A Fond and Foggy Farewell

Packed up and ready to go, mission accomplished! Fabulous weather moving in, just as we are leaving, but we had some pretty good days over the last few weeks, so no complaints here. I took a long walk in the late afternoon to say good-bye to old Clevesberg on a very foggy afternoon. You could see it swirling in and out between the buildings; the newscast called it a marine layer. And it surely did come from the lake, when I walked down to see, the visibility was about 25 feet in front of you, that wonderful, private feeling that the fog brings. Not that we don't get fog in Santa Fe, we do, but the smell and the density are different. Ah, I love weather, the thing that makes me remember a place the best...adios, Ohio, hasta luego!

Yea Sarah!!!!

Sadie Sue had the big sweep this past week in basketball being named team MVP, first team all-conference and first-team all county. Daddy's proud!!!

The Lake, the Lake, the Frozen Lake

I don't know why the frozen lake holds such fascination for me. I can stand and watch the ice drift for quite a while before the chilly air makes me move on. Some spots look like frozen white doughnuts and others like freeze-dried underwater plant forms. Last night, the weather changed and became more typical for Cleveland, with rain turning to snow flurries and the temperature dropping down to a high in the 30's this afternoon. The sun came out again today, however, and that makes all the difference.

I guess I left Cleveland so early that I never had the chance to appreciate the magnitude of fresh water right here off the shores, nor did I have a car to make exploring easy. I have been making up for that lack of awareness ever since, and on this particular trip, I am making the most of our proximity to the East 9th Street pier. Each day presents a different aspect, one minute, it's so quiet you can hear the buoys, the next moment, everything is drowned out by a private jet landing at Burke. One day the seagulls cluster on the pier avoiding the cold breezes, on the next, they circle low over the water before landing to drift along on the ice floes.


What a luxury to have the time to notice these little differences. I am so grateful and am consciously savoring this opportunity. That's the one thing I always "sell" about Santa Fe, the notion of taking time, it's so nice to drift a bit...

Maria Dances Better and Better

A year plus of lessons have really paid off for Maria! She was in the lead dance at the St. Dominic's Fish Fry on Friday the 20th, and she showed off her skills nicely. It must have been hard for that little chow-hound to smell all those delicious aromas and still keep her mind on the dancing. Edward and I arrived at St. Dom's early, a wise decision as the long lines later proved. The fish fry was very generous and quite delicious, and we were joined shortly by the Famiglia Mastrangelo along with Jane and Kerry and Chris Rose and her husband and son Jake. It was a very pleasant evening out after a long week of "school" at the Clinic, and a sweet way to enjoy our Irish heritage, although we left pretty quick after the dancing, since this medical "school" is an exhausting process. I have accidentally wandered through all kinds of neighborhoods I haven't been through before, and that has been very revealing, although sad to see Cleveland so down in the dumps.

On Saturday, we did a short West Side Market tour, and Edward fell for the place hook, line and sinker. We both admired all the counters of meat, shared a pepperoni roll and finished with a bratwurst each. How Evelyn Cavalli would have loved a shopping experience like that; she always liked to visit grocery stores when she traveled! We took a driving tour of Ohio City afterwards, and I realized I had never seen St. Ignatius. Stopped to look at a grand old Public Library and drove around on Fulton and Lorain, just wandering. I guess I just left Cleveland so early that there is still much to discover.

We laid low most of Sunday, venturing out in late afternoon to walk around the Wade Oval pond, but as it has gotten much colder, long walks are mine alone, so I followed that with a power stroll down to the East 9th street pier where I watched the ice floes (I guess they're floes, albeit mighty small) shift and crack and sink and bob. You could tell the weather had shifted, a cold breeze from the north, and rain in the middle of the night. The weather says a return to sun tomorrow, hope it's true. We are so grateful that the weather has been so balmy, one less struggle, especially when we heard that Santa Fe Ski Area got 21" of snow over the weekend, glad for our trees being there and glad for us being here!!!!

St. Pat's in the Sun

Well, I can honestly say that this was the very first St. Paddy's Day Parade that I ever attended, and how nice it was to still have things to discover at almost 60 years of age! And a helluva parade it was, begorrah! The newscasts said there were 13,000 marchers of which 1000 were Boy Scouts. At least six groups of pipers and marching bands from Collinwood (those were some drummers with rhythm), Ignatius (Go Wildcats!), Benedictine, Padua Franciscan, St. Peter Chanel, an academy for the academically-challenged, and those are just the ones I saw, not the ones I missed. At least four different Irish dancing schools, gobs of firemen and police, lots of folks trying to save St. Pat's (?), a number of unions (pipefitters, welders, elevator constructors), hospitals, politicians (I yelled a howdy to my high school classmate, Judge Nancy Fuerst, in an old green 30's vehicle), a school unicycle club, the Paschal Baylon Clown Club, some very fine old vehicles including an old police car (sweet!), an Asian Society (Chinese ribbon dancers and one Sikh in a turban), and the weirdest float of all by the Cleveland Feis Society, which was an imitation Irish wake, complete with mourners and a live dead body! Oh, yeah, and the DeathMobile, what was THAT about!


The parade took almost two and a half hours to complete, and the weather was fantastic, in the 60's with plenty of sun, talk about everyone being in a good mood! Lots of wearing o' the green, cheesy as can be and of course, that included yours truly! What a perfect day to be in McCleveland, O'Hio! Two more days of sun to look forward to, then a brief hiatus of rain and/or snow, spring is in the air!

I left a Top O' the Morning posy of green carnations for Mumsie and Paw, and the birds were singing sweetly in the blue, blue sky. A peaceful spot for eternal rest with the angels and the saints....

THE FISH!!!

Oops, forgot to attach the fish picture.

Michigan Moirs Update

Hello all:

I thought I'd give you an update from the Dexter, MI clan: lots going on, so here goes:

Weather is great here today (high 60s and sunny). Can it last?

Daniel and I just came back from a four-day weekend in FL. The goal was to fish but the weather didn't cooperate most of the time we were there. We did, however, have one good day on the ocean and caught a fair number of fish (I am attaching a picture of Dan holding a big-ass Amber Jack, which is a fighting fish that took him about a 1/2 hour of non-stop reeling to get in the boat). We stayed in Chuck's beach house and managed to score very cheap air fare so it was pretty low cost. We also went into Miami to catch the Heat-Bulls game so that was fun. Of course, Chuck and Sue were gracious hosts and, in sum, we had a really good time. Daniel continues to adjust to college and I think he is doing better (his first semester grades were pretty disappointing). He is a declared Business major which, in his case, is another way of saying he doesn't have a clue what he wants to do. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he will stumble upon something about which he is passionate, but I guess we will see.

Rachel is plugging away at school and getting ready for a busy summer. As part of the Hillsdale honors program, she is going to Turkey for three weeks (paid for by the school thank goodness). They will be vistiting a number of historic sites and tracing the missionary path of St. Paul so that should be cool (we are admittedly a little nervous given the recent unrest in that country). Along with two of her close friends, she is also going to ComicCon (the big cartoon/comic conference) in San Diego for a week this summer. Finally, she might be spending another month in D.C. as part of her Hillsdale program (although at this point that is uncertain). What a traveler: she already went to Stratford, Ontario with a bunch of people a few months back to catch a 1/2 week of Shakespeare plays. Sounds like a good gig for her (although, to be fair, she really does pay her own freight on most of this)! She has pretty much decided she wants to go on to grad school in Graphic Design (ah, another generation of education over-achievers)and is most interested in the Savannah School of Design(which as chance would have it is where Chuck's son, Jacob, will be attending starting next year). Small world!

Sarah is through the high school basketball season, except the banquet where we already know she will be named Captain of the team and are keeping our fingers crossed she will be named All-Conference (the competition is very tough this year). It was awesome to have Mark, Pellie and the kids see her play (she played well and scored 14) and we had a wonderful weekend with them visiting (thanks for coming guys). She has been invited to participate in the Junior National Showcase and to participate again - she did it last year - in what is known as the Battle of the Border (where the top 100 players in Ohio and MI match up). Lots of college scouts will be at both events, which is probably ironic in that she is leaning strongly toward ending her basketball career after high school. She is now already into preparation for the varsity soccer season and continues to focus on school and getting ready to pick a college. Right now, I would say her number one choice is the Air Force Academy (although if I had a gun to my head, I would not be surprised if she ended up at Michigan). She has applied to go to the summer programs at both Air Force (Colorado Springs) and West Point. I will let you know more when we do.

Cheryl and I are doing OK. She still struggles with Fibromyalgia and has had a rough winter (BTW: Rachel was diagnosed with it as well a month ago). I am having surgery next week to have a cyst removed from my left vocal chord so keep your fingers crossed and pray for me. I am also having a problem with my right hip so I am hoping that will get better. I would describe my business as pretty slow. Tim has been great and patient but we need the economy to strengthen. I am working on a situation where we might combine with another company to get some scale. We will see how that goes (I should have a sense of how that will shake out in the next few weeks). If that happens, there is probably a better than 50-50 chance that we will relocate to Colorado within the next few years. That would obviously work out well if Sarah ended up in Colorado Springs.

Well, that's it from here. I hope you are all well and know that I love each of you. Oh yeah, and Chris is Great!

Tom

It's Certainly Cleveland

So much for Southwesterners and Sunshine! It's truly Cleveland outside the windows today, so foggy that you can't see 200 feet and rain, rain, rain, but at least it's not snow, snow, snow! We enjoyed the Art Museum yesterday after lunch at Whole Foods. Boy, was Mom cheated out of the new Cedar Center! There is a little cafe there where we could have breakfasted and the Whole Foods really is a terrific shopping spot, although strangely enough, compared to the Santa Fe Whole Foods, there are very few bulk products - no flours, no glazed nuts, no odd grains - maybe they found it too messy at other stores. They certainly make up for it in prepared foods, much better than ours! The Art Museum is still the greatest free entertainment in town, so much to see and FREE! I wonder if it will stay that way after all the renovation, as I imagine their endowment suffered like anything that was invested anywhere in America. Edward is back "in school" for the week, so after getting my work duties completed, I am set to adventure in northeast Ohio - not gonna let this lousy weather get in my way!

Re-discovering Clevesberg

It seems that the southwesterners have brought the sunshine to Cleveland! It's hard to believe that it was snowing yesterday in Santa Fe and 70 degrees here less than a mile from Lake Erie. While we would have enjoyed staying in University Circle, being downtown is actually rather fun. And we can actually see a sliver of the lake from our window, frozen when we arrived and now melting into green. I can walk to the lake in less than ten minutes right up past Browns Stadium. I have been wandering around downtown for the last few days, musing on how this great city has fallen on such hard times, with so much to offer. The buildings, the culture and mostly the kindness of the people, yet it's all a rather sad affair. Most of the downtown storefronts are empty, with that gorgeous old Cleveland Trust building dwarfed by a prison-like giant behind it. I wandered through the Colonial Arcade and managed to find a piece of turquoise jewelry, and Sheila would enjoy the Indian convenience store where I bought a six of cheap Genesee Cream Ale and a box of Uttapam. The Old Stone Church has a nice gallery attached to it and $5 lunchtime yoga classes twice a week. And I never even knew that beautiful wood-lined church was there!

I visited Maw and Paw this morning and saw some daffodils poking their stems up under the bush to the right. Birds were singing overhead and the sky was clearing from overcast to blue. Them was some great parents....

Now we're looking forward to a weekend of exploration and relaxation, maybe a visit to the West Side Market or the Art Museum or even both! We saw a commercial for a Lenten fish fry, and both our mouths were watering, but we'll have just to wait until next Friday when Maria does some Irish dancing at church. I truly believe that Cleveland can rival any city for great eats - gotta control that urge to chow down!!! Mmmmm, pierogi, pho, rigatoni, knishes, collard greens, dim sum, want it all! Of course, now that its the weekend, it WILl rain - ah, reliably rainy Clevesberg!

A Cleveland Hello

Howdy, Moir Family, from the lobby of the Cleveland Clinic, where I resolved the wireless access problem by just asking for help...I guess it's a consistent confusion! Talk about shades of the past, I knew right where to go for Starbucks (I've got a big cup next to me, although I think they changed the location from March 2007)! Edward is upstairs starting the headache program, and we'll be moving downtown tomorrow to the Reserve Square Apts. (thanks for the tip, Terry!) on a short-term rental. We looked at the Alcazar, and although it has its charms, and it would be nice to be so near the Circle, it's also pretty run-down. Under normal circumstances, we'd definitely prefer to stay there, but I don't think it quite meets the requirements for relaxation for someone undergoing such a big commitment. It was fun, however, to actually see the Alcazar after all these years - I had only ever seen it from the outside; it must have been truly charming in its heyday!

Pellie and Mark have been great in allowing us to invade their space, but we're treating this time in Clevesberg as a wee vacation too, so why not have our own little nest? Reserve Square even has a bus that goes to the Clinic, so if there is inclement weather like there was for Sheila and Tom in March of last year, it will solve that problem too!

I haven't visited Mom and Pops yet, but I plan to leave a honkin' big batch of green carnations when St. Paddy's Day rolls around. Being back for the first time since they've been gone has naturally made me melancholy (yes, I am literally the sob sister), but when we stopped into Target for Zicam on our way into town, I parked and looked over the parking lot to see a little aqua Escort parked directly across from me, so I know she is telling me to take it on the chin and move on. I miss them so...but at least I had the chance to say goodbye to Meadowbrook, and Terry will be sending you all a copy of her letter to the new owners telling how much love that house holds....geez, when I think of all the meals I cooked there...and those 50+ boxes of books!

We are definitely hoping for to an improvement, so please keep us in your thoughts! It was good to see you, Chris and Marge, a nice New Jersey transition from the Cavallis to the Moirs. It's always a comfort to be with Ellen and Mark, and I'm sure that when I see Terry, she will lift my spirits and make me laugh (despite her own continuing challenges); I'm only sorry we missed Hana's triumph as the Wife of Bath! I know that Sheila and Lee are meditating on a good outcome and that Tom and Cheryl have us in their prayers. And Cheryl, PS, if you aren't already taking it, Edward wanted to be sure that you knew that Vitamin D is considered very helpful for fibromyalgia.

Gracias y Hasta la Vista a Todos from a southwesterner on a sojourn in the midwest!