STL DPB On The Road: A Last Picture From New Jersey

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We are back in St. Louis as this post goes up Monday morning, but this is literally the final image as we left my sister's house in New Jersey. What monsters lie there? The family keeps a wreath on their front door year-round. This summer a robin built a nest in the center. Mom went off looking for food while this little peeper, two or three days old, waited for chow. A couple of siblings were in the back of the nest, all of them with their beaks resting on the edge.

The Fourth

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The whole family went to the big fireworks last night here in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Pretty damn good show and I got some cool shots if I do say so myself. These photos are in a set from Flickr. More will be added soon as I get them edited.

Home to St. Louis tonight.

STL DPB On The Road: In The Hudson River Valley

.My sister and her family live in Ridgewoood, New Jersey, in the northeastern corner of the state. It's the same town my family moved to when we left New York City in 1966. Since my father's birthday was July 7, the family always got together here on the Fourth of July weekend to celebrate. He's been gone since 1996 but we still all show up at Sue's.

Mrs. C and I took a road trip yesterday from Ridgewood up the Hudson Valley. One stop was Bear Mountain. We went looking for views over the Hudson River. This'll do. There was a group of American painters in the mid 19th Century who celebrated this area, known, appropriately enough, as the Hudson River School. They didn't have have Photomatix but it may have been for the good.

FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME DEPARTMENT: the front page article in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch is about our city's disappearing Toynbee Tiles, featuring your humble blogger. Not familiar with Toynbee Tiles? Read the article here and check my posts on the topic here. But if this is the paper's lead article, what does that say about the state of print journalism?

Oh, and happy birthday, America. Here are some shots from Ridgewood's Fourth of July Parade this morning.

STL DPB On The Road: Toronto

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Canada Day in Toronto: this man was literally wrapped in the flag. We stopped and talked for a while. He wasn't a Torontonian, but rather from London, Ontario, half-way to Detroit. Why did he dress like that? "I just really love my country," he said. He wasn't nutty, just warm and full of enthusiasm. Most Canadians are like that. And down here?

Thursday Arch Series And More

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There's only so much to say about a catenary arch but what's around it is infinitely variable. Maybe that's where this series is going.

And, note from Toronto - these French-speaking Quebecois were in T.O.'s Dundas Square yesterday on Canada Day, posing for tips. What were they doing in English Canada, eh? A poll in the news today said that 90% of Canadians think that theirs is the best country of all. There's something to be said for that.

You often hear that Toronto is the most culturally diverse city in the world. The second picture below illustrates friendly local relations between Mexico and Japan.

And what says Canada Day better than dinner at a Moroccan restaurant with a belly dance show? Before the snarky comments start, this was Mrs. C's idea. The food was good, the show was fun and our waiter had actually driven through St. Louis once in the middle of the night and saw the Arch.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

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I honestly do not know what this person in the Pridefest parade was holding. I was just firing away into the parade through a telephoto lens with the camera on burst mode. So, let us use our imaginations. The title was chosen because we saw a great show on Surrealism at the Art Gallery of Ontario today, which made me think of this.

And from Toronto - the waits in line to get to the top pf the CN Tower (the main observation deck is at about 114 stories and the so-called Sky Pod at about 144) were awful but it was really cool at the top, except for the wildly overpriced and oversalted burgers in the restaurant. Pix from there on Flickr soon. Then on to the spectacular Art Gallery of Ontario, completely remodeled and open again only last fall. The picture below is what is in effect the grand staircase. Tomorrow is Canada Day and almost everything is off due to the municipal employees strike.

Balloons-O-Fire

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As noted here before, the best place to get parade pictures IMHO is in the staging area before the march begins. People are standing still, there are no waving arms and hands in front of your lens (I got a lot of that Sunday) and people are ready to pose. This bunch was out there among a lot of people who were really out there.

And by the way, greetings from Toronto. This is just a quick snap taken from the King Street trolley on our way back to the hotel from dinner last night.