NEW YORK POST Headline: 2ND GIG=EXTRA GIGS

We were shocked to discover that in his obsessive quest for extra memory the famous St. Louis photog took on a second career in Binghamton NY.  "No, the commute isn't great, but our customers are outstanding, and that has made it all worthwhile," says Crowe. 

Tiffany Dome atop the Atrium at Marshall Field

This week last year I spend the better part of a day in Chicago in transit to Syracuse to uncover our perennial garden of its fall coat of suffocating leaves. We had been gone to St. Louis for seven months. If I could give it a good going-over, I hoped it would have a better chance to survive the lack of care until the summer, when I would be back to give it a stiff weeding. We, of course, still had no idea that we would be moving back to Syracuse and our home and garden.

So, I had this luxurious day to explore a city I know very little about. I took the train from St. Louis early in the morning and had about 9 hours before the overnight to New York was due to depart.

I set out on foot. Who hasn't heard of Marshall Field? I wanted to see this architectural landmark, and what I found, among other things, is this Tiffany dome on a five story atrium. The store has changed hands; it retains all the grandeur of its original conception and it has multiple historic designations that will help ensure its survival.     

Shaw's Garden

Witch hazel February 15 2009

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.

Double Slide

Double Slide by Karyn Oliver at Laumeier Sculpture Park, taken about a year ago. It always makes us chuckle.

Snow near Syracuse

Hello from Syracuse.  We have a lot of snow here in Central NY.  

In the city there is about 16 inches, though it will settle over the coming warm (high 30s) spell.  There is no snow left on the trees because the sun came out yesterday making a big difference on any surface it hit.

I took this yesterday morning twenty miles east of here and 700 feet higher. Altitude makes a big difference.

I am posting many winter pictures on Merry@Syracuse, http://merryatsyracuse.blogspot.com/  

my new blog about life in Central NY, and further afield when we can get away!  

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.   

Shaw's Garden

To celebrate and amuse us during the holiday weeks the Garden creates a flower and train show, this year commemorating the Garden's 150th Anniversary. Someone created models of all the buildings, and Henry Shaw is everywhere.  Miniature staff are involved in lots of interesting activities.  Be sure to scroll down to find out what happened to a hapless Climatron gardener.

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

                                                                             

Joli

Always curious...always ready to go out.

We had a snow storm at midday yesterday 

after the temperature dropped by 15 degrees between 5 and 7am.  

The storm came at us from the south, 

right up the Mississippi valley in a giant cyclone 

carrying cold air in from the northwest 

and picking up moisture from the Gulf.  

Merry Christmas

Thank you, Robert Indiana.

His iconic LOVE design was first published as a Christmas card in 1964. 

The sculptures came a little later.

We were in New Orleans last Christmas and found this with great delight 

at the sculpture garden adjoining the New Orleans Museum of Art.  

It was a balmy day. 

Season's Greetings