YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU

Very late post today. Once again, a day when more people wanted a piece of me than there is me to go around. Plus my back is some worse. Pain management specialist next month. 

Some day I'm going to read up on the psychology and sociology of parades. We sure have a lot of them around here. One of my favorites is the Annie Malone parade. The foundation she started in 1888 provides wonderful services for children and families in our African-American community. 

The parade celebrates their mission and work. It's always colorful and, like most of our parades, has its share of ironies. The top picture shows a big pickup promoting what we call a title loan company. If you have a title to a car - the legal ownership document - without debt on it, you can hand it over for a cash advance, repayable at horrifying interest rates. If you don't make the payments, they get your car. Controversial, to say the least. In the second picture, a woman hanging out the window of a Cadillac limousine publicizing a mortuary.

Draw your own conclusions.

            

GO FLY A KITE

Found in Malcolm Martin Memorial Park in East St. Louis, Illinois. It is directly across from the Arch and contains a wonderful overlook across the Mississippi. There is also the Gateway Geyser, an enormous water jet whose spray, wind permitting, rises as high as the Arch itself. 

Most of the area is open green space. The Authorities don't want anyone snooping on the park or the nearby grain elevator, casino or railroad tracks. (Note the camera on the symbol of the drone.) Presumably a gentle kite is okay.            

MADELEINE MONDAY

They didn't do this when I was a child, or when my own children were this age. However, in the twenty-first century, kindergarten graduation is a big deal. Ellie was bursting with pride. I have been interested to see how much her mind expanded this year. For most of her life, we read her stories at bedtime. Since a couple of months ago, she reads them to us.

Excellent phone cam shot by daughter Emily.             

A POLITE CITY

St. Louis has good manners, or some people want you to think so. I doubt that we are better or worse than other cities. Except maybe Japanese cities. The people there are amazingly polite.

The billboard on eastbound I 44 gets everyone's attention. There are a couple of others. One of them, also yellow on black, says "I 'Heart' STL".  The third, white on red, simply says "LOVE."  They were quite a mystery until it was revealed that the billboard company itself did it just as a pleasant gesture. Sure beats "this space available."

Not far away sits the Courtesy Diner. Imagine going in for coffee and a piece of pie, have the server bow, gesture toward a convenient seat and ask how s/he may serve you. No, I don't think so either.

      

ADDENDUM

The acutely observant Mrs. C, who proofreads my posts, pointed out that I had overlooked an obvious addition to this sequence. It's Polite Society restaurant in Lafayette Square, one of our favorites.

 

I SEE BEER

A change of scene to the big art fair at Laumeier Sculpture Park. Tony Tasset's Eye must be looking for something other than the beer truck. I'd take a left.          

GOOD ADVICE, MOSTLY

A concrete barrier in front of a closed flood gate along the Mississippi. Be patient for what? The water going down? The river is doing that but it will take some time for it to recede below the street behind this gate.

This is generally a good idea but there are times when patience is a bad choice. Say you were being chased by a wild animal or your chemotherapy isn't getting scheduled.             

WANT A LOOK?

It piques your curiosity. Are you a bit envious that there might be something really great in there that you don't have? The fact that you (or most of us) wouldn't stop a stranger walking through a crowded street festival and ask for a glance makes it all the more enticing. The contents are unknowable and we are missing out. 

Once again, seen on Cherokee Street.