Charm Kitty Cafe

Have you heard about Cat Cafe's? 

They are little cafe's with adoptable cats from the Humane Society.  The cafe doesn't really serve food (because of the cat hair).  They will have tea or coffee, and they might have cookies or muffins that you can order.   You can then imbibe while you bond with the kitties.  If you wish, you can adopt one of the kitties and give it a forever home.

Earlier this spring, daughter and I spent an afternoon with the cats at Charm Kitty Cafe.
We each had a cookie, and we sat and did some work while the kitties roamed around, climbed over our keyboards, ignored us, and looked very regal.  We played with the ones that let us, and we admired the ones who were too important to let us get near them!

One thing to note, though.  Almost every cat cafe that I know of - the seating is very limited, and reservations are required.   You will pay for your time in the cafe.  The money goes to support the cats.  The amount of time you get for your reservation varies by the cafe that you visit.

I took a few pictures of the residents of Charm Kitty Cafe while we were there.  I'm certain all of these little fluff balls have been adopted.  But I know they have new little fluff balls searching for their forever homes!

Greeter at the front desk.

This one really likes my purse!

A crate, bolted high on the wall - and a shy friend looking down.

Hiding under a bench.

If I didn't already have 2 cats at home, this one would have come home with me.

Moving from my purse onto my shawl.

And my phone....

He really liked my phone.  He didn't like pats, though.

Hippodrome

We went to the Hippodrome in Baltimore over the weekend to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.  

The Hippodrome itself is a fascinating piece of architecture.  Originally built in 1914 as a movie palace that also showcased Vaudeville Performances, the Hippodrome attracted some of the "biggest" of the big name Vaudeville actors.  

The Hippodrome eventually closed its doors in 1990.  At that time, it was the last operating movie house in the city of Baltimore.  In 2004, the newly renovated Hippodrome was re-opened.  This masterpiece combined three previously existing, historic buildings into one major showpiece.  These buildings were: The Western National Bank, The Eutaw Savings Bank, and the Hippodrome.  A new building was built on the corner of Eutaw and Baltimore streets to tie the buildings together.

The Hippodrome is now a cultural icon in the city that attracts major performers and touring Broadway shows.  (Note - Mike Rowe recently gave a talk here.  A talk in which he introduced his Mom, and the audience began chanting "Old Blue, Old Blue, Old Blue"!  

(Source: France-Merrick Performing Arts Center)

Below, you can find a few pictures that I took around the building.

Is this not one of the most beautiful spaces?

The second floor hallway, outside theater itself.

As near as I can tell, this area is the new building.  There's a cafe on the first floor.  Do you see that clock tower through the window?  That is the Bromo Seltzer Tower.

Don't you just love this window?

The mural above the stage.

It's a very fuzzy picture, I do apologize, but that is the main stage!

I was told to point these boxes out. During one of the 20th century renovations, these boxes had been torn completely out.  With the 2004 reno, they were added back into the architecture, replicating the original design as much as possible.

A Day in Baltimore

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

My youngest takes a class in Baltimore on Saturdays.  While she is in class, I take the opportunity to roam around the neighborhood.  I am always surprised at the beauty I find, hidden in between row houses, waiting to be discovered.



I found this little gem next to a row house.  Like most of the Mid-Atlantic, spring has not quite yet sprung.
Flower bulbs are out, but the bulbs are still furled tight.  You can see the daffodils on the far side of the pond, but the tulips are still deeply furled inside of their green leaves. The forsythia hasn't even come out yet!

Finally!  A tree full of cherry blossoms!  This was the only tree in bloom that I could actually find. 
Look at the blue of the sky.  I love when the sky is this shade of blue.  It's a sure sign of a great day with low humidity!
You can tell that not all of the blossoms on the tree are out yet, but there are many that are opened.

This is the door of a sweet little Catholic church.
Gorgeous wreath.  And look at the iron scrollwork on that door!  It's amazing!  The doors are big doors- old doors.  The church itself is well over 200 years old, and I'm thinking that the scrollwork is the same age.  I'm not sure about the doors.  They may have been replaced once or twice.  They are very thick, heavy wood doors... I think they are close to 10 feet tall.. it's part of a set of double doors, there were two sets on the bell tower - one set on the main street, and one set on the side street.

When I finally got back to campus, I sat and watched a game of "Zombies vs. Humans".  A rather hilarious game, since the kids were dressed in morph suits, tagged with plastic ribbons as to whether they were zombie or human, and carrying Nerf guns and large cardboard war hammers.  I tried hard not to laugh at the kids, but they were so cute, running around, chasing each other through the green grass and hiding behind trees.  The energy and joy of youth!  I'm glad I had the opportunity to sit and watch them, and share in their unadulterated joy for a while!

(By kids, I do mean college students.  I guess the better term to describe them would be "young adults".)