Monday July 18--We're havin' a heat wave....

Whew!  It has been a whirlwind of activity in Cleveland, and the weather has not been conducive to relaxing.  It has been steamy hot and forecast to get hotter.  We heard that Satan comes here for vacation as it reminds him of home.  We slept Sunday night in the camper again, but the poor fan had a hard time keeping up with the hot air outside.  The good thing seems to be that we sweat off all the calories, and then some, we have ingested during the day. 

We decided to have a day off  and do some chores and stay in air conditioning as much as possible.  Jeff got up early and let me sleep in.  I emerged from the camper at about 9 and went in the house to chat with Dixie and have coffee and cereal.  Dixie was worried about the 10 kittens she had in her cattery.....they were having a hard time with the heat, even though she keeps it as cool as possible.  Jeff and I went to see them and were overcome with their cuteness!  Jeff wanted to bring 3 home with us but I had to use my veto power.

Dixie, the not-so-crazy, cat lady

Trying to take pictures of ten kittens is like......well, trying to herd cats.  Impossible.

After breakfast, showers and starting a couple of loads of laundry, hunger forced us out into the heat.  We drove downtown to Coventry, which is the "hippie" part of town, and went to eat at a veggie restaurant called "Tommy's".

The Greek salad was delicious, the veggie burger a delight, the service excellent and the ambiance, a step back to our past.  After that we went exploring.  Jeff knew some of the shops and we rambled and shopped until the heat forced us inside again.  We found an internet coffee shop and updated the blog and checked emails.

Your correspondents from J & K Adventures, (Tie dye by K creations)

We knew we had to go outside eventually, so we dripped and wadded back to the truck and headed for a cinema....the respite of many hot and sweaty mid westerners.   The selection of movies, or starting times wasn't to our tastes. Neither of us felt like watching anyone get blown up or a kid's cartoon movie.  Finally we found relief in a bar with a pool table and adequate beer with great music.  It also had one of those mid-century bowling games.  It was so ancient it would have fetched a good price on Antique Roadshow, but amazingly it still worked.  It was fun to play and Jeff beat me (of course) (but I never can tell if she let's me win to assuage my large male ego). 

We played a game of pool and then went to the Eastside to meet Uncle Jerry for dinner.  We bantered with the waitress from Parma (home of the Polish contingent) and had a great dinner at Mitchell's fish house......our culinary enjoyment and weight gain continues!  Finally it was back to Dixie's and an attempt to find a cool place to sleep.

I admit I had an emotional breakdown at that point. We tried to make a bedroom in Dixie's family room. The airbed had gotten wet in the thunder storm at Lake Winnie, the batteries in the blower were practically dead, and even though Dixie is a wonderful person and generous and caring beyond fault, she smokes.  The smell of cigarettes, being constantly hot and sweaty, and the exhaustion of  moving around so much and meeting so many new people (who I admittedly was trying to impress) finally got to me.  I became a quivering mass of tears and sobbing.  Thank goodness Jeff got his second wind and had the strength to hold and comfort me.  ( I am unsure that it was truly a breakdown and more an excuse to cuddle).   Finally we got settled and got to sleep.

BTW, the 18th was my Dad's 83rd birthday.  Happy birthday, Daddy and I hope you have many more.