Chicago Part 2

On the weekend we took a train to the city.

The trains were unlike anything I had encountered before; big, smelly, noisy

and they had a top deck!  Our guard suggested we buy a weekend ticket "they only cost 8 dollars for the whole weekend, so you really don't want anything else."

My Clicky and me opted for the top deck ~ of course ~ but they were a little different to what I was expecting.  If you are sat up there you can look down onto the passengers downstairs.

We had a rattly hour's ride to Chicago Union Station.  

What a magnificent building, just as I imagined an American train station should look like.

It is huge.

I'm sure it has been used in films that I've seen.

A short walk and we came across sunshine and the Chicago River.

We walked further, making our way towards Lake Michigan. 

This is 'The Bean', well it's actually called Cloud Gate but that's it's nickname.  From the outside a lovely shiny thing you can spot yourself in

and on the inside a whole different experience.

We walked on through Millennium Park and came across some sculptures,  which had been visited a few weeks earlier by a blogger I follow Gill from An Elegant Sufficiency.  The artwork left her cold and I have to say, us too.  We were instructed not to climb but we didn't know much more about them.

They were made from old tyres but no signs about why.

I am however, pleased to report that there were some children climbing on them!

As we walked on I marvelled at the skyscrapers.  I love the old four story building against the massive new ones.

It had a water tank on the roof, still in use?

We had a break for a cup of tea and yummy cake and then set on our way again.

Before long we had reached our destination.  Navy Pier.

Now, I know that this is Lake Michigan but everything I know tells me it's the sea.

We sat for a while and watched the tourist boats go by 

and then headed back up The River Walk, still marvelling at the size of the buildings.

More boats with weekend trippers on, the music was very loud!

These two are called Marina City and are apartments 

with car parking underneath.

These boats were moored outside a bar full of party goers, each was playing different music ~ very loudly!

We turned into the city again with it's trains of the 'Rapid-Transit System' nicknamed 'L'.  

Some places they are overground, others underground, and they  clattered and clanked around, we didn't venture on.

Walking back to Union Station we came across Willis Tower.  It is 1353 feet tall, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.  

On the 103rd floor you can step out 4 feet in a glass 'pod.'  I zoomed in so you can see the people standing in them.   I'm sure the views are spectacular but I haven't really got a head for heights so we gave it a miss.

We caught our train back and had a well deserved rest after all that walking.  

We spent the next few days visiting local towns and having an explore in between Mr Clicky going to work.  A riverboat casino on Fox River.

My waffle breakfast.  Yum.

It was time to go home.  We had a night flight, we left at 6 in the evening so I had a gin (or 2) with my sock knitting.   I was hoping the gin might help me sleep, but it didn't!

 The moon soon appeared.

 and the light shone on the wing tip.

We landed at 7am UK time which still felt like the middle of the night but luckily we were picked up from Heathrow by a car and delivered home so we didn't have to drive.  The next day or two I slept when I needed to and got back into UK time.  

That's me for now, I have a few knitted items to show you next time.
Have fun...................Clicky Needles.

Chicago: Part 1

Hello All.

I've had a bit of a bloggy break of late, we've been busy trying to get the building work finished and Mr Clicky and me went to Chicago.  His company has an office about an hour's drive north of the city, he had some work to do there and as it was the start the summer holidays I went too.

We flew from T5 at Heathrow.  After checking in we took the lift down two floors ~  not one floor that puts you on a train ~ and onto the moving walkway that is completely deserted.   

Mr Clicky is a frequent flyer so we were able to have a spot of breakfast in the business lounge away from the crowds.

Whilst waiting for our flight, I did some knitting and playing on my iPad   very important businessy things.

After an uneventful flight we picked up our hire car, which was a loooong way from home

and checked in to the businessy Holiday Inn.

Mr Clicky had to go to work a few days, so I stayed in the hotel, knitted and watched The Crown on Netflix ~  no hardship.  Although he visits the US a lot with work, for me it was my first time so I was keen to explore the local towns.  

We went into St Charles which is on the Fox River.  There had been storms and the river was very high and really loud by this weir.

We walked alongside for a while, this Prairie Planting is there to try and stop the banks being washed away.

Unfortunately we could go no further as the river was so high it had flooded the path.  So we turned back into town.

We had an ice-cream to cool down ~ it was 28 degrees ~ and came across a lovely yarn shop.  What are the chances?  It is called Wool and Company and as you can see was jolly nice.

I came out with a really squishy sock yarn, well, it would have been rude not to.  It is certainly too good for socks so I think it might be a shawl.

Next time I'll show you our day in Chicago City.

Bye for now................Clicky Needles.

Someone's Knocked Me Wall Down.

Hi Folks!

I've been a bit awol of late, school has reached that manic time and the extension progresses at a rate of knots.  Coming home to a dusty building site is no fun, even if your builder is great.

With the door arrival the builder knocked through from the kitchen 

and things started to get very dusty.

The underfloor heating was laid

and a screed pumped on top.  

When I arrived in from work I was greeted with this sign ~ the dog had to sleep elsewhere.

The room was then boarded with plasterboard and the plasterers could set to work.  He was very stable on the stilts!  

At the moment we have the underfloor heating on  ~ yes I am aware it's summer ~ to dry the screed enough to tile.

It's not all been building however, a few weeks back Mr Clicky and me went to a local music festival.  It was Mr Clicky's first festival and he really enjoyed it.  

There was a huge variety of bands through Friday night and Saturday on three different stages.

There were several local beers,  including Stroud Brewery (yum!), the bars being run by the local Scout group.

Mr Clicky loved the silent disco on Friday night.  If you've not come across a silent disco before and you get the chance, go for it!  There are two channels and everyone wears wireless headphones, so half of the crowd is singing and dancing to one track and the other half the other.  It's great fun! 

Main stage, Saturday night.

The view from the campsite?  Beautiful, down towards the River Severn, South Gloucestershire and into Wales in the distance.  The festival is run entirely by volunteers, all the profits go to local charities, the local school, pre-school, scout group etc.  

We will definitely return.

So, last few days of work, there still are a thousand things to do but we'll get through it.

As always have fun..............Clicky Needles.

The Doors arrived.

Hello All!

I'm pleased to day that our patio doors did arrive, not on Monday as promised ~ apparently some glass was broken in the factory, make of that what you will ~ but on Thursday.  Installation went well and work on the rest of the build can now continue.

The next day the lovely builder removed the old patio door and window from our current living room, this will become a cave snug.  The gap at the top is for a window.

Mr Clicky and me painted some more of the old fence, which was looking very faded.

What do you think now?  The rose ~ about the only thing in the garden at the moment is in full flower.

It's called Geoff Hamilton ~ a name known to UK gardeners ~ and is a real stunner, with a beautiful delicate scent.  When a man arrives with a digger next week, to level the garden and dig soak aways I will make sure it is protected.

As with the rest of the country we have experienced a real blast of hot weather, getting up to 31 degrees + which is reflected in the purplish colours in the temperature blanket.

Now I love heat, mainly when I'm lying next to a pool with cocktail in hand, but even I think for working in, it's been too much.  We've had all the doors open at school trying to get drafts through, and there are wafts of suncream as children as slopping it on.  Don't even get me going on night temperature and lack of sleep.

Master Clicky continues to play cricket at the weekend, so is developing 'farmers arms' ~ brown on the bottom, white on the top.  I was bemoaning how hard it was to get grass stains out of cricket whites to another cricket mum at school and she suggested Swarfega.  I bought some and as soon as I opened the lid I was transported back to my childhood on the family farm.  We used to have a massive pot under the sink, to transform oily hands and arms to normal.
I gave the offending stain  a scrub and walloped the whites in the washing machine.

Result:  I'm pretty pleased with that.

That's me for now, as always have a good week............Clicky Needles.

Progress ~ or lack of it.

Hello there.

Half Term came and went and the weather was fabulous.  

Our build had come to a halt due to waiting for the patio doors.  We have been promised dates by the company which haven't been fulfilled.  Everyone was getting cheesed off, the very lovely builder went off to another job for a few weeks.  Until we have the doors we can't progress by knocking through the kitchen and our project should be finished by now.  The builder popped down and had a beer, and we decided that he could get on with making the new fence between us and next door.  I had spent hours a lot of time on Pinterest looking at fences and gardens and as we have the opportunity to get exactly what we want we went for it (there will be fence panels on the other side of the posts too, so you won't be able to see through.)

Now, I know it's only a fence but it was just perfect and when I saw it for the first time, I cried and gave the very lovely builder a hug.  He was bemused.
After he had finished we painted it black.

We're going for a strong look in the redesigned garden, because with the huge doors we're having ~ 5.5 and 3.5 meters ~ the garden will be very much part of the house and it's decor.

The doors are at last, coming on Monday, it's been a long wait.

I've managed to catch up with my Temperature Blanket.  I was about a month behind as the Wedding Blanket took priority.   You can see the rise in temperature (and sun) over the last week or so, the two reds being my favourite ~ 20-23 degrees (the bright red)  and 24-27 degrees (the dark red.) 

I love how it is warming in colour from the 12th January when I started, with snow (white centre) and 2 degrees (grey outside) although we could do with less apple green 10 - 12 degrees, a bit chilly.

 I'm enjoying colouring in my notebook too.

As one Granny Square is not going to keep me busy of an evening I have embarked on another project.  It is called Bonnie Bolero ~ a pattern from Purl Alpaca Designs which I got from Wonderwool in April.  I am, however,  not using wonderfully squishy and squooshy Purl Alpaca Yarn, I have some shocking pink sock yarn from Tiger.  I'm using some straight needles which was all I could find.  I've packed my Knit Pros away in anticipation of the kitchen wall being knocked down soon and I haven't a clue where they are.  After all the crochet of late, it feels good to be knitting again.

That's me for now, hopefully ~ fingers crossed ~ I'll be able to show you some doors next time!

Have a good week.................Clicky Needles.