little Bistro's, Pickwick n Frolic restaurant, House of Blues and Lola, owned by our own Iron Chef, Michael Symon.



We called for a cab, and by the time we got to the corner he was there! now that's service!

He was the friendliest cab driver ever.

He greeted us with a great big smile and "good morning ladies!"... put out a step stool and assisted each of us into the cab!


It was a short ride, down to Settler's landing, to begin our guided walking tour of the river, Where Cleveland's history begins. It was fun and interesting. they even had actors portraying historical characters. I was surprised how much I didn't know about the beginnings of Cleveland.

The 1 1/2 hour tour ended at Settler's landing, at the (replica) of Lorenzo Carter's log cabin. Carter was the first settler in the area. Our awesome tour guide dressed in period clothing, gave us a good idea of what life was like in those days.



We stopped for lunch in the historic Flat Iron Cafe and the food was awesome!

We decided to walk off our lunch, and headed up to the West 6th. street fair.
Great music from the steel drum band at one end of the street, and the Jazz music at the other end.

We called for another cab, and headed down to the Flats once again, to catch Lolly the Trolley for an hour long ride through Downtown. It was awesome too!
There were "real" tourists on the Trolley, but I think we were the ones acting like it and taking so many pictures! Our tour guide was great, he even

dropped everyone off at their desired locations, instead of the Flats, which saved us the cost of another cab!

We headed back to Tower City, to catch the Rapid back home. We got on and asked someone if this train went to 150th...... they said yep! Why is it you assume everyone else knows where they're going?..... well... each person that got on after us... asked the same thing lol..

We got home, worn out but happy!
It was a great day with my daughter and sister.

We want to do it again soon, next time we'll take the longer Lolly tour, and hopefully, the gorgeous, newly renovated Terminal observation deck will be open.

So enjoy this little cyber tour of my city, Cleveland, Ohio.
(the pics somehow got out of order.. but still fun!)

Take a tour of your city too!

LAZY SUNDAY

It's a lazy Sunday.
The rains have gone, along with the 90 degree temperatures..... it's a "cool" 79 degrees now, although, the humidity remains and I still can't open the windows or turn the A/C off.
The Sunshine it's great, even though I did enjoy the Storm clouds.
The Storm cloud photos, are from last evening. We had a nice long rain and already, the Brown grass is Greening up again
Like most of the country, we've been having very hot, humid weather, here in Brunswick, Ohio.

My sister, her friend and I, went to Medina Art Fair last Sunday, and it was hard to enjoy it, because of the oppressive heat!

Once again, I had big plans for my One day off in 7. I was going to clean, do art, make dinner.
Well.. I made dinner... and kinda made some art.
A new Avatar. I fell in love with this image. I digitally colored it and I think I just might work her in to a new ARTkissed logo.

I really love the way the low evening sunshine, spills into
my bedroom. It's warm and Golden.
I just had to snap a pic.

I forgot to tell you about my Broadway collage.
I finally finished a project I had rolling around my head for months. I wanted to created a collage of images from the old neighborhood I grew up in.
It was just a simple Blue-collar neighborhood, that was filled with families that had settled here from Europe, Polish, Slavic, German as well as other ethnicity's, made up this special place. We all worked, played went to to school, grew up and got married here. Whatever you needed was usually in walking distance, or a short bus ride away. Hospital, Churches, Schools, as well as grocery, clothing, drug stores and bakeries. Most right on or very near to Broadway Avenue.
I have become obsessed, with finding pictures. Those I couldn't find, I substituted Their names.
It came out just as I had imagined. The images were hung
in a random pattern.
I printed each image on glossy photo paper. Most had a slight Sepia tone to them, others a little more.
I glued each image to Black Foam core, and cut them with an Exact-o knife. I Glued little square pieces of Foam Core to the back of each, so they would "float" on the wall.
Because of their feather-light weight, I was able to secure them with "Fun tack". It works great! easy to reposition, and no nail holes!

If you'd like, you can click on the pictures for a better look.
The church "Our Lady of Lourdes" with it's spectacular Steeple, Was my family Parish. It's where I made my Communion and got married.
"Broadway" is the name of the street, where all the shops and most activities were. it's probably the most iconic name on the wall. The large square Sepia building aka: "Hubcap Heaven" Is probably the most iconic image. The building has been there forever. It was "Broadway Bank" back in the early 1900's. if it were suddenly gone from the landscape, it just wouldn't be "Broadway."
"PEACE IN KOREA"... part of my wall collage, Is a very nostalgic bit of neighborhood Graffiti. it was painted on the side of the Old Woolen Mills, by persons unknown. The Woolen Mills or "Worsted Mills" was a building that was also a part of Broadway for EVER... that is until 1993... when the very large factory fell victim to arson. It was a huge blaze that smoldered for days. I made a point to get a photo of this very nostalgic bit of "Broadway.".. before it was gone. Anyone and everyone from the neighborhood knows just where this graffiti was. I'm old enough to remember when it just said "Peace in Korea."

I love and miss my old neighborhood. It has changed... so much. Like the words in one of my favorite songs: "In My Life" By the Beatles. I've added part of the song lyrics to the wall...

IN MY LIFE
"There are places I remember
all my life, though some have changed
some forever not for better
some have gone and some remain
all these places a have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
some are dead and some are living
in my life I've loved them all."

I have a few more images I'm still considering, but for the most part, the collage is complete.

So.... This Sunday is fading away.
The sun is setting earlier now....
Where is the summer flying to?
Almost August? wow.
I have to remind my self to stop, enjoy these hot sunny days...... instead of thinking about the Winter that lies ahead. It will be here soon enough.

I worked yesterday... and I'll work next Saturday too. So I'll have 2 days off in 14.. ugh.
Well..... I'm also constantly reminding myself.. I'm lucky and blessed to have a job.

I think I forgot to post some pictures from friend Laure's 50Th ... we took her to our favorite restaurant "Fiesta Jalapeno" aka "Feisty Pini. So.. next time!

have a great week! don't forget to stop and smell the roses or grass... or whatever!

Knee high by the 4th. of July!
I think that's a reference to Corn?... and how tall it should be by this time? okay!

Hope you have a wonderful 4th.
Here in Brunswick, Ohio... it's supposed to be near 90
so, I will be having a "Cook-in"... with the same friends as last year. Gloria and Laure, and enough food for 30 more!

It's been a month since I wrote!
The months are flying! It was just "yesterday." I was waiting for it to be light, on my drive home from work. I was waiting for Spring, and warm weather. And it's here! and will be gone before we know it.

The latest news...
First, I'd like to mention the passing of my Aunt Ethel. That's her on the left, in the very cool photo!
She was my mom's sister and she was 96 years old! She was the last "elder" relative, and truly an end of an era. I am sad of course, but she lived a good long life and I know she and all her siblings & others that have gone on before her, are having one heck of a party! I also know I will see them all again one day!

We had an awesome evening storm last Sunday. I even captured a lightning bolt! A second storm approached, and it got almost dark as night! It was a small storm and as it passed, the Sun was also setting. The sky turned this strange swamp Green,

then funky Yellow... then this eerie ominous Orange!!!

my son said their was also a rainbow, which I missed, but I did get pics of that Orange sky! I guess it really freaked people out, the way everything had an Orange eerie glow! me?... I knew it was just the sun setting on the storm clouds and I loved it!!

I also have yet another new great Nephew!

He showed up about 6 weeks early, and only weighed just over 4 lbs. but he's doing very well! His name is Gustas!... it's a Lithuanian name. His mom Alma is from Lithuania.

The other new nephew is Braeden, and he's already 7 mos. old!

our family is growing in leaps and bounds!

I had soooo much fun last month, going wedding dress shopping with Bride to be, Allison, and several (of 9!) of her bridesmaids.

The first place we went was very "froo froo"... they didn't allow camera's (understandable) but the consultant had nooooo sense of humor and had nooo idea who she was dealing with! But we made the best of it.

We headed off to a cute little Cupcake shoppe and did some Cupcake testing!... whhhoaaahh.. YUM!
Then, to David's Bridal. What a difference. Okay, so it's not this stuffy, pretentious "couture boutique"... (Thank God!)... but we had fun! Dresses flying, all the girls trying on bridesmaid

dresses... Allison with her own fashion show. So fun! as it was meant to be!

Afterward, we met up with son Eddie for dinner and celebrate his 32nd. birthday! OH.. I'm OLD!

Yesterday, I met Gloria, Laure and Patti, at Fiesta Jalapeno... aka: "Feisty Pini".. for Dinner a "couple" of Margarita's.. then off to the "Rally in the Alley" for a free concert. We saw a Reggae band, featuring "Carlos Jones"... EH MON! it was a good time!

When I got home, I felt like I was coming down with the Flu! I had (and still have) a headache, sore throat, and got the chills during the night.

I don't feel horrible, but something is still there.

I'm glad it hasn't zapped my energy, I have some serious eating to do! That reminds me, I need to go pop another Aleve.. to "Aleve" this headache!

So.. now you're all caught up on my "wild" Summer!

I hope yours is going well! and that you enjoy every minute of it!

Have a safe 4th of July!