My Pottery Obsession

I bought this gorgeous platter in Colorado with the intention of hanging it on the wall in my upstairs hallway. I cannot possibly be the first person ever who wants to hang something like this on the wall. After searching high and low on the web for a way to hang this, I have come up with nothing. There is not a search term I haven't tried. The platter is about 20" in diameter, about 3" deep and quite heavy. I found plate hangers for smaller lightweight items but nothing that would do for this. This is just the kind of shit that sets me off. What the fuck? There is nothing on the web to hang this thing? I don't believe it.

Years ago when I was having some glass shelving installed in our master bathroom, I wanted some sort of bracket that wasn't ugly and didn't stand out too much. The installer told me they didn't have anything like that. I simply replied, "I cannot be so original that I am the first asshole to want such a thing." Remarkably he found a solution that pleased me. Not an easy task, I know. But I also cannot be the only one to want to hang something like this on the wall.

I think I will just look for two separate brackets to affix to the wall and go from there. Unless Jeanne the Web Queen someone has a better idea. I am open to suggestions.

FYI: If you are searching for marijuana smoking paraphernalia, just add the word "bowl" to your search terms!

Good Times

Another fun-filled weekend. Our good friends and neighbors, Cy and Karla (aka K-Ho) invited us to their Michigan house for the weekend. We spent the day Saturday drinking fishing along the St. Joseph River. We all caught fish. Cy caught the most but Rick came in with a pretty nice walleye that we had for snack that night. Nothing better than fresh caught fish. We enjoyed a nice bonfire Saturday night. I'm not sure Rick enjoyed it as much as we did. It wasn't the usual "burn down the woods" type fire he is used to. Sunday rolled around and it was time to drive home and listen to that God awful Bears game on the radio. Thankfully, we didn't have to actually watch it. Makes us not too upset that we will miss a game while in Italy.

The Cubs are in the playoffs. Cross your fingers.

The Illini are 4-0. Pretty remarkable seeing as their record for the last two years was 4-19. Rick will be at the game against Wisconsin this weekend with Lauren (Dad's weekend at U. of I.) I will have the weekend to myself. Just me and the Oz Man.

And finally, get well wishes to my Dad who came home from the hospital yesterday after a bout with pneumonia. He seems to be much better.

We're So Excited!

Our trip to Italy is just around the corner and we have finally received all of our travel documents. Because we are going on a tour, we did not know exactly what hotels we would be staying at. Of course we were promised four star hotels, but you never know what you will actually get. We spend the first two nights in Rome at the Marcella Royale Hotel. Then it's off to Siena to the Hotel le Fonti for three nights. No website given for this hotel and, I must admit, that makes me just a bit nervous. Finally, three fabulous nights in Venice at the Hotel Brioni Mare. We are definitely going for a gondola ride in Venice this time around. Screw the cost. I also have plans to significantly add to my Murano glass collection. I love that stuff, all of it. We welcome any travel tips and suggestions.

Cubs Win!

What a HUGE win tonight over the Reds! And taking the game yesterday against the Cardinals. Beautiful.

Go Cubs Go!

Go Cubs Go!

Hey Chicago, what do you say?

The Cubs are gonna win today!

And a W for the Bears yesterday, too!

Unbelievable

We returned late last night from our first trip to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. A client of Rick's was generous enough to let us use his "Kamp" as he calls it. His kids call it his 5 acre money pit and work farm. Let me tell you, hardly what I would describe as a camp! A gorgeous cedar log home complete with guest house where we stayed and where this picture was taken. We fished for rainbow trout on Lake Granby and actually caught some. Ate them too. YUMMY! We spent an afternoon driving through Rocky Mountain National Park. Overwhelmingly beautiful and scary at the same time. I'm not one for heights so there were times during the drive that I literally could not look. I've seen the Adirondack Mountains in all their seasonal glory, I've seen the Blue Ridge Mountains and they really do look blue, but the Rockies are truly spectacular. (I've also seen the Swiss and Italian Alps, but that's another continent altogether.) To be more than two miles above sea level is mind blowing and breathtaking, due to the altitude. We ended our trip with a night in Denver where we got to see Jeanne's "Booty Lounge" apartment. Very hip loft in the LoDo area of downtown Denver with extraordinary views of its own. We shared a delicious meal with J & J at a champagne bar that Jeanne selected just for her me, then the four of us went to a Colorado Rockies game. Really awesome stadium that was barely half full even with the Rockies in the running for a wild card spot in the playoffs. Sad, I thought. Saturday morning the kids took us out for a great brunch at the cutest little French bistro near Jeanne's apartment. Nothing like a few mimosas before you get on a plane! To view all the Colorado pictures, click here.



Sports Update

Today is the Bears season opener at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. I hope we kick their asses.

I hope my brother Bob is doing a little gloating down in St. Louis since the Cubs did win 2 out of 3 games against the Cards.

And Michigan whooped the shit out of Notre Dame yesterday!

I Love NY But.........

.........Not Macy's. In the Chicago Tribune this morning, there was an article about how Macy's is still suffering poor sales since discarding the Marshall Field name. Really?! I am extremely proud to say that I have not even set foot in Macy's since they came to Chicago two years ago. And I have no intention of ever doing so. The funny thing is when we would travel I used to love to shop at Macy's. Now I'm just pissed. My daughter was a fourth generation Marshall Field shopper. How could they do that to us? I miss those green shopping bags. At Christmastime, the best day was was a long day of shopping at Field's on State Street. I did not even go downtown to see the Christmas windows last year. Long story short, Macy's is putting out some new ads this fall to try and get back all the lost shoppers. Problem is the ads feature Jessica Simpson and Donald fucking Trump. Chicago does not want Macy's and bringing in Donald Trump is only going to worsen things. How did they think that would help? The Donald, and his obnoxious new development on the site of the old Sun-Times building, and Macy's should go back to New York. PRONTO!

Maybe they could even take Oprah with them!

The Whole Gang

It's not very often that our entire family is together in one place. It happened Sunday at Kenny's house. Being together is one thing, gathering everyone for a family photo is another. I had a difficult time convincing Joe to stay long enough to be in the picture. He is definitely camera shy. And then there's Kenny. Several pictures were taken but this is the only one that he wasn't sticking his tongue out or making rabbit ears above Mom's head. Maybe next time we can get him to put a shirt on!