A new life; same as the old life?

Last weekend there was a classic car show in our local town, one day only. I was looking at it as not only an opportunity to indulge my passion for photography, but also for old cars, and I even saw a couple of MGs! A very rare MG PA Airline coupe was one of the stars of the show. The blurb on the event said.. Auto Historica XI, is the most elite exhibition of rare and unusual automobiles and other motorized vehicles in the Midwest. This invitation-only event is considered to be one of the finest automotive exhibitions in the United States, thus the nickname “Little Pebble Beach”. Auto Historica XI invites a select group of collectors to participate with vehicles that are specially chosen each year to create a themed exhibition. This year’s theme is Woodies, classic American wood-bodied station wagons from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, as well as unique European wooden skiff-bodied touring cars. Approximately 50 cars will be on display, including such rarities as a supercharged Duesenberg, an...

...and when they say heat wave here they REALLY mean it. We are running into our 4th day of temperatures in the 90s with a heat index in triple digits, and the forecast is for more of the same until the weekend. Today is the hottest of the week with a current Highland Park temp of 98F and a heat index of 107F, although the heat index in other areas is expected to reach 120F. Fortunately, the folks that lost power last week have all been restored. The final count was 868,000, a record number of households affected. There were crews from several different states here to help, and not just Wisconsin/Indiana, but from as far afield as Georgia and Florida! In all the comed repair bill was in excess of $80m. We have had a quiet week, mostly hiding from the oppresive heat, although we did hang out with our friends Amy & Kevin last weekend, where we played a new game call Kubb . First time I played I was pretty good, but it went down hill quick. I might have to build a set of my own to pra...

After an excellent weekend of family time (although Lorraine still says I spend too much time "playing" on my phone) we find ourselves in the grasp of another serious storms system, but I am getting ahead of myself. One of the things we enjoy about the summer here in the US is the predictability of the weather (snort). Whilst it is true that the weather is generally more predictable and lends itself to planning outdoor activity, this summer in particular has made a mockery of that. Firstly it was super late in getting started this year; with the rainiest April on record and May not being much better, whilst all the family were here; culminating in having to move Lorraine's birthday party indoors due to a last minute rainy day! June started to improve to more normal temperatures, before it got crazy hot for a couple of days right after the family left. The last few days here have been in the 90s, typical July weather, and then the big storm today. We have had a couple of p...

As a Brit, I probably should not be celebrating Independence Day this weekend. However as Scot, I can sympathise with the desire for Independence, and as a visitor to the country, I continue to try to adapt to fit local customs and pastimes. I will be posting later to fill you in on what we actually did over the 4th July, including some great pictures. Through the later half of the 18th century, the relations between the Brits and the Americans became increasingly strained, and the phrase "No Taxation Without Representation" was born. A network of groups called the Sons Of Liberty formed to resist the various taxes that the British were placing on the colonies, starting with the Stamp Act . Although through subsequent years the Quartering Act , the Declaratory Act and the Townshend Act all increased the sense of frustration at laws being passed by a remote legislature for the benefit of a remote country (sound familiar my Scottish friends?). Following the Boston Tea Party ...

I know I have been missing from this blog for a while, and largely because life really is just the "same as it ever was" to quote Talking Heads. I don't know that I even have any readers any more that care, or if the 30 or so people that drop by every week are finding me on some random google search. I have been continuing to work on my photography and maybe when I am done with the Photo 365 project, I will move back over to here and post the photography work over here. In the meantime here is a quick update of what I have been doing. Family : all well and getting ready for summer Phrase of the week (Addison) : "I totally can't do this!" Cooper's favourite word : Car! Cubs : suck Golf : mediocre, with some flashes of brilliance Kitchen : done, looks awesome Weather : getting hot Photography : having fun with it Work : busy as heck This weekend is 4th July weekend, and I reposted an item I did from way back in 2005. Addison's school have a group in o...

Just got back from the annual Jolly Boys Outing to Vegas. BTW anyone who wants to come any of these years is more than welcome. Obviously the details are sketchy because after all what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but here are a couple of the highlights. The most beautiful golf course we have ever played on; Wolf Creek Resort in Mesquite. 90 minutes from the city, but worth every minute of the drive out there. True desert golf, sand and rocks all around, advisories not to seek lost balls for fear of snakes! Johnny Bravo (Steve) and Rusty Bedsprings (Gordy) winning $200 a piece on the same penny slot machine one after the other. I shouldn't have stood up! The fabulous fountains of the Bellagio. I didn't know until recently that Steve Wynn actually built this property for Mirage until the sold out to MGM. If you have never seen these live, then you need to, they are incredible! Only in Vegas! A fully detailed Statue Of Liberty, made from Jelly Beans! Click here if you would...

Earlier this month I went on a business trip to Montreal. I have been to Toronto a number times, but this was my first trip to Montreal. I have to tell you that I was not impressed. It was the end of winter and so there was a lot of slush and melting snow revealing winter trash and dirt, but equally there was a lot of litter generally and tons of graffiti on the many churches in the area. Don't get me wrong we had some fun nights out, late night drinking and apparently the women there are rated as the 5th most beautiful in the world, so that was was interesting. I am sure that the timing wasn't the best, and in summer I am sure it is a much nice place to visit, but overall, it is not on my list of places that I will hurry back to. Here are some photographs from the trip.

no post; I know Charlie, very disappointed, but really there is not much going on. Also, I only have about 18 visits per week and about three comments a year, so I am not sure anybody even cares! Winter was long and pretty hard with some fabulous snow falls. The snow blower got a great work out and even earned me a few bottles of wine from the neighbours. The kitchen is done from a contractor perspective, although touch ups, painting and backsplash tiling needs to be completed. I have started the clean up, with the family room back to "normal" I started the backsplash tiling as well, with the back semi-hidden area, to make sure I could do a good enough job, without professional help. It looks good and photographs will follow as I near completion. The whole house still needs to be cleaned. Mot of the upstairs is done, we (Lorraine mostly) have been washing all of the carpeting, walls, etc as everything was just covered in dust. We are up against the wall as my sister, her ba...

I have so much work to do on the house, tidying up after the builders have finished. The kitchen needs the backsplash, the laundry room needs a little more paint, the ceilings and walls need refinishing where drywall has been done, and the place needs cleaning. However this weekend it has been all fun, all the way! I went on my first outing with the camera club yesterday to the Chicago Flower Show. I have to say that it wasn't nearly as grand as I thought it would be, and I am sure not a patch on the Chelsea Show. It was kinda cool though, as we were able to get access to the show 2 hours before the general public, and therefore able to shoot lots of pictures without being jostled or worrying about the tripods, etc. I am not much of a floral person in terms of knowing the names, but I think this is a lily variety, maybe even an Arum Lily. Here are some more pictures of the day trip. The theme of the event was "The Sport Of Gardening" The folks I was driving wanted to le...

For all my friends in Technical Support. Someone sent me this video this morning and I could not resist reposting it!

I don’t suppose it has been any longer or harder of a winter than normal, but for some reason this one has really taken its toll on me. Funny thing is, I am not really sure how or why. I have not been fed up with the snow, in fact at times, I have been disappointed there wasn’t more snow, despite February being the snowiest on record and having the third biggest blizzard of all time. It has been a cold winter, but again not for extended periods or to the point where it got old. We did do the rebuild of the kitchen and whilst there were times it was tedious not having any facilities and dust being everywhere (now it’s only half the house that’s dusty), it still never really annoyed me. My BIL died from the pig flu this winter and my great friend Marcus also died around this time of year a couple of years ago. I got very sick for a week, probably as sick as I have ever been; I think probably the flu, although I am always reticent to say that I had the flu. I turned 43 a few weeks ago and...

The kitchen and associated remodeling is coming along nicely. Kitchen tile is down and partially grouted, dry wall is hung and finished but still to be primed. The cabinets went up last week and most of the trim is completed. Counter tops were measured and arrived this morning. They are being installed as I speak; appliances are in and working. I reckon we are about 2-3 weeks from 100% completion and finishing touches, but we should be able to host Burns Supper on the 25th! This picture is the stone installed on the bar in the family room. Work is well advanced in the powder room floor and we can already use it. Those trips up and down the stairs were becoming tedious! As you would expect, there have been some hiccups and a lot of on the spot decisions to be made along the way. The two major gotchas have been the duct work that we knew was a mess, but just not quite how much of a mess, and the electrical supply service which we found out is aluminum (or aluminium for my UK readers), in...

Can there be anything more American than the Bald Eagle? Even though not technically bald by today's definition, historically (colonial times) bald also meant to have white hair, hence their name. They appear on coins, flags, standards, logos, pretty much anything you could think of. Every year Bald Eagles come down from the north on their way to warmer climes and to be able to eat. They stop over in the Midwest in Illinois and Iowa amongst other places, for a few weeks, using the locks and dams where the water doesn't freeze to fish. Years ago the eagles were on the endangered list and were struggling to have any success breeding due to DDT weakening the egg shells causing them to break when the females nested. DDT was banned and populations immediately increased, but are again under threat, though they are no longer on the endangered list. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a Photo Safari with Chicago Photo Safaris to view and photograph these magnificent birds. My ...

Many of my American friends have never heard of, far less pulled a Christmas cracker, and those who have, have usually experienced the non snap version sold in the US, because although guns are OK, heaven forbid we put a little gun powder in a cracker! For those who are interested, and for the UK folks who may or may not know this (I just learned it today from a Christmas cracker!!), here is the history of the cracker. If you would like to see a few pictures from Christmas Day, click here . Tom Smith, a baker of wedding from Clerkenwell, London, invented the Christmas cracker in 1847. The events that led to these wonderful creations were quite a story. In 1940, Smith went to Paris and came across 'Bon bon', an almond sweet wrapped in paper that was twisted. He liked the taste so much that he began selling the 'new' sweets in London and they became very popular. Tom, who was always on a lookout for new promotion opportuniti...

Check out this article on the subject , but all over Chicago we see these signs. They vary in message and I think this particular one is one of the best/worst. The general intent is to avoid being sued, oops sorry I mean to avoid people being hit and injured by falling ice from buildings. Instead of simply warning you to stay away from the edge of the building, apparently 5 feet is about the best distance, this sign advises you to "watch". When I see that, to me, it implies that I should look up to see if ice is falling, upon which of course, I may get an icicle in the eye. The article is worth a look though because it talks about the general thinking around the topic.

So we are into the second week and things are progressing. Last week was of course all demolition, and this week starts off that way, but moving quickly to actual construction as you can see with some new walls getting framed in. There have been no major surprises yet, although some small issues like the bad header on the old door, poor plumbing work and extremely bad duct work. By the end of the week we are hoping for rough inspections, they new pocket door installed and the basic plumbing work done. The best thing here is that the contractor really seems to know what he is doing, unlike previous ones that have worked on this house, that much is obvious! We should be ready for tile in about 3 weeks, cabinets the week after. Check out the pictures to see the choices so far, door fronts, handles, dishwasher, oven, fridge, cooktop hood, under cabinet lights and floor tiles. Oh and don't forget to check out my photo 365 efforts by clicking on the links over to the right with the rota...

All of the really cool winter things are just starting to kick in, Christmas lights, winter wonderlands, train sets and holiday festivals. Today was the Highland Park holiday festival, where they switched on the holiday lights, without an actual Christmas tree of course. There was ice sculpting first thing, some cider, chestnuts, and then Father Christmas arrived on a fire truck to switch on the lights. I took a bunch of really cool pictures of the ice carving, check em out .

As regular readers will know, we bought our house, the one we have been living in for almost 3 years, in December of last year. Of course, besides the normal maintenance and cosmetic items that I have been doing for a while now, since we own it, there are bigger more fundamental issues to deal with like the windows we installed in December, the completely unbalanced heating/cooling installation and the tiny crappy kitchen. I started planning the new space, with some walls to be knocked through, bathroom shrinking to a powder room (toilet for my British readers), smaller laundry room, etc. Reasonably complex but nothing horrendous, no supporting walls, etc. However, as these things always do, (especially if there is a wife involved :-) the project potentially had become significantly more complex, possibly tearing out most of an original supporting brick exterior wall, the one that now forms the wall between the dining/kitchen area and the family room. Whilst I saw the logic of the cho...

Update - As we approach the upcoming holiday season, and I excitedly wait for the "Holiday Lite" to come on, I actually got a comment from his other daughter, who's name unfortunately I do not know. She corrected a couple of my errors in writing this post, which I have done below. She also told me sadly that her father had died of cancer, three months after recording this, and as a result was unable to see it's success or receive the award he so richly deserved. Here's what she said: "Thank you for posting this :) ! Actually, my dad, Father Ted Berndt, lost his battle with cancer three months after recording this reading. My sister, Ellen Stout, was a radio personality at WLTQ at the time of the recording. She produced this and accepted the ARI award in Dad's behalf. To be correct, Ellen and Dad recorded this for ALL service people and their families around the world. As always, "Merry Christmas to all, and may God bless you this night" :) ...

Not sure this is working so well with firefox, but seems to be fine with Internet Explorer. If you cannot view it, search on youtube for Rodney Atkins - Cleaning This Gun.