Fireballs

It seems like everybody around here is doing outdoor nighttime Christmas lights displays. We have taken Ellie to Wild Lights at the Zoo, which was so crowded we'll never go back. Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden is the big one. We may go next weekend. 

However, the St. Louis Science Center got into the act this year. They call it Science Illuminated. There were a couple of demonstrations to amaze the kids. This woman, a chemist, is spraying solutions containing magnesium and, um, I forget what else, into a flame. Great balls of fire.          

Chill Out Or Warm Up

Things don't really get going at Artica until after dark. I've never stayed that late due to family demands. But Sunday night Mrs. C went to a debate watching party (the horror) so I was on my own. I stayed late.

The crowd doesn't really roll into this event until dusk. They set up little camps, waiting for the pyre that ends the event. Some bring props. This is a propane torch that can erupt at the push of a lever. More about the fire soon.   

Still Playing With Fire

Still far beyond the limits of my coordination and risk tolerance but not as nuts as the chap in yesterday's post. At least she can put her hands on the object connected to the fire. Better dressed, too.            

Kids, Don't Try This At Home

A fire juggler at the Ice Carnival. I don't like the look of this. Does he value his nose and, um, whatever else?

Something else most of us wouldn't want to try.

                   

Valentine?

Well, Valentine's Day is associated with passion, isn't it? No better place to give it full vent than at the nightly fire dance show at the beachfront restaurant, Latitude Blue. This was pretty intense. Beautiful, athletic young dancers in slightly kinky costumes, flinging flame around their twisting bodies. At times it made me think of The Rite of Spring.

Robert Frost wrote:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

Fire and passion won last night. I got a lot more of these pictures to edit.
                                

3 PM: Fire To The North, Water To The East

I was going to post some more spring flowers today but, you know, more flowers. So I was sitting at my desk at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon in my usual torpor when I glanced out my window to the north (I'm in a northeast corner). High, billowing black smoke was rising from somewhere behind the football stadium. I looked at a couple of local news sites and found nothing. 

Then a glance to east across the Mississippi: the Gateway Geyser was having its mid-afternoon blow. This is directly across the river from the Arch. From my angle it's behind a grain elevator. It goes off at noon, 3 and 6 during the warm months, rising as high as the Arch itself when the wind is calm, like yesterday. The only one in the world that's higher is in Saudi Arabia.

Now if they could only direct that water canon back to the Missouri side.                       

After the Fire

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This is the building that was on fire in Friday's post in a picture taken Saturday morning. No more smoke, fire trucks all gone. It looks like only the top two stories burned out. I wonder what was up there. It made for quite a spectacle. The photo has nice geometry and a whiff of charcoal.

A Bit Of Excitement

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I have no new material. Nada. Nichts. Rien. Zippo. So it was something of a relief when there was a big fire yesterday in an abandoned factory on the south edge of downtown. I heard there were shots of it on the national TV news. We could see it well from our office windows. I got these two images with my point and shoot.

The damaged building has popped up on this blog a couple of times before. The picture at the bottom is a Arch photo from earlier this year.