On our way out to Kansas farmland for Mrs. C's semi-annual family get together. We always spend a night in Missouri's other major city on the way. Granddaughter Ellie is with us and wanted to stop at Legoland. We don't have one in St. Louis. She thinks she may be getting too old for it.
We have had doves using a nest under the eaves of our porch, which I think was built a few years ago by robins. They hatched a pair of eggs in late spring (https://tinyurl.com/4rjcmzny). Doves can have more than one clutch of eggs in a season and two more little ones showed up recently. They have been out of the nest for a couple of days. I think this is one of the parents and a chick waiting for dinner.
Over to Kansas City today, then out to the farm for a family event.
I drive by this place occasionally and it has always seemed mysterious. Plain facade of a building on the edge of the Soulard neighborhood, near the huge Anheuser-Busch brewery. So I looked up the website, https://www.sbacstl.org/, and it is stranger than I thought. Not my hangout.
A gate in the flood wall along the Mississippi, part of the graffiti-permitted Paint Louis section. The river lies just beyond the trees. I've never seen this gate closed, but then I wouldn't drive by if the water was that high.
Yeah, we have some passenger rail service in this country. I wish we had a lot more, like Europe or Japan. We have good memories of being whisked from Avignon to Paris on the TGV, or Tokyo to Kyoto on the Shinkansen. Our town has service to Kansas City and Chicago. It takes a little longer than driving but is so much more comfortable. Looking forward to October when we go from Prague to Vienna to Budapest by train.
I occasionally drive by a strange sort-of junk yard, a full city block surrounded by a tall chain link fence. It is full of the remains of military aircraft. The inventory slowly changes. I don't know where it comes or where it goes. The place contains a truck repair shop and, according to what is available online, the owner says he wants to preserve history.
Down and out philosophy in my favorite post-industrial ruins near the Arch and the Mississippi. Doesn't leave any room for reassessment, growth, the unforeseen or bad choices. For your Philosophy 101 exam, discuss and critique.
Railroad engineers snatched out of their cabs? Scary. For those unfamiliar with the particularly American theological concept, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture .
Mid-town St. Louis, as urban as it gets around here. It doesn't seem like a good location for a huge golf driving range but there it is, doing enough business to have been around several years. The Target is a mini store compared to the usual suburban iterations, set in the ground floor of a new apartment complex. It is all mid-way between St. Louis University's main campus and the south/medical campus. BTW, looking generally east on Chouteau from Grand.
That's Big Boy's engine number for the Union Pacific Railroad. This was as close as I could get with my longest lens when it was at St. Louis Union Station Saturday. The thing exudes power.
During World War II, the Union Pacific Railroad built a group of enormous locomotives to move material, known as Big Boys. Only one of them, Number 4014, is still operational. https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/big-boy-4014 Every few years the company trots it out for a coast to coast tour, stopping in St. Louis yesterday. The viewing area was so poorly laid out that no one could get beyond the front of the unit and the crush of people was intolerable. This other engine, with its semiquincentennial theme, had plenty of room.
Big Boy will pass close to our home this morning on its way to Kansas City so I will see if I can get a better shot.
Seen while stopped at a traffic light. I assume this is a utility or telecom box. I'll stop by to see the finished product.
South of the Arch and hard by the Mississippi sits and old industrial area, mostly vacant now. There were well-advanced plans for a multi-use redevelopment using some of the buildings in the background. Something over a year ago intense fire swept through the structures with the now-blank windows. The future is unknown.
Noted on my way out of Soulard Market after the Bastille Day stuff. It was getting late on Saturday afternoon and things were beginning to wind down. Black Diamond is an odd name for watermelon (sounds like it would hurt to bite into it) but they are dark.
The mock Bastille Day festivities began and ended outside our historic Soulard Farmers Market, https://tinyurl.com/2s4xmfu8, established in 1779. The current building opened in 1929. Vendors sell all kinds of foods down the four long arms, with unusual shops in the center. I assume the sign is to draw attention, but does Spider Man shop here?
As has been noted in these pages, St. Louis loves an excuse to drink in public. As the mob followed the king and queen on Soulard Bastille Day, many had bottles or cans in hand. Some of those too unsteady to walk the route rode golf carts, voiturettes de golf, flying le tricolore.
Happy Bastille Day to all our French friends. This town was founded by a pair of French explorer-traders. Our originally French Soulard neighborhood holds an annual tongue-in-cheek celebration of the revolution, wherein the royal couple are chased very slowly from one to another of the several local bars, ending at a mock execution at le rasoir national.
Still in the Dogtown neighborhood. The owner of this building does not believe in subtlety. Visitors, welcome or not, will have no trouble finding it. I notice that it is a two family. Seems a bit small for that. The sign on the utility pole says no zoo parking. The zoo is kinda sorta in the area but way farther than I'd want to walk.
And happy birthday to Mrs. C.
There are times when I just need some pictures and I'll go out cruising in neighborhoods I don't generally visit. That happened recently when I was driving around the picturesquely named Dogtown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtown,_St._Louis). Never heard of this thoroughfare before. It would be generous to call it an alley, just enough for my car to fit through. Now, where is Three-Quarters Lane?
Imo's is the classic St. Louis pizza chain. Their product is quirky: cracker thin crust, coated with a cheese blend unique to here (if you are a local you know, if not it's incomprehensible) and cut into squares, not wedges. Pack down enough of it and you may end up at the massive Washington University Medical Center in the background. It goes way back from what you can see here. They keep me repaired from time to time.
A skateboarder in Kiener Plaza downtown. Boards came on the scene when I was in high school in the 1960s. My friends and I used to grab ours and head for the NY subway early Saturday mornings, hoping to find an empty first or last car. If we were in luck, we would try to slalom through the vertical poles while the train was moving. Lots of bruises but fortunately no lost teeth.
Some time ago I posted a picture of a mourning dove sitting on a nest, located in a crook of a downspout from our front porch. A bit later, I had a photo of two chicks on a nearby chair, both parents keeping watch. The nest has been there for awhile, having been used by robins a couple of years ago. Doves can have more than one clutch of eggs in a season so I'm watching to see who may pop up.
I'm a photographer for pleasure and and personal fulfillment, not for money. In the nearly twenty years I've been posting pictures online and entering the occasional show, I've never made a penny for my work. Out of the blue, I was contacted by the multi-talented Carrie Mae Weems, who had a commission to do an installation for the new Obama Center in Chicago. She wanted to use my photo of one of the sculptures of her close late friend, Terry Adkins. I am so honored to be part of an institution I hold in the highest regard. A check is kinda nice, too.
When my extended family gets together there is enough wine on hand to serve an emperor's banquet (and only the good stuff, please). My brother brought this from his town in Massachusetts. Although it lacks an E, it was refreshing but failed to get me on my feet.
Every Fourth of July my sister and brother-in-law in New Jersey throw a massive backyard barbecue party - cheeseburgers, hot dogs, steak, chicken, cold macaroni salad, green salad, fresh Jersey corn, watermelon...it seems endless. An indispensable element is her Fourth of July flag cake. Yum yum yum.
Home later today.
We are in Ridgewood, New Jersey, with a crowd of family, from baby to octogenarian, hiding inside from the heat. My sister-in-law noticed two fawns outside the window. Mom was off wandering somewhere, but these two were remarkably calm.
Couldn't resist. Another spiral, maybe better than the last one. Interesting views all over the new Powell Hall.
We're in New Jersey now, visiting my three sibs, their spouses, kids and grandkids. We flew into La Guardia, which is a pretty nice airport these days. When we got in the rental car it was 106 F / 41 C, worse than back home. No outdoor activities here, but we all have AC.
When Powell Symphony Hall reopened almost a year ago, we found an ultra-modern new building surrounding two sides of the old one. It adds a lot of space for the public, but also adequate dressing rooms for the musicians, especially the women, who now make up half of the players. They have a comfortable lounge. There are proper executive offices, a music library, instrument storage and a large public education room. Lots of the inside views are pretty good, too.
Too little is trouble. Too much is trouble. Too hot or cold can be a problem. Yet we can't live without it. We are water based organisms on the water planet. The illustration is snow melt on the street beneath the Arch. See how wet other City Daily Photo members are at https://citydailyphoto.org/2026/06/23/july-theme-water/
