Old Time Religion

Top: something else found in the Salty Dog Saloon. I'm sure Jesus loves everyone, even senators from Kentucky.

Bottom: a church in Marysville. What's with the quotation marks? The device is frequently misused in American English and, as loyal members of the language police, Mrs. C and I could not let this pass. What was the pastor trying to communicate?         

What's He Doing Here?

Don't know who he was or where he came from. Never seen him before. But when I was photographing the gun rally as the shooters marched toward the Arch, I ran into, well, Jesus, or a Jesus impersonator. He was standing on the corner of 8th and Market, blessing whatever passed by. That included me and all the firearms. Didn't notice any difference afterward.

The letterblock necklace spells out  “I (heart) U” J E S U S #1 “I (heart) U”. Appropriate, I suppose.  

                   

Character Studies

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Church artifacts, nicknacks, beer souvenirs from the Gypsy Caravan.  That top one is so Catholic (and I have firsthand experience).  In the middle, some bit of publicity for Falstaff beer, once a great St. Louis brand now passed into history, featuring Sir John himself. The red-faced gentleman behind him may be Buster Keaton but I'm not sure. I think the doo-dad on the bottom is an egg cup. Would you pay $24 to have that staring at you under your soft-boiled?

Barclay Street Art

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I went to a Jesuit high school. They were (and, I suppose, are) considered the top of the line for Catholic boys' secondary education. The Jesuits were no dogma sheep and many of my teachers were quite provocative. My freshman Latin and theology teacher, Fr. Fahey, would sometimes mention Barclay Street art, referring to a street in lower Manhattan where there were many Catholic religious shops. The good father (who notoriously made us recite Latin noun declensions against a stopwatch - I can still rattle them off) maintained that the images on sale down there were crude, manipulative and anything but expressions of serious faith.

This seems to be a latter-day example. I hope I do not offend anyone by posting this but it illustrates the range of bizarre stuff on offer at the Gypsy Caravan flea market. I'm not the person who put it on the sale table. Neither am I the one who put the golden dolphin behind it.

BTW, Mrs. C and I spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday at the St. Louis Renaissance Faire. Tons of good pix. Here's a teaser. More later in the week.

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil

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As promised, the first of many pictures from the Halloween street party in our Central West End neighborhood. Maryland Plaza rocks with ghouls, zombies and, for some reason, quite a lot of cartoon characters. Everybody comes, including those old pals, Jesus and Satan. Well, they were friends once, weren't they? Having a drink together mellows old conflicts.

Halloween In St. Louis (Friends Forever)

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Halloween in our town's Central West End Neighborhood is an adults-only free-for-all. Meet old friends, make new ones and drink in the cold streets until curfew. Put old conflicts aside and just have fun.

Actually I thought today's theme day was contrast, but I see I'm a month behind. Well, I hereby declare this post retroactive.