Our Final Christmas (til next December!)

Christmas of 2022 was ridiculous! In a good way, but still…

We visited our kids in Brooklyn NY this past weekend for our third and final Christmas. Between illness and weather, they were not able to come back to Cleveland. It was wonderful to see them. We visited Chamber Street Wines, where our son works.

one of the best in the city!

We went to the Guggenheim Museum which was super cool. The building is in a spiral, and you walk the spiral to see the art.

inside the museum
Alex Katz exhibit…we remember these clothes and hair!
art by Nick Case

We also played Bananagram, a fun scrabble-like game with tiles that look like Chiclets. Of course no NYC trip would be complete without a parking ticket. I’m serious. I double dog dare you to try to drive in NYC and not get a ticket of some kind. It’s not humanly possible.

John was a hero…
The subway was much better!

But it was a nice trip nonetheless. I miss the kids. I don’t know if I will ever be not sad coming home from seeing them in person. They are happy there and I remember being that age and living my life. But I still miss them.  Ah well, whatcha gonna do?

Izzy and Tim at a sweet little cafe with amazing breakfasts

Chester got to spend a few nights at Camp Bow Wow. He does like it there but it sure tires him out. He basically passed out in the car driving home and slept for two days.

He’s getting back to normal, so I’ll take him for a walk later. The weather is not particularly cold…about 37 degrees, which is practically flip flop weather! We’ll go see the lake.

One random complaint about the weather…muddy paw prints. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Milo and Zeus missed us; Milo decided I’m not allowed to stop petting him and is lying on my arm so I can’t type.

OK now on to the Super Bowl and an internal conflict. I like football. Actually, I like fantasy football, but I like to watch too. There is nothing like a Browns game on a Sunday afternoon to prompt a nice nap on the couch.

But it seems a little barbaric at the same time. Are we still watching the gladiators in the arena? I would not want my grandkids to play football. But I still want to watch it. While I watch the game and more importantly the usually underwhelming and over-hyped halftime show and commercials, a small voice in my head says football is not going to be part of our psyche at some point. Something will happen; something to change our viewpoint. I’m not trying to be dramatic, unlike the usually over-dramatic halftime show…just admitting that I’m a hypocrite when it comes to football. However….

NOT THE PUPPY BOWL! I love the puppy bowl and kittie halftime show. I love the corny jokes, the birds and other assorted critters who make guest appearances and the referee. Most of all I love the cause. Our shelters here in Cleveland are overwhelmed. If we could squeeze in one more pet we would, but our house is full up. In NYC everyone seems to have a dog; they were all out walking! Cats aren’t as lucky there, but our kids adopted two spoiled ones.

I understand that there is a bump in adoptions following the puppy bowl, so fingers crossed some of these guys (especially the adults) get a second chance. We are certainly glad we chose Chester (or he chose us) since he has been a great addition to our family. (minus the muddy paw prints!)

It wasn’t me!

Have a great week!