FISH OUT OF WATER

So here's what was happening around the scene in yesterday's photo. The Saint Louis Art Museum's new special exhibition is Matisse And The Sea. The museum is open late on Fridays and the special shows are free. (The museum itself is always free, supported by local taxes.) There were some things for kids and we brought Ellie. One of them was sketch a mermaid, with Captain Jack Sparrow thrown in for good measure.                

NO ONE IS SAFE THESE DAYS

Huh? I think I'll leave this unexplained for now and see if there are any guesses.                   

MERMAID BARBIE

An annual feature of the Renaissance Faire is Mermaid Cove. Women sit by a little fake pond wearing fishy scales and flippers over their legs. What this had to do with the likes of the Medicis, Leonardo, Copernicus, Shakespeare or Montaigne is - well, nothing at all. Kids like it. This one was supposed to be Mermaid Barbie. Maybe poetic license taken to the extreme.           

Something New

There were some additions this year to the Renaissance Faire or Festival or whatever it styles itself these days. One of them is Mermaid Cove. A few young women in costume hang around a concrete water course making noises like porpoises at a Sea World show. A bit bizarre but good for photographers.

This has about as much to do with the Renaissance as Donald Trump has to do with humility. The event is turning into a weird costume party with lots of beer swilling. (In one of my shots the second mermaid is knocking down a tankard.) 

If you don't care for this, we haven't gotten to the blood in the sand yet.