Theme Day: Reflections

The Gateway Arch, bedrock of my photographic life in St Louis for 16 months!

On the first of every month, City Daily Photo hosts Theme Day. This month the theme is reflections. 

I took this at sunrise from the Illinois side of Eads Bridge last fall, as our time in St. Louis was swiftly coming to a close.

It was my great privilege to have the joy of exploring the city of St. Louis and fractions of the states of Missouri and Illinois for sixteen months. I may never be a mid-westerner again, but I now readily understand from experience that there is a great deal to love about the region and its people.

I very well remember the election when John Kerry was running against George Bush. I drove through the midwest on my way to Colorado and Utah that fall. Where I came from, in upstate NY, there was some conviction that Kerry could win. Being a Democrat, I must admit that I was hopeful, though not particularly thrilled with Kerry.

But as I hit Kentucky, and then Illinois, and then Missouri, and then Kansas, and without even talking politics with anyone, not a soul, I began to understand that Kerry didn't have a prayer. The lives of many midwesterners just didn't seem to match the message we were getting from the Democrats and Kerry that year. I still cannot find a clear way to explain this feeling that I had. I just knew it to be true. Call it intuition, which we all know is based upon a lifetime of experience! 

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Shaw's Garden

On the same day we visited the orchid show at the Missouri Botanical Garden last year, at about this time of year, we wandered outside into the garden. It was an overcast and misty day, conditions that make the garden a much different experience than on a sunny day. Here Henry Shaw's country home comes into view looking up a main axis of the garden.

St. Louis: Around Town

Maybe you didn't know that St. Louis is the home of Tums, the perfect New Year's Day antidote.  Hope you had a happy one!

PS: Toasted Ravioli...yuk! Tums are good for that, too.

I've begun my new blog in Syracuse called Merry@Syracuse. Please visit.

Gateway Arch

I wish for a New Year that brings you 

and all the world's people safety and peace.

Mark Twain School

Another of my tile finds, this time on the Mark Twain School on the far North side of the city. It is an Ittner school, now abandoned. Blow it up for best effect. I promise to post everything in the way of architecture and ornamentation that I have, which is considerable, on St. Louis Mosaic, my second blog, as soon as I get a block of time. 

I now have a third blog, Merry@Syracuse, as we have moved back to Syracuse NY, in my old home region. Expect lots of pictures of snow in the next while over there. We got twelve and a half inches 

in the past 24 hours.   

Gateway Arch with Snow

We got a bit of snow, so I hurried to the Arch.  Scroll down to see other scenery from up top.

Top and center...see the legs of the Arch and the covered entrances.  The black lines are the snow brush machine tracks.

The Old Courthouse looks like a model.

The Original Cardinals

Claudia                      Ernesto

                                                                             

St. Louis Zoo

There's a rock at the entrance to the zoo....

Gateway Arch Park

We chose an overcast day to go to brunch in the Millenium Hotel tower. There are irregular shaped pools to the north and south of the Arch, hidden especially in summer by leaves and the valley which contains each.

One of the wondrous things about this region is the presence of bald cypress trees, which I have always equated with Florida.  I will miss them.

Soulard Tiles

This stunning mural is right on Russell St. in Soulard.  Made of extremely irregularly shaped pieces of terra cotta, some details don't make it to adjacent tiles such as the left cow's legs.  No matter.  It is still a magnificent picture. 

Below is the entire tableau. Click to enlarge them to good effect.

Budweiser Clydesdale

Budweiser keeps a large group of Clydesdales at Grant's Farm here in St. Louis, mares with foals in the spring, large groups of geldings from which to choose for the famous 8-hitch teams, and probably a stallion or two.

There are always a couple of horses at the brewery near the river, in a paddock outside the Busch family's historic and architecturally beautiful stable.  The family lived in an adjacent house at this site, gone now, and also at the farm which is now Grant's Farm.

Joli at Forest Park

JDo, one very happy dog!

Forest Park

I posted a picture of us in a peddle boat on a warmish day here on Post-Dispatch Lake just three weeks ago. Some difference. St. Louis Art Museum, one of the few remaining structures built for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, is on the hill in the background.

Shortest Afternoon of the Season is Past!

By the astronomic numbers, yesterday afternoon was the shortest afternoon.


Starting today, the afternoons begin, ever so slowly, to regain light.  By mid-January you can already see the difference as you go home from work or milk the cows.  This is illustrated here:
http://www.analemma.com/Pages/framesPage.html


Go to the last section, Other Phenomena, for an explanation.


Sorry, the mornings continue to lose light until early January.


The shortest day is but an average of mornings and afternoons. Analemma is the answer. A Farmer's Almanac will reveal the numbers.


Horray.

Gateway Arch Reflection

Gateway Arch

Art Hill

Treemonisha

This monumental steel sculpture in near-South City was created by Chicago sculptor John Henry to honor the opera Treemonisha by Scott Joplin. Joplin lived here for a time just a few blocks away. 

Treemonisha's story brings up timeless struggles between education and ignorance, and between reconciliation and retribution. It was not staged during Joplin's lifetime.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Citygarden