Cleveland!

Wonderful people. Wonderful time. Wonderful town! Whether baseball, basketball or fun is your passion, Cleveland has it all!

Anno had it right -- this past weekend, Rick and I went to Cleveland to visit my cousins and see my cousin David, his wife Bonnie (aka Mama K) and my other cousin-in-law's sister (we're very inbred!) in "Fiddler on the Roof!" In the photo below, David is in the middle, Sharon is at the left and Bonnie at his right.

(By the way, these photos of the show are by Dave Anthony.)

I'll let Bonnie get first crack at writing about it on her blog. I will say, however, that it was wonderful. We saw opening night and were absolutely delighted. They did a fabulous job, the music was perfect, everything worked. It was extra fun for us, because David's part was even bigger than we thought!

We expected it would be fun, but it was also awfully good!

We started out the evening at a fun restaurant, where Cousin Patty's husband Dave, Cousin Mutty and her husband Howard, Howard's brother Kenny and Rick and I enjoyed a good dinner. (That's Dave, the photographer, next to Mutty and Kenny next to Rick!)

Then it was off to the play! Can't beat that for a fun night out.

The next morning, David and Bonnie and I went to Shaker Market, where I picked up the prize for my "Where Am I" drawing at this booth. (See the end of the post for the winner!)

Flowers were in bloom...

Colorful crafts were everywhere...

There were baked goods, meats, grains, you name it!

Let's say, I did my share for the stimulating the Cleveland farmer-and-artisan market. I loved walking by the apartment buildings a few blocks away with their amazing architecture and stonework.

Then we hit the Beachwood community sale where I found this ...

And something for the drawing!

That night, cousin Mutty, Rick and I walked through Chagrin Falls, enjoyed a good dinner, ice cream in the 80 degree evening and took photos of one another!

Some nice guy kindly took one of all three of us!

On Sunday, after a lovely breakfast at Mutty's, we headed to see Cousin Patty (whose art is lovely!) and her husband Dave.

Patty works at a floral shop where she sells her paintings, so for the first time I got to see the shop and more of her work. I'm going to write more about Patty in another post. This is just a sneak peek.

The off to home where the Gypsy was waiting!

There was really only one kind of really bad thing that happened, and that's when I backed my car into cousin Jeff's. Let's just say, thank goodness for insurance. I can't bear to post the pix.

And now -- the winner of the drawing is: Diana (aka Oh!)

And your surprise is this bar of Lemon Verbena soap (with bees wax) and a cute little pottery dish for it to sit on. Make sure I have your address! (The soap came from the farmer's market, while the dish was from the Beachwood Community Sale!)

As they always say, "A good time was had by all!" (Except that it wasn't long enough!)