Pookie Visits Euclid Beach Park

(Topic: Beach, adventures, teddy bear)

Hi Friends!

This week we happened to be visiting Cleveland, Ohio, and at one point I was in Euclid with a couple hours to kill. Pookie and I looked at google maps and picked out a likely looking park!

Pookie on a swing. I wasn't rocking him, the wind was!! The video below gives you some sense of how strong the wind was...

Looking "out to sea". I'm surprised he didn't blow over! You can tell it's windy, though, because his ears blew back!!

We made it right down to the water. Pookie liked this driftwood log.

Euclid Beach Park was originally a swim beach back in the early 1900s that then transitioned into a summer getaway area for Clevelanders, and eventually transitioned into an amusement park, which stayed in business until the late 1960s. You can still see the carousel from the 1920s in the Western Reserve Historical Society museum in Cleveland.

Pookie trying to take a selfie, but his arms are short! If you look closely, way off in the distance (about 12 miles) you can see the Cleveland skyline.

The small current pier, much shorter than the one from the 1920s. Would be a nice place to sit if you're not being blasted by strong steady winds coming in across the lake at nearly freezing temps!

Now, I think there's a larger sign somewhere in Cleveland proper, maybe just west of downtown? I'm not sure. But this one was a great size for sassy "I'm not cold at all" Pookie!

Are we done taking pics yet, Mama? My ears might be a little cold after all.

A section of boardwalk. You can see one of the stone breakwaters behind him. The waves were making big sprays as they hit them! I didn't time this photo to catch it, but I have one below that does.

In the sling, heading back to the car, trying to block the wind from his ears! We didn't know we'd be going to the beach, or I'd have brought his hat and mittens.

Sploosh!

I could have used a few extra layers, and didn't realize it till evening but my cheeks got windburned. It was such a fun hour on the beach, though, and Pook was such a good sport with all the picture posing!!

Yours,

Sarah

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Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss

Cardboard Chic - House Tour

(Topic: Moving)

Hi Friends,

Currently, my living room aesthetic is "cardboard chic" - available at your local packing supplies dealer!

Yep, still working on unpacking from the move I mentioned several weeks ago. As I'm sure you've noticed, I've been fairly quiet on here. Several reasons: One, I didn't want to give exact dates of the move, because while I know most of my readers, I don't know everyone :) and don't want to over-bare my soul on the internet! But more directly: I'd actually planned to have pre-written and auto-released posts for the weeks I'd be too busy to write, but things got busier faster than anticipated, and I never actually got the posts prepared.

Now, though! New home, half set up, and reliable internet, so it's now possible to take writing breaks when I'm tired of unpacking!


First off, I'll show you some of the chaos that we walked into when coming into the house when the movers were done, then I'll show you some of what I've been working on. You'll get a full tour of the new place!

Pookie helping me bring boxes home from the Uhaul store when we were still moving out. He was a bit tired of cardboard too.

My view as the movers carried everything into the new house!

The office: chaos.

The initial chaos of the living room after the movers were done. Note the bear enjoying his new home!

Our narrow kitchen, mostly put together, from the dining room door.

Our little kitchen as viewed from the back door :)

Bedroom, mostly functional!

We got the bathroom functional pretty quickly. Isn't it nice?!

Our front step, with the lilies our former landlord gave us!

Well, that was the initial chaos. So then, we started unpacking, placing furniture, and getting organized! (I mean, the bathroom and kitchen and the basics in the bedroom got done in the first 2 days, but beyond that... chaos!)

Step one in the office: placing hubby's desk, shelf, and cabinet.

Soon realized that the dark shelf was narrower and thus perfect for a different spot, so we swapped that shelf!

There's a nook in the office that I initially thought would fit two of the tall shelves. Nope. This narrow shelf wasn't ideal there either...

...but the brown shelf fit perfectly!

The narrow shelf ended up between hubby's desk and my desk/sewing table. It's working pretty well, actually!

I actually have all the shelves filled and organized in the office now, but we still have a bit of chaos lingering before I'll take "final version" pictures. Nearly there, though!

I ended up putting up two shelves in the bedroom. I'd hoped a third would fit, but it would overlap the light switch! Not practical... We ended up putting a rounded corner table in that spot instead.

Like with the office, the bedroom is nearly done, but still has a bit of tidying up before I can take final pictures! That's four rooms done (mostly): bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, office.

So what's left? Dining room and living room! (There's a basement, which is organized with plastic shelving but not much to look at, so we'll skip that.)

Here's a picture of the dining room in progress. The kitchen island on the left is right next to the pass-through, so if we need an extra person chopping veggies, they can do it there and hand them in (the kitchen is too small for 3 people, and a bit tricky even for two). Cookbooks on the shelf in the middle, and who knows exactly what will end up on the baker's rack! The dining table extends out from there.

I don't have pictures of the living room, but we seem to somehow have 2 seats too many to fit! We'll figure it out, and then I'll take pictures and show you. In all, we like this place, and think it will be a great home for us!

Yours,

Sarah

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Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss

Pookie in Dayton and Yellow Springs

(Topic: Travel with Pookie)

Hi Friends!

Last fall, when hubby was doing a lot of interviews and I went along, Pookie and I got to spend a day exploring the Dayton area, and ended up exploring Yellow Springs. You get to enjoy pictures of Pookie playing at a local park we found!

Pookie being my copilot

At the park! Pookie is in his comfy tiger suit which is good for travel and playing!

Playing on the climbing ropes!

He found a bas relief squirrel!

Climbing bear!

Yours,

Sarah

To subscribe, find the "subscribe by email" note in the left column and enter your email there. Links to posts will be emailed directly to you whenever I post them! Nothing else gets emailed.

Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss

Pookie Adventure: Columbus and Ikea

(Topic: Travel, weighted bear)

Hi Friends!

Another Pookie Travelogue. Last fall we did a lot of traveling, and I take Pookie along and take pictures of him, so here's a fun photo story of our adventures in Columbus Ohio and visiting the Ikea store there!

First stop, hotel! This one had some fun "modern" style items. Here's Pookie in his meta snowsuit (he's a blue bear, in a suit that makes him look like a blue bear!!)

Because Ikea has furniture for kids, there's a lot more Pookie-sized stuff!!!

He suggested a tea stop at the café. I agreed.

Yum! From this angle you can see the building :D

This bed is close to the right size! I think it's a doll bed.

Pookie tried to convince me we needed a riding moose. I remain unconvinced...

"Please, have a seat."

Spaghetti night, anyone?

Pookie requested a cart ride, which I agreed to, because he's a heavy little guy!

"I'll handle the dishes."

Really? "not actual size"?? Shucks!

Pookie also thinks we should get him his own couch. I said he could buy it when he has his own money and his own apartment.

Yours,

Sarah

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Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss

Adventure Pookie: Altoona PA

(Topic: Travel, weighted bears, blueberries, trains)

Pookie wanted to dress like Daddy, and do Work. Daddy asked him what he was reading on Mommy's tablet.

Blueberry futures, said Pookie. Research. Important Work. Also, yummy.

See, Daddy? Market shares. Sharing. Blueberry PIE. Important. Also, yummy.

Hi Friends!

As part of last fall's travels, most of which had to do with interviews, I got to take Pookie to lots of cool places, all over the Midwest (ok, really just Ohio, Western PA, Western NY, and southern MI. Still a lot of travel!). I didn't blog as we went along, but took lots of pictures... after this one, I believe there's still one more post that will be coming!

The main place I spent time in Altoona has to do with their history. Altoona was essentially founded as a base station for building the massive Horseshoe Curve. There is a great railroad museum downtown, and then you can see the curve if you drive a bit out of town, and there's a museum and a funicular railcar there, too, which are also suuuuper cool!

What's Horseshoe Curve? Basically, it's really hard to get trains through mountains, because they don't do hills well, or snow, but building tunnels or bridges is a ton of work. A railway route designer came up with a plan to use the curves of a valley to loop the tracks around, giving them enough length to slowly make the ascent that would otherwise be too steep and would have to be on an impossibly long bridge. So they built up and tore down edges of the valley, looped the tracks around in a big, gently slanted uphill, which allowed them to cross the PA mountains and connect to the "west" in a direction that no-one else was doing.

I had permission! :) This was truly a cool museum if you like the history of railroading.

Pookie in the lobby. Behind him is a model of iron being worked, to make locomotives, which was Altoona's bread and butter until the 30s and 40s, when steam went by the wayside and diesel took over.

The railroad museum has a lot of neat rolling stock. Nothing really makes Pookie look small than having him sit on something that big... he's smaller than the coupler!

Much of the roundhouse isn't open, but parts of it are - they do some restoration in that space.

Pookie got a new hat in the museum store, but this is the wrong end of the train for that hat!!!

After the museum, I wanted to see Horseshoe Curve, but hubby was done a bit early and I'd spent more time at the Railroader's Museum than I'd realized! Hubby was sweet and wonderful, though, and assented to a visit to the Curve :) He knows how to make his wife happy!

This is at the curviest part of the curve. You can see a train going on the tracks above the parking lot. There are three parallel lines of tracks running the curve. At one point there were 4, but the 3rd track got removed in the 80s.

Norfolk Southern is one of the main lines going through this particular route. I think the other might have been CSX. At the top of the viewing area, really close to the tracks, they have rail control radio on, and explanations, so that train watchers can figure out what train to expect, from whom, and sometimes what cargo, too.

Containers and trailers, pretty routine.

In the museum courtyard. Pookie is a pretty small cargo!

There's my little engineer!

The funicular tracks from the museum up to the viewing area.

Some stats for the train buffs reading this :)

Up the funicular!!!

There's also a locomotive on display in the viewing area. Snapped this picture just as a bunch of tankers went by!

More interesting stats and history, if you're interested :)

Some of the explanatory signage for novice train watchers.

Looking back around over the valley. The base of the curve is behind me, and you can see it cutting through the hills on the left (lower side) and right (higher side).

Panorama of the curve. I think you can click on the picture to see it larger.

Unintentionally, this trip was also timed perfectly, because my train-themed birthday party was a week or two after this visit! I definitely picked up some of my party favors in the museum store...

Yours,

Sarah

To subscribe, find the "subscribe by email" note in the left column and enter your email there. Posts will be emailed directly to you whenever I post them!

Resource list: Visit my spreadsheet at www.tinyurl.com/infantloss