I like to walk up in the foothills just beneath the Flatirons of Boulder.
In the last few years the Mountain Lion has made a come-back and there have been a number of incidents of joggers being chased and even one was mauled and I think ended up dying. Anyway, the above animal is no threat to anyone, as it is stuffed, but it is a very lifelike pose and is the kind of thing I would NOT want to see on my walks…I actually carry a pepper spray with me when walking…the range is 15 feet and that presumes I would have a steady hand as the Lion pounced which is a far from good presumption……

Lesson Learnt…NEVER leave a camera hanging around at low level (3 feet or less) when you have a five year old grandson hanging around as well! First there is the panic of “Where is my camera?”!! closely followed by “Oh Lord, Little Barry has it” The good news is he did not know where the “delete” button was…the bad news …I had LOT of shots to delete. This is one of the more interesting ones……Ahhh the joys of being a Grandad!

The death of books! I have purchased an I-Pad! It is the most amazing machine. I normally read two, sometime three books at the same time, so travelling with them was always a bit of a hassle…books take up space and can be heavy. So the I-Pad can electronically hold as many books as I wish to read in the next year…Plus now all I do is walk through a book store…make note of title and authors I would like to read, then download the books in seconds at one third of the price I would pay for the hard back. The I-Pad has been on the market for 9 months I am told and has already taken 8% of the book market (NY Sunday times reported this figure)…it is the death of books as we know them. And as paper does not have long term future in this world…it is probably inevitable that electronic print was going to take over….

Youngest son is heading off again into the wild blue yonder…his packing is a sight to see but he is showing an organizational ability that bodes well for the future…..once he stops roaming the world.

Recovering from Jet lag in Vail….

its an 8 hour time shift between Europe and the Rocky Mountains and there is not much you can do about it except let the old body cope with getting tired at all the wrong hours. Somewhere there HAS to be a scientist working on a pill that will eliminate this terrible side to international travel. I wake up very early so the rising sun on the Aspen leafs is my chosen blog entry. No one is up and about, all is quiet, its just me, my jet lag, rustling leafs, and beams of sunlight. I suppose life could be worse.

Heading home!

But not in this plane, although I think it did have the capacity to fly the Atlantic. I first saw this plane in one of the “Indiana Jones” movies. I thought it was the invention of movie maker but when I spotted a full frame photo of it I realized that it was the real deal and hence the blog entry. Look at the size of those wings…I am sure they had the wing tanks to fly across to the States…as I am about to do….

I always tend to forget about the large agricultural base that counties like England, France and Germany sit upon. The vastness of America has me used to the idea of huge swathes of corn or wheat or other crops that run as far as the eye can see. European farming is not that way, it is much more intense and parceled out, but even so its scope was surprising to me …it also had the merit of being much more colorful than the endless vista or green or yellow that Kansas presents you with.

Well if you thought the Turbot was something out of the ordinary just take a look at my desert!!!! White Chocolate Mousse, strawberries, and sprinkling of blue berries and utter silence from me….I mean what can you say when faced with such a dish……Thank you Lord…was one of my thoughts…!