A new life; same as the old life?

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...

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 ...

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.

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 .