Recreational marijuana, or cannabis if you will, is legal in many but not all U.S. states. It was authorized here in Missouri by referendum. Pot remains unlawful on the federal level but the rules are not enforced in permissive states. Shops, called dispensaries, are all over. Never dreamed I’d see a sign like this back in college days when little plastic bags were smuggled in the dorm. Strange that I have not smelled it on the street recently. Chemistry, maybe.
You might see someone in an outfit like this prancing down St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans and certainly in Rio de Janeiro. But South Broadway in St.Louis on a late winter day? The weather was wonderful for a parade, sunny, light winds, 42 F / 6 C, not hypothermia territory. I suppose you have to be young and resilient.
The local chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a fixture at the Mardi Gras parade, Pridefest and other out-there events. Who are they? See https://www.thesisters.org/ . Never met one who wasn’t happy to pose. If you are dressed like that you certainly aren’t shy.
The phrase is universally associated with Mardi Gras in the U.S. - let the good times roll. I’ve heard that it makes almost no sense to French speakers. Still, there was plenty of fun as the floats rolled through our parade.
Wednesday is the start of Lent in the Christian world, a season of self-denial and repentance. The days leading up to it, not so much. The time is called Carnival in most most places and the day before Ash Wednesday, at least in the U.S., is Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday. No American city comes close to New Orleans but we have a pretty good party here. The big parade is on Saturday and St. Louis gets wacky, More to come.
Time again for City Daily Photo’s monthly theme day. This month it’s fire. There is no more appropriate example for me and St. Louis than the burning of Our Lady of Artica at the end of the eponymous festival. See conflagration from other members’ cities at https://citydailyphoto.org/category/theme-days/ .
A golf course near the edge of Forest Park on a mild February day. Behind is just a small part of the enormous Washington University Medical, one of America’s top clinical and research facilities. It goes on for blocks to the left, right and behind this view. I’ve been repaired there on a number of occasions, always with success.
At least I think thats what they are. Correction welcome. Not doing well gathering new material. Frankly, feeling increasingly depressed, even repulsed by the situation in my country, so I drive around aimlessly, looking for something but not being engaged. That should change Saturday when we have our big Mardi Gras parade.
Along Chouteau Avenue in Midtown. Get rid of your cans and hit a couple of buckets of balls. The central urban area seems like a strange place for a huge driving range but then people from all over the place (but not in this household) play golf and there is nothing else like it for miles around.
I was out cruising yesterday, looking for anything to shoot. It wasn’t going well, and Mrs. C and I wonder if we have ongoing brain fog after our recent episodes of norovirus. When I was parked at a curb to photograph a building across the street, this driver pulled into a queue at a traffic light. He saw my camera and gestured at me to take his picture. It was a gift. Being an old white guy, I could use help interpreting the hand gesture.
So why not post a favorite Arch picture? Need to get back out on the street.
Dark sky day at the Big Wicket. Until several years ago the entrances were at the bottom of the legs and there were minimal displays under the center. The Arch and grounds are a national park (the smallest one) but there is a wonderful Gateway Arch Foundation that raised the money for a major renovation and expansion.
This thing leaves me shaking my head. It’s a Tesla Cyber Truck, something that looks like a patrol car from a futuristic police state. These things cost $80-100,000 and make me think about the good that money could do. Social reasons notwithstanding, I would never buy something that puts another dollar in the pocket of that most self-indulgent person, Mr. Musk.
75th birthday today. Like all of us, life has had significant ups and downs but the net balance is positive. Solid marriage of almost 51 years, financially secure and generally have my wits about me (subject to independent confirmation). Had health challenges, only one of which was potentially fatal, but they were all treated promptly and competently, something not all Americans can say. Brave words, but this limit won’t apply to me. Further adventures await.
So, okay, Mrs. C and I were going to have a long weekend in my much-loved home town. Some good dinners, theater, a special art show, maybe some touristy stuff. As mentioned, hot new restaurant on Thursday, the first night. Food poisoning, up much of the night with bi-directional GI eruptions. Exhausted, in bed asleep most of Friday. Managed to get out to dinner Friday to a favorite place and couldn’t finish an appetizer. We had theater tickets Saturday and did get out to a very funny show called The Play That Went Wrong, although I wasn’t always following it well. Dinner at a little Italian place, where I made it into the second course before giving up.
Then things got worse. Our flight home Sunday wasn’t until 6 so we got to the Metropolitan Museum for the show we wanted to see. It was raining when we went to La Guardia and, as the day ended, a heavy fog settled over the airport. Close to half of the AA flights were canceled, including ours. Got online looking for alternatives. No non-stop seats the next day. Got an airport hotel and booked us through Chicago with a 5.5 hour layover. But La Guardia had high winds Tuesday morning and only one runway was in use. We sat on a taxiway for more than an hour before leaving on a two hour flight. Few seats had been available, so 6’ 3”/ 190 cm me was stuck in a middle seat for 3+ hours. When we got to Chicago our STL flight was running 90 minutes late just because. It turned out to be 3.5 hours late, with a change of aircraft because there was a pressure leak in a cockpit window of the original plane.
So we got home 30 hours late, but we’re here. First world problems, right?
This has turned out to be a disappointing visit to my favorite place in the world for street photography due to Thursday night’s restaurant disaster. Still, there are opportunities. We saw this on 42nd Street, under the viaduct where Park Avenue goes up and around Grand Central Terminal. The person was still there when we came back the other way a couple of hours later. Sadly common in America and likely to get worse.
Yesterday was the rare day with no post. On Thursday night, we went out to a hot new restaurant, shown in Friday’s post. I got food poisoning. Bad. Up much of the night blowing stuff out of both ends. In bed asleep most of yesterday but better today, fortunately. Really blew a hole in a three day trip. This was the scene as we exited Grand Central Terminal onto 42nd Street after the infamous meal.
Well, we’re back in the place I love the best and like to pay for the least. We just got here and so many images! We went to dinner at a new restaurant in Grand Central Terminal, the Grand Brasserie. I thought it might resemble Le Train Bleu at the Gare d’ Ést in Paris. No. A lot louder. This is NYC. The food was pretty good, at New York prices.
Granddaughter Ellie wanted to go to the top of the Arch last weekend so I had to take the usual picture. This isn’t all of downtown St. Louis but it’s the better part of it. I spent my whole working career, 47 years, here. It’s not doing well post-Covid but there are rays of hope. But I’ll be far away later today. Homeward bound.
Sorry for more of the same - but not really. Orchids are a wonderful set of variations on a theme. The color can be so luscious. I wonder if any of these would work in black and white, thinking of Robert Mapplethorpe’s lilies, but they are nearly monochrome to start with. We are traveling Thursday so there will be some new stuff.
The Missouri Botanical Garden has excellent plant scientists, and it’s a subject I don’t know much about. (The area where I grew up had a lot more concrete and asphalt than soil.) The variety of shapes, sizes and colors amazes me. There is a name for each variety but it doesn’t help. Just enjoy the visuals.
Another image from the orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. So many of these flowers look alien, something I couldn’t classify. This one makes me think of shrimp.
I mentioned that I didn’t have any material other than this stuff (not that it’s bad) but my granddaughter and her bestie wanted to go to the Arch yesterday so there will be something from there. And, um, I forgot, we’re going to New York Thursday.
It’s cold and gray February around here, and there’s not much to shoot outside. Fortunately, it’s the time of year for our wonderful botanical garden’s orchid show. I took a tour through yesterday. Lacking anything else of interest, I’ll go with this for a while.
The last part of how a barge flotilla gets through Lock and Dam 26 on the Mississippi. The group has been broken into two sets of two barges long. The lock has been closed behind the front set. In a moment, the front gates will open, bringing the water level down to that of the next section of the river. One of the tan tug boats on the left will come around and pull this group out. Then the second half will repeat the procedure.
In yesterday’s post, we saw how a push boat shoves the whole 3 by 6 barge flotilla into the lock. At this point, the front and back halves have been split and the push boat has (counterintuitively) pulled back the rear half. The lock’s huge gates begin to close on the front. If you can zoom in enough, you might see a tiny worker in a yellow coat on the right and compare it to the massive pistons pushing the gate in. When they are fully closed, the outer gates will open, dropping the water level of the barges.
The front of the barge flotilla pushes into the lock. If you have a big enough monitor you may see two crew members on the front corners. Strikes me as a dangerous job. I may have missed something about how the process works. The upper river flotillas are 3 by 6 barges. (They are at least twice as big on the lower Mississippi without locks.) The whole set pushes part way in. Then the crew breaks apart the front three rows from the back. The push boat pulls the rear barges back out of the lock. What happens next comes tomorrow.
The power it takes to push a barge flotilla on the Mississippi - especially upriver - is almost unimaginable. I once toured one of these boats and the engine was, well, ginormous. There is a tricky way these things have to get through the lock, which we will come to.
Although we didn’t spot any eagles on our trip upriver on Saturday, we did get to see something interesting. An explanation: there is lots of barge traffic on the Mississippi, with 27 locks and dams between Minneapolis and St. Louis. Between us and the Gulf of Mexico, the slope is so gentle that none are needed. The next to last, Number 26, is huge and has a wonderful museum. With a guide, you can go outside and walk around the structure. We were fortunate to see a flotilla entering the lock.
The granddaughter and I drove north to Alton, Illinois, yesterday. It is situated on the Mississippi, below the confluence with the Illinois River and above that with the Missouri River. The area is part of a bird migratory flyway. At this time of year bald eagles pass through and lots of people come looking for them. We didn’t see a single one yesterday, but came upon this strange gate. There was still ice near the river banks so a plunge was unadvisable. It is puzzling but I think a floating dock can be attached.
Seen at a custom motorcycle shop on the edge of a flea market. There is a lot of horsepower ready to roar out of this engine but that conical spike thing looks scary. The bike obviously isn’t finished but you won’t see me riding it.
There are lots of smaller ice sculptures in front of businesses along Delmar Boulevard during the Loop Ice Carnival. They used to be more complex, full 3-D designs. Now they are 2-D slabs with etchings. Looks like there was a mural festival, whatever that is, last year but it didn’t come to my attention. The reason for the lion face is the two big lion sculptures at the entrance to the city hall of the municipality, University City.
There is always an ice sculpture demonstration at the Loop Ice Carnival. It looks like they start with a block and etch a pattern into it. I wish I had been there later in the day to see the 3-D finish work.
The statue of St. Louisan Chuck Berry in the Delmar Loop. He frequently performed at Blueberry Hill across the street. I had forgotten how old this statue is. It was dedicated on July 29, 2011 and I went to photograph it. I was slightly acquainted with the sculptor, Harry Weber - I had photographed some of his other work - and he got me into the private reception at Blueberry Hill. I’ve photographed Berry in concert but that’s when I got a close-up. https://tinyurl.com/3x9adbaw
Tle Loop is a stretch of Delmar Boulevard reaching across the city limits into University City, so-named because it includes a large part of Washington University, one of the country’s top schools. Years ago, the trolley cars coming out of the city turned around at a track loop at the end of the strip. Now it is full of interesting restaurants, stores and bars. They have an ice carnival every January, more about which to come.
The restaurant, bar and performance venue Blueberry Hill is the anchor. St. Louisan Chuck Berry performed there frequently. We’ll see Chuck tomorrow.
March, 1973: I was a broke law student who went to a bar on St. Patrick’s Day with my roommate, having only pocket change between us. The crowd literally pushed me into a young woman whom I found attractive. One thing led to another and I asked her out on a first date. It wasn’t the norm at the time, but we went to the St. Louis Symphony (cheapest seats) and heard Mahler’s First Symphony, one of my favorites. 52 years later, we are hearing it again today at the SLSO.
The Mahler Ballroom in our Central West End, https://www.mahlerballroom.com/, was a dance academy and center of St, Louis society in the early 20th Century. It has been beautifully restored and is now an event space.
St. Louis STyLe House, on funky Cherokee Street, where you can buy all things St. Louis-y. I have a coffee cup from there, designed in the colors and typeface of municipal trucks, used as a pen holder.
Seen along the route to my granddaughter’s school. The vehicle never moves. Note the license plate. Personalized plates are cheap in Missouri. Interpret as you will.
Saint Louis, King Louis IX of France, and his steed look like they need more than a horse blanket.The statue, seen here a number of times over the years, is called The Apotheosis of Saint Louis, standing in front of the art museum and overlooking Art Hill.
Well, it was as cold as expected yesterday and I still didn’t feel like getting out. So, back into the archives. But the real news in this country is the big storm along the Gulf coast. (And it’s still the Gulf of Mexico, no matter what someone says.) Record-breaking snow in New Orleans. New Orleans! Many streets are lined with palm trees. This stuff is an inconvenience for us, but it’s shattering for them.
If you were standing there and simply turned to your left you would figure it out. Still, it’s a friendly gesture. I’m impressed by how well the sign painter got the dimensions of the Arch. It is a catenary curve, exactly as wide as it is tall. It sure doesn’t look like that, though, unless you are facing it straight on.
We’ve had a couple days of milder temperatures. The packed snow and ice receded a little but there is a lot to go, and we’re back in the freezer tonight. Of course, the roads are clearest where there is the most traffic, unlike the lonely post-industrial area south of the Arch.
A little bit down the road in Forest Park. There are always ducks around the water features, and sometimes geese. (Who can be really mean. Don’t mess with them.) The ducks are far better insulated than we are and don’t give a quack about the cold. I do. I wish I could have gotten a better POV over the grass but the snow was piled up so high beside by the plows that I couldn’t get up on it.
Still closer to sunset. The blue of the shaded snow is touched by a bit of gold in the sky.
