I’ve been feeling a bit bummed over the last couple of weeks because I was feeling that this year was a waste since I didn’t feel like I’ve accomplished much. However, after some time thinking, this year has been one of the more productive. I guess I was thinking that my book isn’t as far along as I hoped and I haven’t really created anything art related with the exception of my videos of Zola. This has led me to conclude that art is more important to my life than I realized. In many ways, I’ve became disillusioned with art since I don’t feel like it says much about the real world, or if it does, it does so in an abstract way that is mostly lost on the viewer.
This year has seen quite a few accomplishments and adventures. First, we moved from Los Angeles and stayed in Arizona for a month. Then we moved to Ohio and on the way traveled through New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. We also visited Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. With the exception of New Mexico and Colorado, I had never visited any of these states. We have also done some traveling around Ohio including seeing Amish Country. Next week, we are planning to go to Michigan and see Detroit. The week after that, we are going to see Radiohead and then head back to DC to see Mogwai with Nick and his wife.
I also became a stay-at-home dad which has been sort of a mixed bag of enjoyment and frustration. It’s great to be with the kids all day which is also the down fall of staying at home. Also, time seems to move extremely slow which is nice. I can’t believe we’ve only been in Ohio for 9 months. It feels more like we’ve been here for 2 year.
Last week for Mother’s Day, we went to Sandusky, Ohio which is on the lake and is sort of touristy. It was pretty cool because in some areas, you feel like you’re traveling from island to island. We ended up visiting a petting zoo which had mostly deer. I didn’t realize that deer could be this tame and they would come right up to you and eat out of your hand. Zola was freaking out most of the time but did manage to feed some of the dear including some goats. The next day, we had a picnic at one of the parks and sat by the creek just relaxing in the sun.
The other big news is that it looks like we found a house which we are in the process of buying. It looks like a pretty done deal at this point. I kind of have mixed feelings about the home. There are much better homes in Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights that are bigger and have the tutor style I love. They also tend to have tree lined roads. But there are also quite a few problems living in these areas since they tend to be more suburban, aren’t close to the lake or state parks. However, the home we are buying is right in the middle of all the action. It’s located within walking distance of downtown Lakewood. Go the other direction and you run into the park. Both areas are about a 2 minute walk. I can’t think of a better location. Our home is also pretty run down which is fine since we plan on doing quite a few renovations. The guy that owned the place did take care of big issues such as re-roofing and work on the basement but he didn’t care much to keep the wood floors nice or paint the walls. We’ve already contracted someone to put in Oak wood floors and some electrical work. The home is also 103 years old and still has many of the original features including stained glass windows. The house is pretty small and only has 1,400 square feet which I guess is better than the 800 square feet we have now. Plus we have a basement and walkup attack which are not included in the size of the home. The backyard is small which is good since I don’t’ really want to spend much time on it with the exception of having a small garden. The house has also been updated so it has central AC and heat. The neighborhood is also nice and quiet and all the neighbors seem friendly. I’m looking forward to sitting on the front porch which at the moment is a three season patio. We plan on taking it out since it looks extremely tacky. I also look forward to walking to the downtown area which has award winning restaurants, antique shops, yogurt shop, wine shop, grocery stores, a library, farmer market, and plenty of other shopping.
Viola turns 1 in a couple of days. She starting to say a couple of words like uh-oh (Zola’s first word) and daddy. She’s also walking around but doesn’t make it far before she falls. She’s still at that stage where she pretty much eats everything on the ground which is kind of a headache when we go to the park and she tries to shove cigarette butts into her mouth. Zola is talking quite a bit and her cognitive skills have exploded. She’s says things like, “Can I have a sandwich please, daddy” and loves to sing.
Summer looks like it should be pretty exciting. Stephanie will be coming out for a month and a half and we plan to go to New York City which I’ve always wanted to see. We might also go to Niagra Falls but we still need to get the kids passports so we can see it from the Canadian side. After that, Jenifer is coming out. We also might be having one of Mona’s nieces stay with us for a school year.
