Big, elaborate hood ornaments used to be a thing. I remember that my family's first car, a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air (we lived in NYC and didn't use it every day), had one that looked like a chrome jet plane with twin vertical tails. I'm sorry that I didn't note what this car was, but you can imagine how it could eviscerate a pedestrian in an accident. Now the marques are all flat.
I don't have any special skill in photographing automobiles. but it seems to me that sometimes you can get more interesting images from the details rather than the whole. If you squint, you might see me in the red jacket reflected in the letter I.
There are lots more images from our Central European expedition to edit, and I'll probably put more on Facebook, but it's time to be home. This weekend is the 100th anniversary of the official designation of Route 66, sometimes referred to as America's Mother Road. It starts in Chicago, passes through St. Louis (quite close to our home), and then gradually southwest to Los Angeles. Readers may know the song, with popular covers by St. Louisan Chuck Berry or the Rolling Stones.
There was a weekend festival to mark the occasion at the Missouri History Museum. One feature was a line-up of classic cars that may have plied the road. This is a 1939 Cadillac La Salle ambulance. Make way.
Another figure at the History Museum’s Dia de los Muertos event, dressed in the uniform of our local soccer/football team. St. Louis City SC's record this season is somewhat well represented.
One of the features of Dia de los Muertos is elaborate altars, usually in honor of a particular deceased family member. This is a small detail from what I gather was a family’s abuela, or grandmother. The photos may be great grandchildren.
Technically, Dia de los Muertos was yesterday. In the Roman Catholic calendar, November 1 is All Saints Day and November 2 is All Souls Day. (You are only obliged to go to mass on the former.) Only a few people at the Missouri History Museum who were not official participants in the event did the full makeup or costume. If you look closely at his clothing, when the day comes I don’t think the man on the right expects to end up in heaven.
Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican festival that celebrates our connections to the beloved who have left us. Despite the imagery we will see in coming days, it is not morbid. The Missouri History Museum (a lot more interesting than it sounds) has a weekend event observing the occasion.
This statue of Thomas Jefferson, first American Secretary of State and third president, sits in the north entry hall of the Missouri History Museum. I assume it is there because during his administration he arranged the Louisiana Purchase from France, acquiring a huge swath of North America for the young republic.
Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. In one of its famous opening lines, he wrote that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Yet Jefferson was a slave owner. Cognitive dissonance was not an issue at the time.
Dia de los Muertos events were not only at the Contemporary Art Museum. There was an all-weekend function at the Missouri History Museum, a few miles west in Forest Park. There were many constructions known as altars, memorials for a deceased person. Music and celebrations are part of the tradition.
There were family events here this weekend for the Mexican holiday that takes place on November 1 and 2, joyfully celebrating the lives of those who are no longer with us. The kid always goes for the face painting but she was a little unsure about the meaning and the language involved. Someone asked her yesterday what the design was about. She said it was from Dia de los Geckos.
We do!
Seen in front of the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, which is more interesting than it sounds. I don't know who the sign is meant for. It doesn't refer to a current exhibit.
