Lovely evening in the city

Grabbed dinner at the Great Lakes Brewing Company last night. Had a delicious Cleveland Brown Ale with a Rueben! The Market tower looked lovely as we walked back to the car...

Project for 2013

For years, I've enjoyed creating fun pillowcases for family and friends. In 2013, I plan to start a special project. I'd like to make my cases and put them on pillows for children that find themselves at a local shelter that specializes in assisting neglected children. Often times, these kids are escaping abusive homes and show up with very little. I'd like them to go to sleep with a cuddly pillow. This would be theirs to keep and take with them.

I haven't officially named my project, but an idea that has come to mind is "Sweet Dreams." It's not clever enough for me though. I welcome your creative word-smithing!

I will be meeting with the shelter soon to discuss making this all possible. And I'll keep you posted with its progress...

Here are a few of my most recent cases:

Very Bad Kitty!

Muffin is always getting into trouble. Here are a few pics of our kitty going where she shouldn't!

Muffin-Summer of 2009

Muffin is enjoying the summer months. Juliano fixed our gate so that she can spend her days in the backyard. And of course she has her favorite spots to lounge in the house too.

Utah 2009

Brian, Luis, Juliano and I spent a fabulous week in Southern Utah in May. We visit Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon, Zion and the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

New Year's Rockin' Eve

I'd like to give a big shout out to Greg (aka Klunky) for having us all down to the OC to ring in the new year! It was a festive group of people and, as usual, he had quite the spread of food. Special thank you to Jerry for bringing over his clock radio to provide music and to whomever brought that tray of delicious cookies! A good time was had by all. I'm bummed that I forgot to go out on the porch at midnight to hear the gunfight.

Klunky's spread of food

Gaylord and Theresa

Klunky, Jerry, Linda and Mary

Klunky and Johan


Typical household item...a pick ax? WTF?

Mikey's Christmas Party

Thanks Mike & Dan for throwing a fun Christmas party last night. Food was delicious, as usual. That manicotti was so good and the ham, scrumptious. Festive times were had by all.

Birdwatching on a Cold Day

Last Sunday, I joined Judy and Larry (and a few Museum members) to birdwatch at Headlands. What a fantastic day. Yes, the wind chill was -20, but we were a hardy bunch. We all enjoyed seeing two Purple Sandpipers frolicking on the rocks. They'd run down to the edge of the barrier, get splashed by a wave, eat some algae and run back up the rock. It was fun to watch. After Headlands, we went to Burke to see the Snowy Owl. The numbers of gulls were incredible. All photos by Judy Semroc. It was too cold for me to take my mittens off my hands! Kudos to Judy for such great shots.

Purple Sandpipers

Snowy Owl

Blue Heron Farm

Last year at the Natural Areas Conference, the conference committee gave me a weekend stay at the Blue Heron Farm in Geauga County. Juliano and I finally put it to good use with our friends Theresa, Brian & Luis. We had the most relaxing, fun time eating, playing cards and chatting around the fire. It was great to be away from television, but fortunately the Farm has wi-fi! 

The house was gorgeous. It sits on a large lake and we were able to canoe and hike. We didn't see anything too significant. The most exciting wildlife spotted was a pair of Hooded Mergansers.

Traditional Halloween

We had gorgeous weather for trick-or-treating this year! Greg came over our place and we passed out candy to over 100 kids. We all enjoyed brats on the grill, skrimps, wine and too many chips! After passing out all our candy, we watched The Strangers, what a terrifying movie.

Memories of a Dreadful Halloween

Last year, I befriended a headless horsewoman on Halloween. We enjoyed an evening of texting and crafts. Little did I know she had an evil streak...

Haircut

OMG! I just got all my hair cut off! I needed a change. My new hairdo...

How easily all hell can break loose

So last weekend, I visited my cousin Jen and her family in Charlotte. Jen and Mike have two cutie pies, Nikolas and Caleb. While one is sleeping, the other is an angel. But when they're both awake, it doesn't take much for all hell to break loose. The scene below will make anyone who has ever visited shiver with fear. Yes, Caleb was attempting to play with one of Nikolas's 2 million toys. As you can image, the photo below led to chaos at the Melkonian household.


Dub reading a book

Niko making me suffer through the famous 1980s Trucks movie

The Truck movie Jen rented at the Library

Nikolas showing me Wingo from Cars (what a cute movie)

Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland

What a sad day. Today, we must leave Germany and say good bye to Mrs. G. We had a wonderful vacation. Thank you Genie, Brian and Luis for being our tour guides. We look forward to doing it again...Tschüss.

Hiking to St. Hildegard's

We set out this afternoon on a hike to St. Hildegard's Church (Hildegard of Bingen). I had no idea the cool bird watching that existed right behind Genie's house! I wish we had discovered this hike sooner. We walked through the Bingen cemetery. German cemeteries are much different than American ones-they're filled with ornate, unique tombstones and landscaped gardens done by the family on each grave. As we proceeded up the hill, we came across a neglected Jewish cemetery. It was a moving sight, obviously a consequence of the war.

We finally made it to fire tower and looked out at Bingen. It was cool to see the confluence of the Nahe and Rhein Rivers. We proceeded to hike through the grapesvines to St. Hildegard's, visiting a sweet horse along the way. St. Hildegard's had an outdoor, amphitheatre-style altar with lots of seating for mass. I'd like to see an outdoor mass here sometime.

That evening, Mrs. G arranged for us to visit the well that is believed to be the starting point of a horrible plague in the Middle Ages. It was located in a basement in downtown Bingen. The original cobblestone street was still intact within the building. Afterwards, we went out for a delicious schnitzel dinner, joined by the lady that owns the building we visited! It was a perfect last evening in Bingen.