big william's world

Google images are useful - imagine you are in one of those buildings looking out into the lake and while you are at it imagine the photo is larger!

Still no photos I am afraid but the lake is beautiful blue now with ribbons of cars parading parallel to the horizon where the lake joins the sky.
Yes still in Chicago for anther day. I had McDonalds for dinner last night just to placate my reader who called me pretentious.
I also installed a hit-counter becaues little-william challenged me to!
Going to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra tonight - always wanted to see them but then I guess I always was a "bit pretentious"
Off to Malta tomorrow.
I love you all - please get my counter clicking!

M's work computer will not allow me to upload the photo to acompany the title so I will leave you to imagine.
A cold grey Chicago with a view over Lake Michigan looking as big as the Pacific but not blue.
Dinner last night was interesting - 23 small courses including smoked rabit complete with a glass of oakwood-smoke covering it so you got a whiff of smoke as it was, ceremoniously, removed.
One of the more interesting desserts was raspberries stuffed with red-pepper taffy - which is a kind of toffy I think but the flavours worked perfectly together.

Sorrry about the formatting - it looked ok when I clicked "publish"
I think you can figure it out though.

OK I can't take any more of the sarcasm about This is William and Jeremy in a pool in DK
my DIY projects so here is a picture of
Maureen and our first grandson, Timothy,
taken a year or so ago on the Cherwell in a punt.
Both boys have grown a lot by now but you haven't seen these pics before I hope.
On yesterday's subject of light fittings those of you who knew my house in Arley may remember a marble lamp whic I called the Urinal - I think Jen my have it now. We saw one in a fancy design store in New York last week - identical and brand new and $5,000 - so I suggest ebay if you still have it Jen!
Off to Chicago for a week tomorrow then on to Malta for a week and then Sicily for a week - my function is to carry the bags. M's is to work most of the time in all the places we will visit.

Actually it is a lamp which I am trying to make a copy of.
I know you want to know about the fireguard project well it is going on at the same time. It is called project dilution.
I was all enthusiastic about this one until I found out that you swich it on by pulling one of them and you can dim it by touching the other one!

.Survived the bathroom showrooms because there was a big hardware store accross the street where I bought a new hacksaw for cutting the aluminium fireguard frame.
Stay awake!
Went to Denver again yesterday to see Dracula the Ballet which I thought was quite good - a lanky sleazy seductive kind of Count Dracula. Denver does seem to have the worlds ugliest collection of ballerinas though.
We had another heavy snowfall on Friday night and bits of it still remain. OK I will let you go now.

The snow is sneaking back into the ground now so the subject for today is the fireplace. Note the fancy Italian "Sonus Faber" speakers!
I have to use the stuff in the second photo to make a fireguard or firescreen as it is called here. it is more than 1.5 metres wide and a metre high! How shall I secure it? I am thinking of hinging it at the top so it can be lifted to make the fire up and get the ashes up but how to hold it up when open? don't anyone say gas shocks like a car boot because we don't know what happens when those things get hot and this is a relatively flimsy door anyway.
Thanks for all your comments - I can't seduce you all with recent photos of our cute grandchildren I am afraid.
Maureen has the afternoon off and we are going to Denver - the closest thing to a city in this state - to look at bathrooms! I am counting the seconds until we can do that!
More snow tomorrow!

Not so much the weather drying up but more my ideas for blog entries.
Budha has donned her snow hat following my last book recommendation.
Prior to that book I was reading Kite Runner which Elaine gave me. An excellent book I thought.
I have to have my garden sprinklers "winterized" to stop them freezing and bursting. They have to use a big road-drill sized compressor to blow all the water out of all parts of the system. So Mr-I-can-do-everything has to defer to payed help.
Is anybody still awake? still reading?

OK so the Flatirons came back but away with the clouds went all recollection of my user name and password for this site.

The weather looks nicer today but it is colder.

I have to go for the third attempt to get my Colorado driver's license today.

Thanks for all the comments. Everyone is so impressed that one can set up a website like this. Fact is it is very easy as long as you can remember your name.

Unlike little William I find it easy to exercise every morning but difficult to get into the habit of writing to my computer every morning.

It makes sense though to just write things once and let everybody read it rather than sending numerous emails containing one's "trivial round, the common task"

I have a book to recommend - "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins - especially for my Christian friends.

maybe more tomorrow

After eight warm winters in California the garden (or yard as we call it here) is smothered in metaphors about Christmas cards and wedding cakes.
They told me Boulder has more hours of sunshine than Miami - the forgot to mention the 83 inches of snow!!
I already did all this once on "Blogster" but it ended up a mess and I couldn't log in because my "name alredy exists" - the tribulations of a baby boomer!

I will try to tell you more tomorrow - whether you exist or not!