DEDICATED TO ART AND FREE FROM ALL

Engraved in the stone over the main entrance to our art museum are the words "Dedicated To Art And Free To All." And it is, a wonderful thing, except for special exhibitions. One day last week Mrs. C and I went to the current one, a spectacular survey of German art from the last two centuries. All of the works were from the museum's own collection, one  of the best in the Americas. (We had a lot of German immigrants who did well. Think Anheuser Busch.)

We nearly had the place to ourselves. Here the entrance to the new wing has a few employees on duty and no one else but us.                             

EMPTY

Kiener Plaza downtown late yesterday afternoon, without a soul in sight. We are not on mandatory isolation but there is no place to go, nothing to do. It struck me as I was driving around that a high proportion of the people I did see were evidently homeless. The cruelest form of social distancing.         

'Twas The Mid-Day Of Christmas

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“Twas the mid-day of Christmas and all through The Lou,

Not a salesman was pitching, as far as I knew.

The wine racks were filled with the utmost of care

With hope that Aunt Flo doesn’t spill everywhere.

The children were plugged into PlayStation 2

With sounds of big mortars and gunfire, too.

While mom in her tennies and my Cardinals cap

Had just finished picking up holiday wrap.

Etc. etc. It was awfully quiet around town yesterday. In fact, haven't heard it so quiet since last Christmas when we had thick fog. Here, the parking lot in front of Nordstrom in the St. Louis Galleria is dead empty.

Beginning to take some shots with Santa's best gift of all, a Fujifilm X-T2 camera. It's wonderful, half the size and weight of my Canon DSLR but it's going to take some time to get used to. I can't get in the habit of adjusting the f stop with a ring at the base of the lens. My brilliant teacher, Bobbi Lane shoots with one and, although she gets paid for it, I trust her.