NOT

 

75th birthday today. Like all of us, life has had significant ups and downs but the net balance is positive. Solid marriage of almost 51 years, financially secure and generally have my wits about me (subject to independent confirmation). Had health challenges, only one of which was potentially fatal, but they were all treated promptly and competently, something not all Americans can say. Brave words, but this limit won’t apply to me. Further adventures await.                   

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.            

BOB THE SOCIETY PHOTOGRAPHER

I've never done event photography but I got a call to do one last night. It was a birthday party for my friend Matthew Kerns, executive director of the St. Lou Fringe. I serve on the board of directors and I'm the house photographer. Here he is posing with another friend, Amy Ziegler, a former colleague on the board, recovering lawyer and ace psychotherapist. There were so many interesting people and I got to be the wandering paparazzo. Everything you need to know about the genre is on YouTube.            

MADELEINE MONDAY

The kid turned 10 Sunday. We arranged a birthday party at a place called Incredible Pizza (spoiler - it's not). There is a big buffet of cheap pizza, pasta, salad and desserts. The big attraction is the adjacent enormous arcade, with every kind of flashing, jangling, shaking electronic game you could imagine. The children wanted to finish eating and get there as fast as possible. Ellie decided that the most efficient and funniest way was to shove her whole ice cream cone in her mouth.       

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - ON THE ICE

One of the most interesting features of Philip Glass' birthday party at the Rockefeller Center ice rink was the presence of professional ice dancers. Their jackets said Ice Theatre of New York. The changing lights made for dramatic effects.                 

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THIS IS REALLY LAURIE ANDERSON

Under all this Nanook Of The North clothing and a mask, facing a couple of MacBooks and a mixer board, is one of my cultural idols, Laurie Anderson. For those who don't know her, see https://laurieanderson.com/, but it's hard to understand if you aren't a devotee. I think I've seen her perform in St. Louis twice. She was the host of Philip Glass' birthday party but I think she spent most of her time being cold. As did we.         

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILIP GLASS

So here's what was going on: not long ago I saw something on Laurie Anderson's Facebook feed about an 85th birthday party for Philip Glass that she was hosting. I'm a huge fan of both. It was a ticketed event at the ice rink in Rockefeller Center in New York. I looked at Mrs. C and said, "I'd go to that!" So, given the freedom of retirement, off we went (not that I need much of a reason to visit my beloved home town). It was as wacky as I expected.         

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - A BIRTHDAY - TRAVEL'S END - TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Tuesday was our last night in Tamarindo. Flying home today via Miami. Everyone had a great time. Ellie just wrote something in the guestbook about the nightly gecko party on the patio,

Yesterday was also Mrs. C's birthday. She chose to have dinner at one of our local favorites, Dragonfly, https://www.dragonflybarandgrill.com , where the sesame crusted tuna is as good  as ever. Since I gave them a little hint, the staff brought something special at the end.

I do not know how this picture will look on your end. The video display on my laptop is on the edge of failure so I'm using a minimally edited phone cam pic. Might be offline until I can get this fixed.     

MADELEINE MONDAY

  

Seven on Thursday of this week. Not only do we have to do usual social keep-away but there are no other school age children in our little housing development. A bit sad and lonely. She gets lots of attention from her mother and grandparents but she needs other kids around.  

Some of our neighbors, particularly the women, dote on her. These "aunties" put on an early birthday party for her in the cul de sac in front of our house. Ellie really turned on the charm - she already knows when she's on stage or on camera. Another party later this week - her mother's birthday is two days after hers.            

20.02.2020 / MY THREESCORE YEARS AND TEN / THURSDAY ARCH SERIES

A near-palindromic birthday (but, someone said, close only counts in horseshoes and bombs). The phrase for this click on the meter comes from a fancy-pants translation of 70 in the King James Bible. Perhaps the nicest modern use of the phrase comes from A. E. Housman's poem The Loveliest Of Trees, The Cherry Now . " (I took a lot of English classes when I was younger.)  The scene is Kiener Plaza downtown with my favorite wicket in the background.

Now to see what comes next.           

You Say It's Your Birthday

Today's theme song.

Ellie turns four on August 20. Audrey turns two on August 30. We had an early joint party for both of them. The cake was simple but the girls didn't care. Nothing better than kids and birthday cake.  

Home tonight. Our flight out of Lansing, Michigan, isn't until mid afternoon. We hear that there is a small but pleasant zoo in the state's capital city. More little person entertainment.

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.

Happy 98th, Elvira

My wife's mother, Elvira Kruse, will be 98 years old on Tuesday. It's the reason we come out here every Thanksgiving. She's rather frail physically but her mind is perfectly sharp. She remembers many things that her children do not.

Here she is surrounded by two of her grandchildren, my daughter Emily on the left and niece Tricia upper left, and great grandchildren too numerous to name. (And there are many others.) Only my Madeleine is out of sorts.              

Madeleine Monday

The other occupant of this house reminds me that I have not edited any pictures from Madeleine's second birthday party a week ago and it would be in my interest to do so. Being somewhat less dense than a post, I have responded. That's Grandma Horrocks from Houston in the third picture.

There are still more photos from the Lantern Festival, unless everyone is tired of them. Then there was the Festival of Nations the following weekend, the Japanese Festival this weekend and the art fair coming up. My right index finger is going to get a cramp. 
                       

Lil' Blue Eyes

I have no new local material. Maybe this weekend, but I have to spend some of it in the office to pay for vacation. It doesn't bother me, though, to post another picture of Ms. M. Those eyes are head turners.                      

Two

My favorite small person, Madeleine Horrocks, turned two yesterday. Her mom, our daughter Emily, has a birthday on Saturday so there's a party on Sunday. Grandma and Grandpa Horrocks are coming up from Houston.

This child is smart and happy. Being two, she delights in looking at pictures of herself in my album on Flickr on the computer. She became quite frightened of the candle in a cupcake but we will try again over the weekend.                    

Filler

Today's the big travel day. We won't get to our destination until tomorrow. The town is known for its salad.

So if I have absolutely nothing else to post there are always pictures of Madeleine. These are from last week's parties. Top, flipping up and down with dad and a friend (she thought it was quite amusing). Bottom, with Uncle Andy, who, to my great regret, is wearing a Chicago Cubs hat. Otherwise a good young man.

If I get a post up Tuesday it may not be until the afternoon my time.                                      

One

Guess who's one year old today? My precious granddaughter, Madeleine, that's who. My son Andy, who knows all about such things, put together this video slide show of my photos documenting her first ride around the sun on this planet.

I may skip a couple of days in the near term, depending on how things go. There are parties, people are coming in from out of town, work has been hell on wheels and Mrs. C and I are trying to prepare for our first extended trip outta here in a while (and I can't wait). If I have to go off the air things will resume next Wednesday, maybe late Tuesday, when we get to our destination. It's going to be very nice.                

Soaked

There are lots more cake pictures around and we'll get back to that. But it's pouring so I thought I'd post this, shot a few days ago. Gloomy. Look closely at the sign. Do the authorities really want people to explore St. Louis today?

PS: there is an occasion today that calls for a theme song.

PPS: okay, I openly admit that I, um, appropriated the following from a Facebook post by Virginia. However, whether single, married or in a relationship, photographers may find it fall out of your chair funny. I did. And non-photographers probably won't get it at all. 

                                

Zero To Ninty Five

My wife's mother, Elvira Kruse, on her ninety fifth birthday yesterday, surrounded by her great grandchildren (or most of them). Madeleine is in her lap. The little one above and to the right with her hands in her face, Olivia, is actually three weeks younger. Elvira doesn't move around that well but she's completely sharp. You can see the clarity.

Below, son Andy points out the most important rug rat in the place, who is being held by sister in law Dorothy. I believe Madeleine would rather be doing something else.