COLD AND CUDDLY

 

While walking out of the Festival of Nations to our car, we came across this man with his pet monitor lizard. I didn't get the name but I think he said he'd had the reptile for 20 years. The hot day seemed to keep it awake.                          

JUMP

 

Still at the Festival of Nations, a West African dance and rhythm group called Spirit of Angela. So full of energy and lucky to have the shutter speed high enough to catch the dancers in the air.                       

HOW CROWDED WAS IT?

 

About this crowded, and there were people still streaming in. It's great that St. Louis has so many festivals and public activities, but the turnout is often so great that an old duffer with a bad back like me has trouble coping, especially when it's hot. Which it always is anymore.

I went to Paint Louis yesterday for a while and got some pix but didn't last very long. I'll go back today for a drive-by, since the painting event will be done, to see what's on the wall. Also went by the neighborhood where the bicycle races were but there was nowhere to park.                

YEAH, RIGHT

 

Corn dogs are a staple of American carnivals and state fairs. (I've only been to one state fair but it was Texas so it was a hoot.) This comestible is a hot dog pierced by a stick, rolled in mozzarella cheese, coated in corn meal and deep fried. I guarantee you there are no corn dogs in Korea, unless Kim Jong Il arranged for clandestine imports to serve his delicate palate. Patrons of the Festival of Nations didn't care.                    

MEXICANOS EN ST. LOUIS

 

That's simply how this group bills itself, or at least how they were listed on the program. Like most places in the U.S., they have plenty of countrymen here. I like the complex rhythms.

There is a lot going on here over our Labor Day long weekend. (There is some irony that we have one.) Daytime high temps are still hovering around 38 C / 100 F, maybe a bit lower by Monday. I'm not going to attempt the colorful Japanese Festival at the Botanical Garden since it is crushingly crowded. There are pro bicycle races, always great to shoot, but will they go forward in the heat? And we have Paint Louis, according to Guinness the longest graffiti wall in the world. Should get some of that.                      

SEEN AT THE FESTIVAL OF NATIONS

 

Or elected official, or otherwise. Your choice.                  

AT THE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

 

The St. Louis International Institute has a big festival in one of our parks over the last weekend in August. There are performances of music and dance from all over the world, with food to match. Usually lots to photograph but it has gotten so crowded over the years we went early on the first day and left by early afternoon. The weather doesn't help. Not quite as bad as Europe, but about 38 C / 100 F every day this week.                       

ODE ON A CONCRETE URN

 

Seen at the other end of Tower Grove Park from yesterday's picture. Keats would not have liked my poor joke, but it's what popped into my head. My head should be clearer in a couple of days after I get my lumbar spine blasted on Thursday.                    

VOICES OF SPRING

 

Explosions of tulips in Tower Grove Park. Although it is a city park, there is a private foundation that supports and helps maintain it. Today's background music: https://youtu.be/c3Ywo8Tsyys?si=ckDPPi_brJnDHdff                

SPRING, REALLY?

 

Fake ruins in Tower Grove Park, a 19th Century Romantic fantasy. No flowers around here yet, maybe because St. Louis can't figure out what season it is. When I shot this yesterday afternoon, the temperature was 94 F / 34.4 C. This morning as I write this, it is 40 F / 4.4 C. Not normal.                          

DRY AUTUMN

 

It’s increasingly common here. Autumn has been very warm and dry. Officially, we are in moderate to severe drought. The leaves turn brown and just fall. The only way to get some color may be putting them right in front of the setting sun.  

Unfortunately, there are strong storms predicted for Saturday, the day of our nationwide No Kings protests. I really want to document it. We’ll see.            

I DON’T BELIEVE IT

Crowds queue up for snacks at the Festival of Nations. I guarantee you there is no such thing as a Korean corn dog. Mozzarella? Italian, degenerated in this country. Hot dogs? Based on German sausage but first served in this form at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Coating it in corn meal and deep-frying it? American county fairs. And, moving right, Chan  is a Chinese name but teriyaki is Japanese. You can’t believe anything these days.               

IT’S A SMALL WORLD

Seen at the Festival of Nations. Maybe this globe provides a sense of scale. It rolls a little when the children push it but I’m guessing the bottom is a bit flat so it doesn’t go bounding into the street.

                         

 

CITY DAILY PHOTO APRIL THEME - STRIPES

 

In Tower Grove Park, my favorite in St. Louis. It is laid out like an old-fashioned English walking park. There are many old, fancy pavilions available to rent. This one, called the Turkish Pavilion, is the largest.                 

THROW IN SOME BALLOONS AND WE GOT A DEAL

 

Another find at Tower Grove Pride Fest. Free books are great. Now if I could only get my granddaughter's face out of her iPad and onto a paper page. Free flag making is a little unusual but could be fun. And what could be better than harmony  with clean sox?

Hey, this weekend is Artica.                      

ON GUARD

 

Although the uniform of the day has much freedom of choice. À chacun son goût. Still, excellent posture, lots of color below the knees, an alert gaze, and a pretty dog at the ready (for something, maybe a treat.)

WELL, ARE YOU?

Perhaps the least patronized table at Pride Fest, not even a booth or a tent. I kind of understand that Marx had good intentions in support of working people oppressed (I'm okay with that word, and it still happens) by capitalism, but,  wow,  did his ideas work out badly in practice. These three don't make me worried about Bolsheviks surging down Market Street.                       

MEOW? CAW?

 

More passing color at Pridefest. I don't think cats and parrots can be friends. Fashion, however, can create all kinds of genial combinations. Look however you like. You may get attention (and maybe that's the point) but no one here will disapprove.                   

TRANQUILITY

 

The same fake ruins and fountain in Tower Grove Park, seen from across the pond. One of the things I like about this place is the feeling of calm and quiet, unless a festival is being held there. Much in contrast to its bigger and better-known competitor, Forest Park, which can be just packed.                 

FAKE

 

An odd feature in Tower Grove Park: there is an area of fake ruins beside a pond, sort of a Romantic fantasy dropped down in the Midwest. It’s not like the park is set on a foggy moor. This was built in the 19th Century and seems pretty strange today. Still, people like it. You often see wedding parties being photographed here.