The Open Road

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It's hard to appreciate how huge a swath an eight lane highway cuts through the countryside until you stand in it without tractor-trailers bent on converting you into road kill. That's what I saw when a big section of Interstate 64, shut down a whole year for complete reconstruction, opened to the non-motoring public for a day. It's such an alien feeling, like you are floating in an unnatural space with a concrete floor. A recumbent bike might blow by you in a fast blur of color. If you careen into a barrier while missing an exit, a new-technology crumple zone will cushion the blow. Still, better wear a helmet.

WHAT I SHOT LAST NIGHT THAT YOU WILL SEE SOON: the grounds of the St. Louis Zoo have been filled with colored lights for the holidays, on display after dark. I went over last night with my tripod and froze my patootie off, but I got some good images.

TOMORROW: the sad eyes of the Highway Patrol and a new Arch photo on Gateway.

I Don't Think They're French. What Do You Think?

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We have a main east-west highway through St. Louis City and County, Interstate 64 - US 40. It's pretty old. The Missouri Highway Department, in its wisdom, decided to entirely shut down and rebuild the stretch through the heart of the area. They are doing it in two segments, taking about a year each. You can imagine the traffic chaos.

The western section reopened last weekend. I met this couple in an ordinary place under unusual circumstances. MoDOT invited the public to walk, bike and rollerblade the new highway last weekend. These two showed up for the festivities. Her vehicle was welcome then, but not now. It was very strange to wander a brand-new eight lane highway with no car traffic.

WHAT ADVICE I GOT TODAY: friend of the blog D.C. Confidential of Washington DC Daily Photo told me it's okay to goof off at work for the rest of the year and everyone else is doing it anyway. But I'm self-employed (but so is she). There's a blunt but accurate saying in small law firms that you eat what you kill. Plus, we have to fund the newly-established Send Bob To Tibet In September 2009 Foundation! Such conflicting motives.

TOMORROW: Modern highway technology!

Bite Me

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Bah, humbug. Not far from Steinberg Rink in a secluded corner of Forest Park you'll find something strange. You can't see it from any of the roadways. Tucked between the planetarium and Interstate 64 (more about which tomorrow) are lifesize, semi-realistic models of a tyrannosaurus rex and a triceratops. You know, just hanging out in a grove of trees, waiting to scare small children when they round a bend in a bike path. I think they are very weird and cool. Truth be told, though, they aren't the scariest things in St. Louis. We got places where angels fear to tread (like all American cities).

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ST. LOUIS THURSDAY NIGHT WHILE I WRITE THIS: heavy freezing rain. Time to find my slippers and a glass of port.

TOMORROW: easy rider.

Thursday Arch Series

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A different view from most of my Arch pix. In an earlier post, I mentioned that my wife and I stayed at a hotel downtown after our office holiday dinner last weekend.. I made sure to reserve a room with a view of the Arch. This was shot early the next morning on a very gray day. It's an HDR to pump it up a bit. Hard to tell from this picture, but the Mississippi River level is really low.

WHAT I WAS FANTASIZING ABOUT: retiring and spending all that silly work time on photography and reading more books. Ha! Fat chance. My 401(k) has lost at least a third of its value this year and I couldn't get health insurance anywhere in this fine country outside of work until I'm 65 and eligible for Medicare. So, nose back to the grindstone, Bobby.

TOMORROW: something not at all Christmas-y. Ggrrrr. Who needs TV when you have...

There is a new Arch photo
today on Gateway.

Santa Stands Accused!

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These two children appear to be fingering Santa as the culprit, but why? Is he guilty of wage and hour violations in the elves' sweatshop? Shipping huge amounts of loot internationally without the necessary customs licenses? Failure to record a flight plan with the Federal Aviation Administration? I couldn't tell from this distance but just look at his guilty expression. Later, I saw him flashing gang signs with this bro from the hood, pictured below. Something fishy was going on.

WHAT I'M READING: Salman Rushdie's most recent novel, The Enchantress of Florence. Rushdie plays the English language like Horowitz played the piano. The book is riveting (to old Strangetastes, anyway). It is coming out in paperback in the US in early January if you want to save a buck or two.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series and also a new Arch photo on Gateway.

Do You Believe In Santa Claus?

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There was an interesting and diverse crowd on the ice at Steinberg Rink last weekend. The young woman in the top picture proclaims that she still believes in Santa. And why not? He was right there, skating with everybody else. Maybe she shouldn't be so confident, for reasons we shall discuss in tomorrow's post.

WHAT I'M FINALLY USING: Photoshop CS4. I've had the new version on my computer for two or three months but I've been intimidated about using it - there are some important changes. However, I got the excellent, concise book, Adobe Photoshop CS4: Up To Speed by Ben Willmore, which is only about what's changed since CS3. Very, very useful. Lots of good new features in CS4. Wow, is the sharpening better!

TOMORROW: We accuse Santa!

Hey, lady! Getcher picture taken with a reindeer?

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You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.
But can you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?

No, Rudolph didn't make it to The Lou a couple of weeks before the big night. However, on Skating With Santa day, he did send a heavily tranquilized cousin from a "petting zoo" to the rink. The children generally ignored him/her (I am not an expert in these matters, although the Wikipedia article on the species' description of antlers makes me suspect this is a female and I did not attempt closer inspection) but lots of adults posed for pictures. The animal's handler didn't seem to be having any better a day than her charge.

So, have you been naughty or nice?

WHAT I HEARD YESTERDAY THAT BLEW ME AWAY: the Saint Louis Symphony performed composer John Adams' Nativity oratorio, El Niño. I'm not usually a big Adams fan - a little too retro for me - but this work, which I had not heard before, is full of invention, brilliance and poetry. As soon as I got home I jumped on Amazon and ordered a copy (there's some impulse gratification for you).

TOMORROW: skaters' waltz.