MADELEINE MONDAY

After a long spell of unusually cool, wet weather, the end of May has brought glorious spring skies. To get Ellie out of her mother's hair while working at home, I had the kid pick where to take her bike. She chose the Arch grounds. Here she is, standing at the base and holding the thing up. But there was a much greater adventure later in the day that we will get to soon.       

CITY DAILY PHOTO JUNE THEME DAY - SHOW US A PARK IN YOUR CITY

Forest Park is the largest urban park in the United States. There are a few that are bigger within a city's official border (Phoenix, Boise) but they are in unpopulated areas. Ours is significantly bigger than Central in New York or Golden Gate in Sam Francisco, which would probably be most people's guess, and smack in the middle of town. The city is hard up for money but the park has been maintained and greatly improved by a private foundation, Forest Park Forever. 

I have 513 photos of the park on Flickr (and I have not been good about keeping it up to date lately). No way to pick just one. Two was difficult. The first picture is the top of Art Hill in October with the iconic statue of Louis IX of France. The second is the balloon glow held the night before the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, which may or may take place September. If I am at a loss for something to shoot, there is always material there.         

HAND ROLLED

Back in my college days it was common for people to hand roll, uh, something. I've seen people hand rolling cigars in touristy little shops. But incense? Someone please explain why you you would want to hand roll incense or why that's better than the little sticks and cones you see everywhere. Can you smell the difference? Inquiring minds want to know.

Once again, on Manchester Road in Maplewood.        

UP IN SMOKE

I guess everybody knows what this is about by now. The place sells everything to do with so-called electronic cigarettes.No first-hand experience, of course, but my understanding is that you put a solution that contains nicotine is a chamber and some electric gizmo heats it. The user gets a nicotine-infused vapor without all the other smoke junk. Many, many flavors can be added. Some people think they are safer than cigarettes because there is no particulate smoke. However, research says e-cigs can be even more dangerous. https://tinyurl.com/y8btke95

THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST

An art gallery in Maplewood, something of a cooperative, something of a place to learn. I checked out their website, https://www.artistsfirststl.org/, and it sounds like a very cool organization but one I didn't know. Their web site makes it sound like social distancing is impossible in their activities. Another victim of the pandemic.         

USED BOOK STORE

There are still an number of used book stores around St. Louis. Maybe they are an anachronism, but there are still plenty in a time when booksellers like Barnes & Noble are closing. This is another business on Manchester Road in Maplewood, called The Book House, and its endurance deserves a link: https://www.bookhousestl.com/ . 

I used to read a lot of books until the point in my career when the time demands became too great. There was also an issue of space: our house isn't very big and we ran out of places to put them all. (Why do we keep all those old books anyway?) Now if I want something in print I buy a Kindle book. They have no physical presence but I can carry a large library around with me, although I like the physical feel of a paper book better. I also listen to a lot of audiobooks since, like most Americans, I spend a fair amount of time in the car.

SHOULD IT BECOME NECESSARY

You never know. When the zombie apocalypse comes (if you follow the news you may agree that it's already here) we may need all of our wits to head for the hills. Or the prairie, depending on which direction you go from here.

These so-called escape rooms are all over the place. A group of people has to cooperate to find clues to get themselves out of a confined space within a time limit. A Wikipedia entry says they started in Asia, then turned up in parts of Europe before they spread here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_room. I've never been in one or known anyone who has. Maybe it's more for the younger set. 

On a related note, some years ago there was a post-apocalyptic movie called Escape From New York. It was actually shot in some of the more derelict areas of St. Louis. C'mon, Detroit would have been easier.      

YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT

In 1624, the English poet John Donne wrote

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Not that this isn't true every day of our lives but most of the time we conveniently overlook it. Now the idea slaps us in the face. Wear that mask, dammit. Do your bit to keep me alive.

In a storefront window on Manchester Road in Maplewood.         

             

THE DINER'S OPEN

I don't get around to STL's neighborhoods enough. The other day I took a walk down the main street of Maplewood, an older (by our standards) town adjacent to the city proper. You couldn't tell the difference if you crossed the line. The main drag, Manchester Road, has everything from edgy shops to restaurants all along the spectrum to a major supermarket. Some eateries still provide only carry out, others have outdoor dining and a few invite patrons inside. I saw little about spacing and how many people were allowed at a time.

Tiffany's Diner was certainly open for business without rules posted. The single customer was not wearing a mask  There were not many people on the street but most of them were.            

WE BETTER

There are some things about modern society that I cannot understand. Never mind virus disbelievers and anti-vaxers (aaaaagggghhhh!), let's think about climate science deniers. These are people who would gladly ensure the end of our species (and we'll take quite a few others with us) for vast wealth now, or who earnestly think that climate change is fake. 

I am not religious but I do believe in the scientific method. If you think that climate change is a canard, I want you to be consistent. Abandon your car and travel only on foot or horseback. If you break a leg, fix it yourself. Disconnect your home's electric service. Heat it by wood and cool it with open windows. Trash the phone, the television, the laptop. Make your own clothes and grow your own food, or barter with your neighbors. Science brought you every one of  these things.

BIKER BAR

Where angels and photographers fear to tread. Nothing to worry about the day I took this - it was closed and this is the back. Would I go in if I were invited to shoot something for them? Maybe, if I had a safe conduct pass and the means to back it up. I have some appropriate clothing: weathered jeans, heavy boots and some weird tee shirts. (Although I probably shouldn't wear the one with French on the front - L'enfer, c'est les autres.) 

The front of this establishment opens onto a major street. It has a large overhead door so that the patrons can roll right in during warm weather. Quite a sight in the summer but I don't think I would stop for a snap.       

BABY PLEASE DON'T GO

I've posted pictures a couple of times before of signs put up by the STL MADE organization, https://thestl.com/. It's a wonderful thing to have an outfit that promotes a sense of regional identity and pride, and honors the people who improve life in The Lou.

Still, I find some of their signs enigmatic. If you drove past this on the highway it wouldn't have any special meaning and I had to think about it for a while. What it may mean is that some of us should be entrepreneurs, create businesses that are exceptional and then not leave. I don't know if that last part is a problem or not. This is a pretty good place to live unless you are poor, black or some other minorities, sick and without health insurance - the usual American picture but more than average.

It has been 53 years since I came here for college. My New York accent is almost completely gone. I stayed and I'm glad I did.                 

THURSDAY ARCH SERIES

Haven't run one of these for a while. It's not so different. After 20 years of photographing this thing my imagination wears thin. This was shot on the same dank day as the last few posts. This one is from the observation deck, a few feet from Malcolm Martin's statue. It's a great view but the damn thing for photographers is that there are three pairs of high voltage electric lines crossing the the upper half of the frame. You can take them out in Photoshop - I did - but it it slow, painstaking work. Anyway, hoping for better weather and light.                

RAIN COMING

Just back on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River in a grungy area a little north of the Arch. Looking at this picture, I realize that I know nothing about how trees branch and why. Part of the floodwall runs across the bottom. The structure with too many syllables in its name, the Stan Musial - Veterans Memorial Bridge, is in the background. It is the newest span across Big Muddy in our area.          

MALCOLM MARTIN

Malcolm Martin had a long career as an attorney in St. Louis. His big firm and my tiny one were in the same building for years and I would often see him on the elevator, always a gentleman, always with a kind smile for a young lawyer. He was deeply involved with local civic organizations, was a member of the Board of Education and a co-founder of our local public television station.

The story has it than he never married and had no children. When he died in 2004 he left $5 million to acquire the land in Illinois directly opposite the Arch. There is now a large open green space, an observation platform 40 feet / 12 meters high with the best view of the Arch around, and the Gateway Geyser we've seen in the last couple of days. (If we get better weather I'll go back.)

Now his likeness sits on top of the view site, gazing for some fraction of eternity at the Arch and downtown St. Louis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_W._Martin_Memorial_Park        

JUST THOUGHT I'D DROP THIS IN

I was editing some more photos of the Gateway Geyser and came up with this. Thought it was worth publishing. See tomorrow's regular post about Malcolm Martin, the person for whom the park is named.       

MADELEINE MONDAY

The best teacher I ever had in my life is the photographer Bobbi Lane. I studied portraits with her at the Maine Media Workshops some years ago. She has daily and weekly photo exercises for her alums on her Facebook page. Yesterday's weekly challenge was to photograph a person with an object that is precious to them.

Madeleine was an easy choice. Here she is in front of chez Crowe holding Brown Lambie. It was given to her as a newborn by our good friend Virginia. There are newer back-up lambies but none but the original will do. It's been through the washer, the wringer and mom's doll hospital quite a few times. Hence, brown lambie. Heaven protect it.                

GEYSER

There is a park in East S. Louis, Illinois, directly across from the Arch. It has a tall overlook facing downtown, and this thing, the Gateway Geyser. It looks a lot better on a clear day and when it is spraying up to its full height, but I took what I could get. 

On a day when the air is perfectly still the spray can go over 600 feet, about 190 meters, as tall as the Arch itself. It wasn't half that yesterday although there was little wind. I'll go back on a nicer day.           

I'M MELTING

Like the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, that's the feeling I sometimes get from a Lensbaby image of a figure. You can get the sense that unnatural forces are at work, that matter is beginning to dissolve and vanish. (Ever read The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway?)

This is Eros Bendato by Igor Mitoraj in Citygarden. It is enigmatic. The blindfold isn't doing a very good job but there are no eyes behind it to see. Children frequently crawl around in the hollow interior.            

YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT HIT YOU

An old favorite, Tom Otterness' Kindly Geppetto, done with the Lensbaby in Citygarden. I really like his work. On the surface it looks so simple, even childish, but it often expresses pathos or tragedy. Another favorite example is his Crying Giant, https://flic.kr/p/8obccf, in front of the contemporary art museum in Kansas City. 

This refers to the children's tale of Geppetto, the puppet maker, and Pinocchio, his creation who yearned to be a real boy. I can't say whether what we see here is an act of creation or destruction.            

ZIP

What lies just beneath the surface of downtown St. Louis? Does anyone really want to know? Maybe beer monsters, the ghosts of Lewis and Clark or Anheuser and Busch, or maybe just pipes and cables. There is a system of steam pipes that brought heat and power to downtown buildings. It's still around.

So, another Lensbaby shot. This is a new installation and I don't know the title or sculptor. Didn't take a picture of the plaque and the Citygarden website is not up to date. In any case, I wouldn't pull the handle back farther.     

I FOUND MY LENSBABY

Twenty years of digital photography has left me with a lot of . . . stuff. It gets piled up in boxes, more or less sorted by brand (Canon, Olympus, and, for a while now, Fujifilm). I was digging around in the Fuji box looking for something when I came across my near-forgotten Lensbaby.

Ever hear of these or play with one? Look at https://lensbaby.com/ . It is a special lens that has a focused center spot (which can be moved) that becomes progressively blurred toward the edges (which can be varied). There are quite a few different varieties and diopters you can switch in and out.

So I took the Lensbaby and my Fujifilm X-T3 to Citygarden after work yesterday. This is Aristide Maillol's La Riviere. I think it worked. Might have some more of this.   

GAP

If I'm out of ideas for a post the easiest thing to do is to go to the graffiti-permitted section of the Mississippi floodwall south of the Arch.  There is a time of year, known as Paint Louis, when the whole thing is redone. However, people repaint parts of it here and there as they please so there is constant change. This gap in the wall gives access to an industrial area that serves the river barges. That gray horizontal streak in the lower center is one of them. The tall smokestacks are on a factory across the Mississippi in Illinois, more than a mile away.