Early Spring, Japanese Garden

.
Seiwa-en, the Japanese garden, is my favorite part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The name means the garden of pure, clear harmony and peace. It's not Kyoto but it's pretty damn good. This bridge or pathway runs just along the shore of a little lake. It has no direction. It doesn't go anywhere. Perhaps that is its lesson.

WHAT'S FINALLY HITTING ME OVER THE HEAD: OMG, it's just eight days until le voyage de notre trente-cinquième anniversaire de la mariage. Better study my vocabulary, vite!

TOMORROW: CDPB monthly theme day - yellow.

Spring Snow

.

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

So said poet and St. Louis native T. S. Elliott in the opening sentence of The Wasteland. It may not quite be April but close enough. This was the scene Sunday morning in the Missouri Botanical Garden after a wet spring snow fell overnight. The sun was out by noon and it all melted away.

WHAT I WORKED ON LAST NIGHT: My theme day picture. I hope you are amused.

TOMORROW: zig zag.

Forest Park, Spring Rain

.

The first flowering trees of spring have popped open in St. Louis over the last week. Saturday was chilly and damp but I thought it would make for subtle colors in Forest Park. A lot of the central US was supposed to get some snow last night. If we have any and I can get my butt out of bed early enough, I'll see what I can make of it in the Missouri Botanical Garden.

WHAT SATURDAY NIGHT'S FORECAST MADE ME THINK OF: Spring Snow, the exquisite novel by Yukio Mishima.

TOMORROW: payday.

There's a bunch more New Orleans photos on Flickr here, with scenes of high life and low life on Bourbon Street.

Hook, Ladder and Flag

.
As I've shown before, the St. Louis Fire Department goes to public events with two gigantic hook and ladder trucks and suspends an enormous flag from their cranes. This shot is from the St. Patrick's Day parade. I like it because almost all that shows of the flag is the swooping red and white stripes.

WHAT'S THE WORD? 1. Ahhhhh. I was exploring new dimensions in overwork this past week. It's over and next week isn't so bad. Might actually get some shooting in today. 2. Woo hoo! Three of my pictures were accepted for the next group show at the Soulard Art Market gallery. Never had my stuff in a gallery for sale before. They've all been on the blog: this one (top photo), this one and this one (top photo). 3. Oh oh! Mrs. C.'s mew hip replacement popped out of the socket last night. I'm actually writing this in a hospital ER (with free WiFi - how considerate). They just popped it back in and we'll be home in a while.

Saturday Morning Note: our patient is fine. The doctors waited until the short-lasting anesthesia wore off and then sent us home. Thank heavens we're among the Americans who have health insurance.

TOMORROW: to be determined but, as I said, I hope to shoot some new stuff today.

Old Technology

.

This is another view of the old power plant along the Mississippi that was in my post of March 8. It's interesting to see how it appears to have been built in different sections over time with differing colors and forms. Today, it all makes an interlocking whole.

WHAT I DID YESTERDAY THAT WAS FUN AND INTERESTING: I'm a lawyer, as most readers know, and I specialize in helping people get Social Security disability benefits. I was invited to speak to rheumatology grand rounds at the Washington University School of Medicine about Social Security disability's impact on physicians and their patients. After all, we serve the same people. The docs said they found it very informative.

TOMORROW: I'm still dumpster diving for St. Louis pictures. Fortunately, the work pressure has eased up some and I hope to shoot some new material this weekend.

BY THE WAY, I've added a bunch more New Orleans photos to the set on Flickr. Click here.

Thursday Arch Series

.
Stupid Arch tricks. I'm out of fresh ideas and keep making these HDR pictures that look like cover illustrations for science fiction novels. I need to clean out my head and eyes. I need more time to go out shooting. I need a sabbatical from work. Well, maybe I need more realistic goals.

Compare the Arch photo posted today on GATEWAY. It was shot three and a half years ago, at the time this obsession began. it's simpler, more elegant. It's better work in my view. But then i stop an think - does this photo have something legitimate to say on its own? See what you think.

On another note, thanks to my friend Juergen Kuehn of Marburg, Germany, Daily Photo for nominating me for a Kreative Blogger award. I am honored that this is the second time one of our CDPB colleagues has done so. The blog is a labor of love or clinical disorder but I'm not sure which.

TOMORROW: I'll find something about St. Louis. Just don't know what yet.

STL DPB On The Road - Neighborhoods of New Orleans

.

We got off the tourist circuit in New Orleans over the weekend. One stop was a monthly outdoor art market at the corner of Piety and Royal Streets in the Bywater neighborhood. I have no idea what this nearby building once was but it obviously called attention to itself.

New Orleans has the best street names of any city in the US, such as the just-mentioned Piety; several of the Muses, including Erato, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Polymnea and Euterpe; Religious; Felicity; Elysian Fields; Treasure; Abundance and, of course, Desire. Oh, and St. Louis Street. This supposed to be a St. Louis blog.

I added several more pictures to my New Orleans set on Flickr yesterday.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch series.