Plague Diary: In Which I Admire Cleveland
Dec. 7th, 2020 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyI have been freed from Durance Vile! In celebration, I WENT OUT and DID THINGS.
The first thing I did was drive to Warrensville Heights, to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond there because they have a 2 quart dutch oven that should fit in the toaster oven and enable me to make bread, and it was on sale. I was a bit croggled by the sign on the door that said that the store was rated for 576 customers. That seems appalling in non-pandemic times. In pandemic times, yeah, fucking terrifying. There were, however, nowhere near that many people. I found the dutch oven I wanted, in a fetching blue, and a cheese grater. There was a Staples in the same strip mall, so I went there to get a Sharpie (how did I ever decide to leave the house without one?) and some scotch tape, which I will need when it finally comes time to wind the last skein of silk into a ball.
I got in my car, told der Google to take me to downtown Cleveland, and did what it told me. Please do not ask me about routing, as I couldn't answer if I tried. It has been a grey, grey day with short spats of pellet-snow and brief moments when the clouds part and the winter sun shines down clear as crystal and sharp as a knife. Warrensville Heights felt, topologically, very much like the Midwest. Rolling hills, that sort of thing. As I drove to Cleveland, there was this abrupt change to topology and architecture which felt extremely Rust Belt. Very reminiscent of Pittsburgh, although the hills aren't nearly as steep. I got to Cleveland, and decided that it was cold and I was lazy, so I didn't get out of the car. Instead, I just tootled around in my car.
I like Cleveland. I mean, to look at. I haven't really interacted with it as a city, so much, so this is entirely looks. But the downtown is actually rather lovely. The Standard Building and the Rockefeller Building were both stand outs. There was this weird monument that I couldn't really get close to that had some dates in the nineteenth century on it, so I'm thinking probably a Civil War monument of some sort. It had a bunch of lovely muted earth tones, and some heroic figures and a very tall pillar. I shall go back and look at it more closely. There were other bits of lovely public art, a strange green man reaching for the sky while standing on a swirling sphere. No idea what that's about, but I liked it. A huge huge rubber stamp that says "free". A weird black tube, twisted in a shape that reminds me of what I used to do to paperclips when I was stressed, at least a story high. I got glimpses of the lake, but it is supposed to be much nicer, later this week, so I plan to go back when it is warmer and there is reliable sunshine.
Cleveland was pretty empty, for a Monday afternoon. I do not know how much of that is because of the pandemic and how much of that is because the city core is in trouble. Probably a combination, if I had to guess. I think a majority of the people I saw out and about were black. This is notably different from Minneapolis, but in a very welcome way. I grew up in a multi-racial neighborhood, and my hindbrain associates a a mixture of skin tones as safe and welcoming. (More precisely, I grew up in a neighborhood that was experiencing block busting, and the only two races were white and black, with the former fleeing year by year and the latter increasing year by year, but I honestly never noticed that at the time.)
I then drove to Trader Joe's, picked up enough frozen dinners to last me for two weeks of lunches (my freezer is now full) and some other basics. Although they were metering people, Trader Joe's was uncomfortably crowded. I was masked, and so was everyone else, but it was really difficult stay at least 6 feet away, and it was just....I mean, I haven't seen people in a while, so maybe that was part of it? But man, it felt close and worrying. I will try to figure out a less busy time to go. At this exact moment in time, I should probably be both somewhat immune and not contagious, but I don't really want to count on that. I am very, very careful about being masked when I am out of the house.
When I got home, there were GIFT SPICES. Thank you, Ambyr. I am delighted and pleased.
The toaster oven is preheating with the dutch oven inside. In mere moments, I'm going to go put the bread in it, and see what happens. I have no idea how long to cook it for, no idea how well the toaster oven will manage, it's all very uncertain and I'm excited to see what happens next.
ETA: the bread came out fabulous. Life is just great, this very instant in time. I'll take it.
The first thing I did was drive to Warrensville Heights, to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond there because they have a 2 quart dutch oven that should fit in the toaster oven and enable me to make bread, and it was on sale. I was a bit croggled by the sign on the door that said that the store was rated for 576 customers. That seems appalling in non-pandemic times. In pandemic times, yeah, fucking terrifying. There were, however, nowhere near that many people. I found the dutch oven I wanted, in a fetching blue, and a cheese grater. There was a Staples in the same strip mall, so I went there to get a Sharpie (how did I ever decide to leave the house without one?) and some scotch tape, which I will need when it finally comes time to wind the last skein of silk into a ball.
I got in my car, told der Google to take me to downtown Cleveland, and did what it told me. Please do not ask me about routing, as I couldn't answer if I tried. It has been a grey, grey day with short spats of pellet-snow and brief moments when the clouds part and the winter sun shines down clear as crystal and sharp as a knife. Warrensville Heights felt, topologically, very much like the Midwest. Rolling hills, that sort of thing. As I drove to Cleveland, there was this abrupt change to topology and architecture which felt extremely Rust Belt. Very reminiscent of Pittsburgh, although the hills aren't nearly as steep. I got to Cleveland, and decided that it was cold and I was lazy, so I didn't get out of the car. Instead, I just tootled around in my car.
I like Cleveland. I mean, to look at. I haven't really interacted with it as a city, so much, so this is entirely looks. But the downtown is actually rather lovely. The Standard Building and the Rockefeller Building were both stand outs. There was this weird monument that I couldn't really get close to that had some dates in the nineteenth century on it, so I'm thinking probably a Civil War monument of some sort. It had a bunch of lovely muted earth tones, and some heroic figures and a very tall pillar. I shall go back and look at it more closely. There were other bits of lovely public art, a strange green man reaching for the sky while standing on a swirling sphere. No idea what that's about, but I liked it. A huge huge rubber stamp that says "free". A weird black tube, twisted in a shape that reminds me of what I used to do to paperclips when I was stressed, at least a story high. I got glimpses of the lake, but it is supposed to be much nicer, later this week, so I plan to go back when it is warmer and there is reliable sunshine.
Cleveland was pretty empty, for a Monday afternoon. I do not know how much of that is because of the pandemic and how much of that is because the city core is in trouble. Probably a combination, if I had to guess. I think a majority of the people I saw out and about were black. This is notably different from Minneapolis, but in a very welcome way. I grew up in a multi-racial neighborhood, and my hindbrain associates a a mixture of skin tones as safe and welcoming. (More precisely, I grew up in a neighborhood that was experiencing block busting, and the only two races were white and black, with the former fleeing year by year and the latter increasing year by year, but I honestly never noticed that at the time.)
I then drove to Trader Joe's, picked up enough frozen dinners to last me for two weeks of lunches (my freezer is now full) and some other basics. Although they were metering people, Trader Joe's was uncomfortably crowded. I was masked, and so was everyone else, but it was really difficult stay at least 6 feet away, and it was just....I mean, I haven't seen people in a while, so maybe that was part of it? But man, it felt close and worrying. I will try to figure out a less busy time to go. At this exact moment in time, I should probably be both somewhat immune and not contagious, but I don't really want to count on that. I am very, very careful about being masked when I am out of the house.
When I got home, there were GIFT SPICES. Thank you, Ambyr. I am delighted and pleased.
The toaster oven is preheating with the dutch oven inside. In mere moments, I'm going to go put the bread in it, and see what happens. I have no idea how long to cook it for, no idea how well the toaster oven will manage, it's all very uncertain and I'm excited to see what happens next.
ETA: the bread came out fabulous. Life is just great, this very instant in time. I'll take it.
