Nan's Notes

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

A KID-FRIENDLY ART SALE

The Arts Collinwood Holiday Art Sale is the kid-friendliest anywhere. Not only does it have a supervised craft corner in the Art Center, where the kids can make art while you shop; not only does the Café understand the importance of cookies and cocoa (with cocoa, it’s the whipped cream); but on Sunday December 13, the last day of the sale, you can take the family to the Beachland for brunch and a puppet show, and shop afterwards. Food, entertainment, art – Waterloo Road has it all.

E. 185 FOR THE HOLIDAYS   

We’ve started our sticker collection with a visit to Chili Peppers (Emma has discovered quesdadillas) – which, BTW, was doing a roaring business on Tuesday evening, both eat-in and take-out. The first step to winning a fabulous gift basket.

If no one has dropped an E185 postcard through your mailbox, ask for one at almost any business on the street (definitely at Beachland Hair Design, Chili Pepper’s, Federated Auto Parts, Gus’s Diner, LakeShore Automotive, Northeast Shores Development Corp, Patria Imports, Tuthill’s Florist, Adriatic Pets, Arabica, Fresh Catch , Helping Hands Day Care, Joe Compoli, Attorney, National City Bank (now PNC), Shore Carpet, Azman Meats , Best Friend Self Serve Dog Wash, Blue Sky Bike, Cebar’s, Groom Room, Lakeshore Florist, Martin’s Men’s Wear, Music Emporium, Old World Plaza Barber Shop, Oz Collectibles, Scotti’s Italian Eatery, Seven Star Muffler, Used Cars,Inc., Video Game and Record Exchange, Villa Rosa Pizzeria and Vince’s Barber Shop).

ENLIVEN YOUR LIFE AT LOWLIFE   

New works by painter Sunia Boneham and photographer Bridget Caswell go on show at a Friday, December 4 reception, 6pm-10pm, at LowLife gallery. The show will run through December 26.

LowLife Gallery, 16101 Waterloo. Thursdays: 6pm-10pm, Fridays: 6pm-11pm, Saturdays: 5pm-11pm.

SHOPAROONI’S HOLIDAY ART BOMB  

Dealaroonis abound in Shoparooni’s veritable fruit cake of artisan and handmade goods from Cleveland and beyond. In the Shoparooni Annexe from December 5.

Shoparooni, 15813 Waterloo, 216.383.3633, www.shoparooni.com. Winter hours: Monday – Closed; Tues, Wed, Thurs - 3 pm - 9 pm; Friday - 3 pm - 10 pm; Saturday - 12 pm - 10 pm; Sunday - 12 pm - 4 pm

MUSICSAVES  

Mark the calendar now for MusicSaves’ Sixth Annual Holiday Getdown with Casual Encounters, The Walkies, Talons and Shiny Penny  -- at the Beachland on December 19.

MusicSaves, 15801 Waterloo, 216.481.1875         www.musicsaves.com

AT THE BEACHLAND 

Mark the calendar for the 2nd Annual Matzoh Ball & Latke Party, December 25, featuring Blue Lunch, at the Beachland Ballroom -- 8:30 pm (7:30 pm doors) .

Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo, 216.383.1124, www.beachlandballroom.com

NOURISHING FRIDAY FISH FRY  Every Friday

Before or after taking in the opening, the book signing, the Art Bomb, the Flea Market and the music sale – restore your strength with the Slovenian Home’s excellent fried fish and coleslaw (or pork chops with polenta, or macaroni cheese).

Slovenian Home, 15335 Waterloo, 481-4378, 11:30 am – 8 pm

NOURISHING DINER FOOD AT FOTINA’S

If you’re shopping early on a holiday weekend, and you like diner food (with a slight Greek twist), remember Fotina’s, which has diner comfort food AND diner comfort waitresses.

Fotina’s  400 E 156, 692-1375; open 7 am – 2:30 pm, every day.

FESTIVE WATERLOO 

ARTS COLLINWOOD HOLIDAY SALE December 11,12,13

Weekend on Waterloo, Arts Collinwood’s annual holiday art extravaganza, runs December 11, 12 and 13. From vintage clutches to museum-quality glass to scented soaps, WoW has something for everyone. (And the jewelry!) Buy gifts (remembering yourself) and please your palate in the Café, while your kids make their own (supervised) art in the Community Center. 

More than 30 of the area’s top artists will bring you jewelry, wearables, glass, paintings and photography on December 11 (5-11 pm), 12 (11 am – 11 pm) and 13 (11 am – 5 pm.) Kids can create their own holiday masterpieces in a supervised corner of the Art Center while you shop, and you can treat them (and yourself) to goodies in the Café (open all hours of the art sale).

New talents have joined with some Arts Collinwood favorites to create what I’d have to call a fabulous shopping experience if I were given to advert-ese: Michelle Biondo, Sunia Boneham, Amy Casey, Jon Cotterman, Designs by Arielle and Pamela, Joan of Art (Deveney), Chris Dixon, Gretchen Goss, Scott Goss, Ann Grecar, John Gulyas and Maryann Posch, Mark Hartung. Jon Hicks, Jeanetta Ho, Mariamne Ingalls, Megan Kelly, Chris Kolcsar, Chadd Lacy, Nathan Longnecker, Michael Mikula, Michael Romanik, Steve and Michelle Romanik, Susan Skoczen, Mark Sudduth, Randall Tiedman, Tutu's Designs, Beth Whalley, Karin Wishner, Brent Kee Young, Sandra Zodnik, Linda Zolten Wood.

HOLIDAY SAVINGS AT THE CAFE

And on any weekend during the holidays, save $1 off your purchase at the Arts Collinwood Café with a receipt from any of these merchants: Arts Collinwood Gallery & Café, Azure Stained Glass, Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Blue Arrow Records, The Boardwalk, Cakes By Sweetwater, Fotina’s, Low Life, Mac’s Lock Shop, Music Saves, Neighbor’s Choice, R&D Sausage, Raddell’s Sausage, Star Pop, Shoparooni & The Annex, Slovenian Workman’s Home, This Way Out, Waterloo 7 Gallery and Wunderkind Gallery.

The café, BTW, is introducing some seriously delicious food; on Friday I had gingered tomato soup and a most elegant plate of crostini with olive and white bean tapenades.

And every penny you spend in either the café or gallery will not only purchase pleasure, repleteness and the gratitude and admiration of your friends – it will also help pay for art lessons for kids who are bursting with creative energy; or for paints and canvas that a starving artist will turn into another masterpiece. How can you resist?

JAZZ ON WEDNESDAYS

The Café at Arts Collinwood is bringing back Jazz on Wednesdays – live jazz, no cover charge, full bar and kitchen service. First set 8 pm, second set 9:30.

Café at Arts Collinwood 15603 Waterloo Road; open Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays.

WRAP UP YOUR SHOPPING AT WATERLOO 7  December 12

Join Jerry and Tyler and friends on December 12 for a night of live music and unique gift shopping. They've loaded the Gallery with one-of-a-kind jewelry, stocking-sized sculpture, hand-painted treasure boxes and fine-art prints – if you can’t find something you like, you aren’t really looking. From 7 pm to 11 pm you can enjoy a glass of wine with the artists, browse for treasures (be sure to check the corners) and rock with Oldboy, Ben Barr and Jenna Fournier.

 If you can’t get there on Saturday, the art (without the wine and music) will still be there (well, what hasn’t sold yet) through January 1. 

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 2 - 8 pm; Friday-Saturday 2 - 10 pm; Sunday 1 - 6 pm. Phone: (239) 293-9548.

BRUNCH PLUS PUPPETS AT THE BEACHLAND December 13

Take the family to brunch at the Beachland on Sunday, December 13 (11 am- 3 pm), then stroll down to Arts Collinwood to shop (11 am – 5 pm); the kids can create their own holiday treasures in the Art Center while you browse. 

The Beachland does a fabulous brunch every Sunday – but it doesn’t usually have Leia Alligator ‘s kid-friendly Picklefight Puppet Show – which will appear at 12 pm and 2 pm.

The reason the Beachland brunch is always fabulous is that (besides entertaining you with a real, live DJ), they serve such delicacies as Crème Brulee French toast and, for vegans or vegetarians, scrambled tofu marinated in dark soy sauce and sesame oil and sautéed with scallions or onions, served with a side of broccoli and potatoes. You could also order breakfast empanadas filled with eggs, steak, bacon or sausage, with potatoes, olives and sultana raisins served with lime sour cream on the side.  Or fried risotto cakes with poached eggs and broccoli, gaucho steak and eggs, breakfast polenta and weekly chef’s specials. But if (like darling Miles) you don’t want people messing with your breakfast, you can have traditional eggs, bacon and sausage. AND each week introduces a different sangria. As well as home-made Bloody Marys.

Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo, 216.383.1124, www.beachlandballroom.com

And by the way -- Beachland gift certificates make a great holiday surprise.

STAR POP’S GRAND OPENING December 12

Star Pop (a star of popular culture) is a small and very crowded collection of things you haven’t seen for a long time (except the designer baby shoes – I think.) Owner Troy Schwartz is a fourth-generation toyshop owner; can you think of a better inheritance?

Moving carefully through his vintage and modern merchandise, you’ll find toys, T-shirts, clothing and accessories, children’s books, video games, movies, music, art, and more. (I found, for instance, a slot-together castle, and have been kicking myself for buying only one.)

Star Pop is celebrating its so­cial grand opening on the night of December 12, and invites you to come enjoy some holiday treats while you explore. Bear in mind that not only is all this stuff affordable, it’s sustainable (that’s a new word for green, which was a new word for environmentally sensitive, which was obviously too cumbersome to last) – it’s all been salvaged from local family and estate sales.

Star Pop 15813 Waterloo Road (at the corner of E160, across from LowLife and Blue Arrow). 216-965-2368. Tuesday-Thursday 3-9, Friday 3-10, Saturday 2-10, Sunday 12:30-6. Extended holiday hours at www.starpopcleveland.com.

IN THE ARTS COLLINWOOD ART CENTER

LIFE DRAWING

Thursdays: 7:30 - 9pm. $8/session

Bring your own easel and drawing materials. No pre-registration required, please bring payment to class. Sessions will be held December 10 and 17,  and will resume after the holidays, January  17.  For more information call, 216-692-9500.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON YOGA

Jen Lessin, yoga teacher and certified Occupational Therapist Assistant, teaches Kundalini Yoga in the Arts Collinwood Community Center on Sundays, 2-3:30pm. Come learn to use this ancient tool to cope with modern day stress. This is yoga for all body types. $10/session. Enter through the Arts Collinwood gallery, 15603 Waterloo Road.

AROUND AND ABOUT

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS HISTORICALLY

You are invited to join the Collinwood Nottingham Historical Society at their holiday meeting on December 17 at the Lithuanian Hall, 877 E185th St. Hear about the Society’s first year and its plans, and enjoy Ruta’s delicious catering – only $10.

RSVP to Mary Louise Jesek Daley at mlajesek@aol.com or CollNottHistory@aol.com.

A CNHS tree is part of the 2009 Festival of Trees sponsored by the Women’s Committee of the Cleveland Play House. It is decorated with train ornaments, frogs (in the very early days, Collinwood Village was called Frogville), white roses for the children of the Collinwood school fire, chalk boards, poinsettias and holly, mementos of Euclid Beach and a final sprinkling of tinsel. Sue and George Neff did the decorating, and the trees will be on show until January 3.

The Society has just distributed its first newsletter, summing up its first year plus some plans. To hear all abut it, you can go to the December 17 meeting (with dinner) and mark third Thursdays on your calendar throughout the year.

VERY SPECIAL GLASS

Michael Mikula is one of Arts Collinwood’s favorite artists (because he’s so talented and so generous with his talents). He will be showing his outstanding glass art, along with studio mates Linda Zmina and Earl James, at the ArtCraft Holiday Sale, December 5 (11 am – 8 pm) and December 6 (11 am – 5 pm). 2570 Superior Ave.

Mike will also (of course) be well represented in Arts Collinwood’s Holiday sale the following weekend.

THIS WEEK AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET

Barb Foose is taking orders for fresh! organically raised! turkeys from Blooming Patches Farm. Email her at bloomingpatches@ windstream. net or stop by the market and talk to Kevin. The turkeys can be picked up at the market, where you will also be able to get lots of other local products. Barb’s poultry eat bugs and worms and green, growing things (she worries about the depth of color in the egg yolks), and lead a very pleasant poultry sort of life.

Coit Road Farmer's Market is located at the corner of Coit & Woodworth Road in East Cleveland. Open year-round Saturday 8 am to 1 pm.

TRINITY FEAST IS ADDING ART

Trinity Cathedral’s medieval feasts this year will be enhanced by an Art Bazaar featuring some 30 artists. The Bazaar will be open during the feasts (Friday Dec 4 & 11, and Saturday Dec 5 & 12, 6-11 pm), but you can also shop there on Saturday, Dec 5 &12, noon-5pm, and on Sunday, December 6 &13, 9am-2pm.

Trinity Cathedral is at 2230 Euclid Ave. Park behind the cathedral in the Prospect Ave lots ( or on the street). (216) 771-3630 for questions.

 MAINLY MOZART AT CITYMUSIC

Conductor Joel Smirnoff will lead Chabrelle Williams, Soprano; Nathan Olson, Violin; and Jessica Oudin, Viola in FREE concerts:

*December 9 - 7:30pm Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cleveland Hts.

*December 10 - 7:30pm Willoughby United Methodist Church, Willoughby

December 12 - 7:30pm Shrine of St. Stanislaus, Slavic Village

Go to CityMusic’s well organized Web site for concert details, directions and phone numbers of churches that provide childcare (*).

CAROLS FOR QUIRE  December 20

Nate-the-gardener recently joined Quire, a choral ensemble devoted to the performance of early music, and they’ll be performing at Trinity Cathedral December 18 and 19 at 7:30 pm, December 20 at 3 pm.

Tickets $5-$10; children free with adults. Available at the door, online, or by phone (216) 223-8854. Free parking.

YO YO CLUB ON THAT'S LIFE  December 21

December 21 10:00 AM: See Shoparooni’s Yo-Yo club on That's Life with Robin Svoboda at 10 am on December 21 (while there’s still time to rush out and buy a yoyo for your chosen holiday celebration).

Make a New year’s Resolution to Recycle.

Start with your Christmas Tree. The City will pick up your live tree from the curb from December 26 to January 29, 2010. In the spring, the mulch from the recycled trees will be made available to Cleveland residents at no cost, while supplies last. Reuse or recycle holiday wrapping and gift boxes. Continue to recycle throughout the year by dropping off your glass, plastic, aluminum, cardboard and paper at any of the City of Cleveland’s convenient drop off locations. Call for a location near you.  216-664-3717.

ELF HELP FROM THE NATURALIST December 19 @ 1PM—5PM

Do you need some time to finish last minute holiday shopping or preparations without the kids tagging along? Drop them off between 1pm and 5 pm at the park office conference room for an afternoon of nature fun. We’ll play nature games, make a craft, have a snack, and even play outside if the weather permits. This program is for children ages 4 and up (must be toilet-trained). Space is limited and you must pre-register by 12/16. Children not pre-registered will not be accepted that day.

216-881-8141 ext. 3001. Park office is located at 8701 Lakeshore Blvd., at the west end of Bratenahl.

DECEMBER AT THE LIBRARY

Saturday, December 22, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Attention all young Grinch fans!  The Cleveland Public Library Memorial-Nottingham Branch will host a How the Grinch Stole Christmas Party!  Stories will be read, the famous movie will be shown, and the young patrons will get a chance to participate in a Grinch a game and craft!

Monday during December  from 10:30 - 11 am

Stories, rhymes, songs and more for children ages 3-5 and their parents/caregivers. For more information, please call 623-7039 or email cpl-memnot@cpl.org.