Update Thursday September 7

I haven't written anything for several weeks....not because nothing has happened...but because my mind has been "soggy"... a brain in a quaigmire... It's been busy since Bill returned from Scotland and the U.K.... First of all seeing all the pictures and hearing of the new places he had been. Off to see Nessie, the Lochness monster...he brought me a miniature stuffed version. He had toured the Glennfiddich Distillery and brought home a silver friendship cup which is used in Scotland...a twohanded shallow cup for sharing a drink of scotch. Very pretty. Nice pictures of the distillery and the vats and pariphernalia. The original buildings. Sounded very interesting. The scenery in Scotland is beautiful. Some pictures of the countryside showing how they farm the sides of the hills... and great groups off what appeared to be blue spruce trees and then fields and fields of heather so purple and gorgeous. The colors are beyond anything I've seen here.

Then, Bill got down to his project at hand. The TV cabinet. This is a project with the front having a picture of the cowboy's prayer: a cowboy on one knee, holding his hat leading his horse behind him..... The picture has been cut with a dremel from rosewood veneer and inlaid in olive burl veneer.. These two elegant woods were $400 alone. The cabinet measures approximately 39W x60H x 12Deep and is made of walnut. It has a lid which closes to the back. Now here is the good part.. This TV cabinet is actually a footboard to my brother's bed. It attaches to the bottom rail of his footboard and the top of the cabinet is even with the top of his mattress. And the reason is simple. Inside the cabinet is a mechanism which runs on a remote control which raises and lowers a 40"flat screen TV which is mounted so as to face the bed... While in bed, he can push the remote control and the lid of the cabinet raises, the TV raises all the way up to viewing level for in bed. He turns it on and watches TV. When he is through, he turns it off, pushes the remote control and the mechanism lowers the TV back down into the TV cabinet.

You may ask why someone needs such a thing...and probably nobody actually does.. This was something Bill thought up, designed and built. It is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship as per the cabinet. The mechanics of the TV rasing and lowering took quite a bit of engineering and reworking. And I will admit that his room looks wonderful with the old table and TV gone. I doubt that he will bank hundreds of hours watching TV on his newest creation. You see, Bill is a doer. He can't stand sitting still.. But, he is getting older...I'm thinking when he retires, it will be a good thing for him to have!