Random

Overheard on the way out of restaurant..."So. It was the first day of band camp."
Could be start of a really good horror story or a really bad joke.

Finally caught the moon and two planets this evening.  Very cool.  If you haven't seen this, check out the western sky soon after sunset.

If I keep working 12-13 hour days, I'm going to crash and burn.  Actually I little worried about the crashing thing just driving from office to hotel.

So beautiful and perfect

 My very talented neighbor, Sari, made this stained glass window for the oval window on my stair landing.

I helped design it but she did all the work.

The pictures hardly do justice to just how perfect the colors, design and shape really are.
I am very grateful for Sari's artistry and work on this addition to my home.

Here is the reference window.  My realtor gave me this antique stained glass when I bought my house 20+ years ago.

It hangs in the window and the bottom of the stairs so I wanted the two windows to relate to each other.

Taking pictures of stained glass being back lit like it is supposed to be is kind of tricky.

Spring has arrived early in Charlotte

In addition to this tree blooming, there are jonquils blooming around the airport.

Geeked out

company has now provided me with a smart phone which means I have:
1. work laptop
2. personal laptop
3. tablet pc
4. smart phone
6. SYNC services in my Escape Hybrid

Update on squirrel activity

The squirrels managed to pull the rest of the paper from the recycle bag.  They got it out from under the compostable pile and dragged it into the garden.  They are now chewing it into smaller pieces and carrying off.

This is kind of blurry because I've enlarged it alot.  The guy has a mouthful of paper and is carrying it somewhere.

I didn't see where he went but it better not be in my attic...I think they are living in the top of the giant house next door.

My new shortcut

As posted earlier, the Gerard Avenue pedestrian bridge is open and is a fantastic shortcut from my place to Old Chicago and Isles Bun & Coffee.

The plaza on the Uptown side is filled with sculptures and what looks like a water feature once the weather allows.

view of pedestrian bridge and new "flux" apartments

the giant head - he isn't allowed to smoke either :-)

the giant arrow is a drinking fountain!

I think this is from an old amusement ride

Important Community News

For everyone living or driving through Uptown...the block between Lake and Lagoon is now a two-way street.  This block has been one-way for years. 

I am assuming that now because of the new parking ramp on Girard which exits onto Fremont, this block of Fremont has been made two-way to allow traffice to get onto Lake Street to proceed east.  For those of us who are accustomed to driving on the left side of Fremont to turn left onto Lagoon, take heed.  You cannot do that anymore.

What the...?

You can buy these very tall paper bags to put your yard and garden compostables in.  I had gotten several for the fall clean up and there was this one left that wasn't quite full and the city doesn't take these during the winter.

Yesterday I noticed that the squirrels have taken ALL the paper parts and left the inside which is mostly day lilly leaves in place! 

You would think the day lilly leaves would make better nesting material than the paper.  May be they wanted the paper to write nasty notes or wall paper their living rooms!

Then this morning I step out the back porch and there is this big pile of pigeon feathers. Kind of hard to tell in this picture but the white stuff is feathers.  Covers about a 3'x3' area.

I am assuming the neighborhood falcon was out for breakfast.

Back at it

Back in Charlotte and back at work.  Up at 4:30am to catch 7am flight.  Was upgraded to furst class so got breakfast - a particularly good thing since I don't have much food at home.

Walked onto client ofice at 11am and went straight into a meeting...followed ny another and another and another.  Last meetong finished abot 7pm.

I brought cookies from Hawaii.  They were a big hit.  My ribs are a little sore from the surf board so I still have a little memory of mini-vacation.

Schedule change

My original flight from Honolulu to LAX was delayed by over an hour.  Thank goodness for text message from American Airlines.  That delay would have made me miss my connection to Dallas and then home.

I called the airline and was able to book an earlier flight from Honolulu direct to Dallas.  But it meant instead of leaving at 10:05pm, I was leaving at 7:50pm and had to catch shuttle to airport immediately.  I called Speedi Shuttle which I had already booked for later pickup.  They were able to get me right away and I everything worked out.

I'm in Dallas now waiting for flight to Minneapolis.

Meanwhile I took a surfing lesson on Waikiki Beach.   It was tons of fun and exhausting.  I had two really good rides and a few fall offs.  I also saw a sea turtle while out on my surf board.

Hawaii was fun and relaxing.  Got to play tennis with Chris and Eliza.  The last time I played was four years ago with Chris and Eliza at the same public courts in Kapi'Olani Park.  I was surprised how well I did.

Honolulu Zoo

Eliza, Daisy and I visited the Honolulu Zoo on Saturday.

Their two Asian elephants have a new enclosure.  It is very large.  We were lucky and happened by when the trainers were feeding them and making them do some moves.

When then met Chris at the public tennis courts.  Eliza and Chris have been playing every day since they got here.

On Friday we started having Daisy hit the ball.  She is really good and she is only 3.

Hawaii

Quick little vacation to Hawaii. Meeting friends Chris and Eliza and their daughter, Daisy, and Chris' mom, Artela.

Diamon Head

Sand Castle Making

Facial hair

full beard

trimmed (cheeks)

goatee

fu-man-chu

moustache

silly

clean

 Let the comments begin...