This is not, in fact, my house. But I wish it were. I have this fascination with Craftsman-style homes, in particular the Craftsman bungalow. There is something so appealing to me about the thoughtful combination of form and function embodied in a Craftsman home. 
...pictures of our favorite coffee shop, Phoenix Coffee. My personal favorite of their coffees is the Red Cape Blend. And they have the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. Yum.
And yet another picture from Larchmere... One of the great things about Cleveland is cheap parking. Even for Cleveland, this is dirt cheap. An hour and a half for a dime. What a steal!
Here's another shot from my Larchmere shopping trip. For some ineffable reason, I find this sign very appealing. My husband has frequented this barber shop ... the proprietor is a thirty-ish woman. Barber shops have always seemed to me to be the exclusive province of the masculine, so this amuses me. She gives a good haircut, I must say.
Yesterday I had a little time alone and some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. So I went to the Larchmere Boulevard shopping area. The area is home to a number of antique (and antique-cum-junk) stores, a lovely used bookshop, a yarn shop, restaurants, and other interesting places. I didn't go in this boutique, but I was struck by the window display.
... but instead you get a neon sign. Indeed, we drink espresso here in Cleveland and we even know how to spell it. This sign is at the Yours Truly restaurant on Shaker Square, and is one of those places with kids' menus and crayons. Also, an awesome patty melt.
Two days ago, it was over 70 degrees Fahrenheit here. This morning, we woke up to snow. Ah, the joys of living alongside a big lake.
Next to City Hall downtown is our city's most unusual piece of public art. It's a giant rubber stamp marked "FREE." Designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, the sculpture was a gift to the city from the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, which has since been taken over by British Petroleum. Click the link for more pictures and a brief history of the controversy surrounding this piece.
This tree on a street in my neighborhood had the misfortune of growing near a water leak. On the street in front of the tree was a huge puddle and the tree was sprayed each time a car passed by. The result -- a very thick coating of ice.
Fire is a popular restaurant in Shaker Square, which is near my home. I've never eaten here, as (1) I have children and (2) it appears not to have crayons at the table. (I'm only partially kidding.) Anyhow, I liked the warm name and the chilly weather in the picture, as well as the little architectural detail above the window.
... PVC pipe could look so good? As you can see from the smaller picture below, this is a closeup of an organ made out of PVC pipe. We saw it at one of our regular weekend haunts, the Great Lakes Science Center. With two small boys and living in a place with rather cold, nasty winter weather, it's become the antidote to cabin fever. 
My husband took this picture of Horseshoe Lake in Shaker Heights. We had a new dusting of snow this weekend, so everything looks clean again.
My attic window.
