A SPECIAL DAY

 

Hard to believe, but today is Mrs. C’s 80th birthday and she is in fabulous shape. (She is my senior, but not by enough to matter. Doing better than me in some ways.) We  have been married 50 years and have had some great adventures together. She is seen here holding Buddhist prayer flags on some godforsaken plateau in Tibet. I’m hoping for many more years with her. She makes my life complete.            

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

A long time ago - everything is a long time ago now -  I was in my middle year of law school. It was St. Patrick's Day and I had only change in my pocket. My roommate and I decided we could not sit at home despite our lack of funds. There was a bar near the university that had cheap beer and pinball machines. It was crushingly crowded and I was literally pushed into the other person in this picture. I grew up in an apartment in New York. She grew up on a farm in Kansas. We were married 50 years ago today. It worked. It really did.

And the adventures we have had. Some people want to sit on a beach in Cancun or buy trophies in luxury shops. Not us. We went to Tibet, here at Everest base camp at 5,200 meters / 17,000 feet. And Tierra del Fuego and Fairbanks and Bangkok and Alice Springs and Cairo. And Paris, over and over again. Wow, did I luck out. She's the best.                

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - KN95 AT DCA

Sitting on the tarmac at Washington Reagan National Airport, waiting to go home. Never thought of using a smart phone for portrait lighting but, hey, whatever works.

I am totally out of material. May have to do some recycling.           

City Daily Photo Novenber Theme Day - Friend

I have one very best friend, someone who has stood (or in this case, sat) beside me for 44 years, my wife Carolyn. Always kind, always tolerant of my weird edges, and, as recently illustrated, supporting me in sickness and in health. We met in a St. Louis bar on St. Patrick's Day. We come from about as different backgrounds as two Americans could have: a farm in Kansas and an apartment in New York, but the relationship worked.

We share similar values (à gauche). Neither of us is interested in consumerism but we sure love seeing the world together. This picture was taken a few years ago above the Mediterranean in Eze, France. We've walked together in Tierra del Fuego and Everest base camp, gone to some of the world's great opera houses and raised two children. Now we dote on two, and soon to be three, grandchildren, including the redoubtable Ellie. 

I couldn't have a better friend.         

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us

You know the reference. Me, Mrs.C, Emily and Ellie on our 44th anniversary at Pere Marquette Lodge. We wouldn't have needed help to keep us occupied if the weather hadn't been so rotten. Spring seems to be poking its nose in this week.     

A Kansas Farm Birthday

My wife's youngest sister, Mary Lee, has cerebral palsy and is severely handicapped. She has not had an easy life. Still, her brothers and sisters watch out for her. She is precious and much loved. She turns 60 this month and it was time to do something special for her.

She lives in a group home in a small Kansas town, quite some distance west of KC. The family brought her to town this weekend for a celebration. The suburban town of Overland Park, Kansas, has a remarkable facility, the Deanna Rose Childrens' Farmstead. It distills the essence of Kansas' farming tradition for kids who now live with air conditioning, cars and video screens. Good venue for the occasion. Above, my wife, Carolyn, is in  turquoise. Clockwise from her, Dorothy Holst, Mary Lee, Mel Kruse and Ron Kruse. 

Each of the pix below has a short note after it. And, by the way, it hit 108 F / 42 C in St. Louis today, breaking a record for the date set in 1901. Time to pay more attention to Al Gore.             

Greetings, urbanites.

Your face here.

My new business.

Lay or bust? Sounds apocalyptic.

I thought that's what scotch is for.

Don't Forget Grandpa, Too

Certain people in Washington are raising a lot of other people's temperatures, me included. That anger overflowed at the Women's Marches here and around the world. I went a little nutso yesterday re-posting news stories to Facebook as those lying, arrogant (plural noun deleted) flouted their disrespect for democracy and truth. 

Three generations of Crowe women walked with their sisters (and me). Sometimes Madeleine is eager to pose and sometimes she will have nothing to do with it. What are you going to do with a three year old who insists on wearing an owly hat?