Bride Of Frankenstein

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From deep in the dungeon, or actually the lower level of the public garage at Euclid and Laclede. These creatures crawled out of the car next to us when we parked. Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein appear in joyful anticipation of their wedding night.

The bottom pic is just as horrible, in its way. I had no idea what Honey Boo Boo is so I looked it up. See here.

Eye Exam

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Long-time readers of this blog know that I am fascinated by eyes. Focus on the eyes they would always tell us when shooting portraits at photography school in Maine.The Halloween party in the Central West End was a good place to practice. Bizarre contact lenses and eyeglasses were all around. No looking at the world with rose-colored anything. Turquoise irises  or reptile pupils were much more in fashion.  

Terror Lurks On Euclid Avenue

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But help is on the way! Captain America to the rescue! I wonder if Mitt Romney knows about this.

The Lou's annual Halloween street party is held the Saturday before the event around the intersection of Euclid and Maryland Avenues in the Central West End. It gets an amazingly good turnout for a chilly evening. People put a lot of effort into their costumes, although I just can't understand the fascination with violence and death. On Dia del los Muertos in a Mexican drug cartel, maybe, but in placid St. Louis? Some people think it's fun to be scared. I think it's just bloody terrifying. That's not fun.

The mayhem goes on in this space for the next few days.

Those Eyes

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What are they looking at? Why are they staring at me? Explanations will have to wait until tomorrow. It's late.

My Big Fat Greek Truck

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Has the food truck craze reached your city? It sure has here. They've been around for years as mobile lunch wagons, often in industrial areas. The current trend is for more upscale offerings, usually with a particular specialty. They congregate in busy areas. During the summer, a fleet of them show up in Tower Grove Park for dinner a few days a month. There is even a web site for St. Louis food trucks so you can find who is where day-by-day.

When I went down to Citygarden on Thursday there were three of them lined up on Market Street: Greek, Mexican and vaguely east Asian. I chose a gyro from My Big Fat Greek Truck. It was delicious. 

All the trucks are creatively decorated like Zeus here, hacking meat off the gyro cylinder. I understand that the artist was in his/her portraits class when they painted this but had not yet reached the nose and mouth units.

One With Nature

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I managed to get out of my well-appointed cell at lunchtime yesterday and take a few shots in Citygarden. In this one, Jim Dine's Pinocchio revels in the autumn sun and colorful trees. Peace, happiness and satisfaction. Were it but so easy . . .

Why does Pinocchio wear white gloves? The question just occurred to me.

Hard Up

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I got nothing. Didn't even have a chance to get out on the street at mid-day with a camera - another lunch at my desk. So I ended up poking around my office with the iPhone cam. This picture is of the debris on the corkboard behind my desk. The artifacts, from upper left, represent Douglas Adams, Edvard Munch, Jenny Holzer, Johannes Vermeer and who to call if the computers go down. Something to gaze at when I'm bored.

Some time ago I had the privilege of seeing the Vermeer Girl With A Pearl Earring at the small museum in The Hague dedicated to his work. It was uncrowded and I could stare at it as long as I liked. It could have blinded me with its beauty.

  

The Market In Color

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A couple of commentators on yesterday's post noted that Pike Place Market in Seattle is a colorful place but still enjoyed the black and white images. Well, let's look at the other side. The photo above is on the main concourse. 

We met the couple below during breakfast at Lowell's, the place to start your day in Seattle. They were trying to take their own picture with a phone cam, sitting right in front of the bright window. Wrong. We moved them to the side and I took a shot with my camera. They look very happy. I emailed the pic to them and hope they like it.

I'm out of material. Better find something on the street today.

In The Market

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Scenes from Seattle''s famous Pike Street Market. The place is famous for the fish vendors who hurl salmon through the air to one another, to the delight of tourists. Must have been a slow day at the shop seen above.

Airport Security

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On our way home as I write this Sunday night during another interminable layover at Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. As old TWA people, we're stuck with American Airlines if we want the perks, mostly cheap international travel. They don't have much non-stop service from St. Louis anymore. Fortunately, we have access to a nice airline lounge with free booze so there's no need for this kind of emotional outburst.

The image was found near Pike Place Market in Seattle. A bit more from the Northwest to come. Need to find some new local material.

Tall Things

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Carolyn and our local friend Jessie went to a King Tut show at the Pacific Science Center the other day while I wandered around shooting. A ride to the top of the Space Needle was in order. Although the day was cloudy, like it usually is here, the ceiling was high and Mt. Rainier was in full view. I took this shot from the Needle's top.

The mountain is often covered in the mists. When it's clear, locals sometimes say "Rainier is out today!" It is a monstrous beauty. Still an active volcano, it has the potential to devastate the Seattle area. 

We spent part of yesterday afternoon at the Seattle Art Museum with Kim, proprietor of Seattle Daily Photo. She's been on sabbatical but promises to return soon with resurrection of the portal. Good thing. She's a gifted photographer. Meeting our City Daily Photo colleagues around the world has been one of the great pleasures of this project.

The bottom shot is from our hotel room window. Home late tonight.

Seattle

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I'm having hard drive problems with my laptop so getting pix uploaded and posts written has been a bit difficult. Part of today's activities was a walk through the very new museum and sculpture garden dedicated to the work of glass artist Dale Chihuly.  Lots more pictures of this to edit when we get home.

Ruby Beach

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I'm having problems with my computer, which is getting in the way of uploads. These are a couple of shots of Ruby Beach at sunset. It's 10 minutes drive north of Kalaloch Lodge.

Hoh Hoh Hoh

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The western side of the Olympic Mountains in Washington State has lots of rain forest. The Hoh river valley is one of the most beautiful. There are images from the Hall of Mosses trail.

Back to Seattle this afternoon so should be able to post regularly.

Land's End

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We can get Internet access at the visitor's center in Forks, Washington, a logging town in the middle of the forest. The second and third shots were taken from just outside our cabin on the bluffs at Kalaloch. The first and fourth are at Ruby Beach, 10 minutes north.

I'll do a post for tomorrow morning now. Back to Seattle Wednesday afternoon.

Today's Destination

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We spent last night at a hotel at the Seattle airport. Today we're headed for Kalaloch Lodge, located on the Pacific Coast of Olympic National Park.  This is the extreme northwest corner of the main body of the U.S. (Alaska and Hawaii are off on their own.)

View Larger Map

The photos are from our last visit to the area four years ago. We love it. It's wild, remote and isolated. The area is a cool weather rain forest. You can take walks along the rough beach or wander up trails along the rivers descending from the mountains. Might see a moose. It's not going to be as bright as the top picture when we arrive. In fact, it may be pouring rain. That's one of the reasons people go there. 

No room phone, TV, cellular service or Internet. All they got is a couple of phone booths in the parking lot. We have to drive 40 minutes to the little logging town of Forks, Washington, to get online. Forks, by the way, is the place where the Twilight series of vampire stories is set.  Under the circumstances , I might not get out any posts until we get to Seattle of Wednesday. Same for comments.

 

By Tonight

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St. Louis - Dallas-Ft. Worth - Seattle today.  I was surprised I didn't have more pictures of the Emerald City on Flickr since we've been there so many times in the last 30 years. This is a 2008 shot. I remember an early trip when Carolyn, the kids and I did the Seattle - Vancouver - Victoria - Olympics circuit. We showed son Andy, then 4 or 5, a cartoonish map of the city and told him we were going to Seattle. "Where's Attle's house?" he demanded. I still don't know.

Into the wilderness tomorrow.

By the way, the local heroes, our St. Louis Cardinals, pulled off a stunning come from behind victory last night. They beat the Washington Nationals, the team with the best record in baseball during the regular season. Now they advance to the National League championship against the San Francisco Giants. Go Cards!

The Face Of St. Louis

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I'm in a transition zone between St. Louis and Washington State. There are just faces in the crowd at the Dancing In The Street festival we saw recently. Look at all the differences in the eyes.

Desk clean up today. Flying tomorrow.

Thurday Arch Series

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The Arch is covered by floodlights from sunset to midnight. For one night a year, Macy's turns the lights pink as part of breast cancer awareness month. Last Thursday, October 4, was this year's event. It's magical. I was surprised that there weren't hoards of shooters out there with their tripods but I saw no one else. A lot of people walking up 4th Street to the Rams football game were taking pictures with their phones, but that hardly counts.

Those are the lights of an airplane moving within the curve in the top photo, an 8 second exposure.

Some Kansas City Filler: Kauffman Center

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A few last images from Kansas City. This is the Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, a remarkable piece of architecture. It is the home of the Kansas City Symphony, Lyric Opera and Ballet. The building contains a theater and a large concert hall, presenting a variety of musical acts and stage shows.

It was nearly empty when I stopped by last Saturday but the lobby was open. Views from different perspectives don't quite look like the same building.

Arch photo tomorrow, then a day or two of something local. On Sunday maybe a pic from beautiful Dallas - Ft. Worth International Airport, where we change planes Saturday. Then we got a problem. We will be in the black zone, really out in the wilderness for a few days.

Beauty And The Beasts

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A detail of the beautiful bride. I'm told that the pearls have been in the family for ages. Below, the ring bearer and flower girl during the wedding ceremony. They apparently thought they had been invited to a fancy-dress wrestling match.

I've got a bit more KC stuff. The Thursday Arch Series will be back this week, and it's an unusual one. It hit me this morning that we're leaving for Seattle on Saturday. I thought I had another week.

Meanwhile, back in The Lou, the Cardinals played the Washington Nationals in the early phase  of the playoffs. Washington won 3-2 on Sunday but we gave 'em a good 12-4 thrashing yesterday. With an odd starting time of 3:37 in the afternoon, the light creeping across the field was strange.

We Are Family

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Snaps from my niece's wedding Saturday, all up and down my wife's family's side of the reception hall. The Kruse clan are the nicest people you could hope to meet. Contrary to some comedians, I like my in-laws. From top to bottom:

Steve, husband of niece Trisha, and their girls Mya and Payge.

Niece Lisa, Cedric and Jarred.

Nephew Tom and wife Jess.

Nephew Ryan, doing one of the things he likes best, with wife Amber.

Niece Julie, sister of the bride and matron of honor, waxes lyrical in her toast to the happy couple. The girls' father, Bill, audits from the background.