ST. LUNATICS

Customers at the outdoor bar, Three Sixty, downtown St. Louis.        

THE GEOMETRY OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

The other edge of the same building in yesterday's post, again taken from Three Sixty. The moon rose as the sun set.       

BLOOD MOON

The forecast for viewing the lunar eclipse last night was looking bad around here through Sunday afternoon. I stepped out onto my porch around moon rise and saw the brilliant full orb peeking through clouds. I got a tripod and set up in a neighboring school yard with an unobstructed view. The clouds blew away completely and patience was rewarded.           

BACK IN THE AIR

It's been a long time but we are flying again today. I've been fascinated by flight since my first time at maybe 11 or 12. It was just New York to Washington but I'll never forget it. I never tire of its near-miraculous qualities, especially when we cross large bodies of water. Just land today but sea tomorrow. It's about time.                     

I DUNNO, IT MAKES ME THINK OF BASEBALL

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. If so, boredom may be the father. Almost nothing going on here, just winter blahs. So I go out driving aimlessly with my camera, looking for something to catch my eye. Sometimes I get lucky. For the locals, this is at Brentwood and Forsyth in Clayton.            

LATE AFTERNOON, CHRISTMAS DAY, ST. LOUIS

Madeleine Monday

We have a very good children's science center. Madeleine wanted to visit on Saturday so off we went. The amount of stuff competing for attention can be dizzying. General admission is free but all the stuff they really want to do has an extra charge. One small step for a kid, one giant leap for my credit card.     

Supermoon Over Webster Groves

Mrs. C sent me a text as I was driving home Sunday that the moon had risen over the clouds. I got off the highway in Webster Groves, the suburb where we live, and pulled into a parking lot with an unobstructed view. Not crystal clear but better than when I was on the riverfront. A dark telephone pole gives a little accent.     

What I Could Get Of The Supermoon

I set up my tripod under the Arch beside the Mississippi, letting whatever emanates from the giant steel wicket penetrate my brain and camera. 5:11 PM, 66 degrees, the tables said. The day had turned from clear to hazy and, as the sky darkened, I could not tell how much cloud touched the eastern horizon.

Time passed and I was impatient. Finally, a dirty yellow light rose over Eads Bridge. The full moon was indistinct, wrapped in haze. This was the best I could do. A few minutes later it was completely covered in cloud.

Before I left I turned my lens across the river. Lots of gambling going on in and around this town.

The clouds pulled back as I got home to Webster Groves, more about which tomorrow.   

The Eclipse

 

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Fringe programming for the following special report:

The weather forecast was dicey: partly cloudy, a chance of showers. Some friends who have a country house between St. Clair and Sullivan hosted a big viewing party. It was an ideal location. Clouds started to pass by before the eclipse began, creating anxiety. Then it cleared, leaving nearly perfect conditions. The experience was mystical.

The pink-purple spots at about 1 and 4 o'clock in the first photo are Bailey beads, sunlight refracted around mountains and valleys at the moon's edge. The color shows the presence of helium when run through a spectrograph and proved the existence of that element in the sun.

We heard that you could use a kitchen colander like a multi-eyed pinhole camera. It works.

 

Moonrise At The Space Station

Nah, it's the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Garden, a geodesic dome that somehow contains four different climactic zones. The family went to an event at the garden Sunday night, more about which soon.  

Yesterday's photo was from the annual Annie Malone parade. The organization is a major provider of social and economic services to the area's African-American community. The parade is always a great photo op and there will be more from it, too, as soon as I can work it in. I think Olivier's comment on the Facebook version is correct. He just wanted to fly.

We ordered Madeleine her first camera today. After all, the child will be four years old in August. It's time to get started. There may be some guest posts. 

Time To Move On

All good things must come to an end. (And, if you think about it, bad things, too. It's helpful to have at least a bit of a Buddhist attitude.) Time to wrap up the images from another trip to enchanting Costa Rica, with many thanks to our hosts, Dave and Julie. We hope we can go back next year. I'd really like to bring our daughter and granddaughter Madeleine (who will be back here on Monday). I can imagine her delight while observing the critters in the tide pools.

I don't have a single frame of new local material. Better get back out on the streets of St. Louis today and see what's going on.                

La Luna, El Cocinero Y El Capitan

Almost time to go home. We went to dinner last night at the restaurant of a boutique hotel just down the road, Capitan Suizo. Our old friend, Jujo Molina, has become executive chef. He offers a tasting menu on Friday nights at a very reasonable price.

A just-barely-not-full moon was rising over the palm trees as Jujo and his staff served us culinary delights. There was a saxophone player making sure our blood pressure stayed low. It's going to be hard to leave tomorrow.    

Sorry no post yesterday. I shot some video of the sunset Thursday evening but I don't know a thing about editing them movin' pitchers and it took me hours to figure out the basics of iMovie. Then it took three hours to upload the clip to Blogger, and then it didn't work. It may show up here yet.  

Another Set Of Golden Arches

When someone talks about Golden Arches in this country the reference is usually to McDonald's. (Yuck.)  At the river's edge in The Lou we're talking about Eads Bridge. It's complex. The levee goes under the front arches, the street through the next two (second and third from the right in this picture), and then an elevated train trestle through the last. Just off the left of the frame the track enters a tunnel under the Arch grounds.

Eads Bridge is 140 years old and needs continuing maintenance. The entire underside is covered with scaffolding these days. 

By the way, for those of you who liked Sunday's post, the photo below shows there are other ways to get from St. Louis to the moon. Taken from my office window late yesterday afternoon.

       

Lunar Landing

Seen while walking along the Mississippi yesterday afternoon.         

Who Guards The Moon?

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Well, I was going to post another picture from the Veterans Day parade but oopsie! I left the external drive with those images on my desk at work. So maybe back to that tomorrow.

For today, then, part of the eastern gate of Tower Grove Park as the sun was setting behind me. This post needs some background music.

Back Home

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Points in space: yesterday we drove 400 miles / 644 km from Marysville, Kansas back home, dropping U "R" Us at the Kansas City airport en route for his flight to Chicago. Click his link for some very good Kansas pictures. No new St. Louis material so it's into the archives. A cornice of the baseball stadium, a half moon, the low sun behind me. Little lessons in non-Euclidean geometry.