CITY DAILY PHOTO FEBRUARY RTHEME DAY - SMILE

It's February 1 and the City Daily Photo community marks another theme day. Denton and I chose smile for today, a commodity that's been in short supply for too much of the last year. These charming ladies allowed me to take their photo at our Mardi Gras parade some years ago. Genuine warmth on a cold winter day.

Remember that the March 1 theme is mirror(s). Get creative. Denton and I need to decide on the themes for at least the following three months. We will put a notice on the Facebook page and the portal.        

STEEL WORK

There are some other good pictures from the aquarium but after a week I think I'll give it a rest. Last weekend's other activity was an attempt at eagle watching. During January and February bald eagles hang out around the junctions of the Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois rivers just north of STL. The waters in their territory in the far northern US and southern Canada are frozen, so they can't fish. They come our way where there is usually a mix of ice and open water. No ice this year, though. We went to some of the usual spots and saw one lousy eagle swooping away.

One of the places we went is the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/chain_of_rocks_bridge_illinois_missouri.html, across the Mississippi. The link explains the reason for the name. It was the original crossing for Route 66 (https://youtu.be/frwybMReZ3o). The bridge has been closed to vehicles for years but is maintained by the National Park Service for pedestrians. The engineering of the old steel work is worth a look.     

NO SOCIAL DISTANCING IN SCHOOL

And what's the point of masks under water? I guess you can't get a lung disease if you don't have lungs, only gills. And do they always go counter-clockwise from this point of view, and why?                

I'LL HUFF AND I'LL PUFF

Still at the aquarium because what else have I got to post this miserable winter? This, I am told, is a puffer fish, and there is a wide variety of species (you could look it up). Ellie and I waited and waited for it to inflate itself. Move along, folks, there's nothing to see here, it seemed to be telling us. I guess there was nothing to threaten it,.                     

ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE

More underwater adventures. The evolutionary development of this creature is remarkable. I assume all the frills are to make carnivores think this seahorse is a plant. No dangers in its current environment.              

I COULDN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF THEM

So I might as well post another. There was a placard that identified the species and where it's from but I didn't make a note of it. Next time. The coloration was so striking with the yellow, red and black that the lighting must have been designed to take the best advantage of it. Hard to believe this is a living creature,             

OTHERWORLDLY

Jellyfish at the St. Louis Aquarium. The light was a gift. You need the brightness on your monitor  up fairly high to appreciate the color and detail.                 

WE FINALLY GET TO THE AQUARIUM

A century ago our main railway station was one of the great junctions of North America. We all know what happened to passenger rail service with the coming of the automobile and airlines. Union Station was a work of magnificent urban architecture, something like a fantasy German castle. The last train left in 1978 and the place went dark.

There have been a couple of attempts to repurpose it. The headhouse became a gorgeous hotel, which endures. The area out toward the train shed was turned into a dining and shopping venue. It failed after the novelty wore off. Now it is full of unusual entertainments and doing well. There is a grand Ferris wheel, seen here before. I won't mention all the other attractions but the main one is an aquarium, something St. Louis never had. It's about three years old and we had not visited. Reviews were mixed: not that big, overpriced (that's for sure).

Ellie and I went yesterday because the kid needed something to do. There were many children's activities. It was great for a seven year old and her photographer grandfather. Maybe not so much for adults by themselves.                

PUSSY-WILLOWS IN WINTER

Found along  the path in the botanical garden. I think I've identified it correctly, slim, twisting branches ending at these little cotton puffs. You don't see them in this country much these days. However, they were always in florist shops in NYC when I was a kid. My mother loved to get some straighter stems and arrange them in a vase. I ran my fingertips across buds over and over.              

THE MACHINE THAT GOES BING!

I see this gadget four days a year and every time I do I think of a particular Monty Python sketch, https://youtu.be/tKodtNFpzBA. It does  go bing! quite a lot.

This is an infusion pump, and another example of how desperate I am for material. I have rheumatoid arthritis. Now, no poor baby stuff. A rheumatologist friend says with a smirk that there's never been a better time in history to get RA. This stuff is called Rituxan. I have two IV cycles a year, six months apart. It took a few hours yesterday and then repeat in two weeks. I sit in a plush recliner, listen to music and edit pictures. Been doing it for 20 years and it works. My fingers are kinda crooked but there is full range of motion and no pain.

And it goes bing! every time  the flow rate needs changing or there's an air bubble in the line.                 

INSIDE THE BOXWOOD

Everyone is restless and bored. I look at this scene inside the boxwood garden and I start thinking about an Anglo-Japanese pun. My daughter studied Japanese in high school and college. She's been there a couple of times. There was a phrase I thought was funny (in English) that she would say: inside the box - haka  no naka, 箱の中. So I'm thinking about this in the boxwood garden, which shows how far my brain has deteriorated during the pandemic.

So this is the actual boxwood garden. I guess it's a dense hedge that can be trimmed precisely. It has a nice balance and calm, something most of us can use.         

BOXWOOD GARDEN

I kept wandering around the botanical garden looking for things to catch my eye . It's a big place, 79 acres / 32 hectares, right in the midst of the city. The entrance to the boxwood garden caught my eye for its artful symmetry. Now, I know less about bricklaying than I do about how my computer works but how do they make such perfect circles out of rocks and mortar? Maybe we'll have a look inside tomorrow.             

A LANTERN IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN

 

There are several lanterns made of stone or cement scattered around the Japanese garden. Although I've been to Japan a few times I do not know their function. Little light could come through that small hole. Are they merely decorative, symbolic or small lights to mark a path? Beats me. Help from Nipponophiles is welcome.  

But hey! The sun comes up in America again today.       

SEIWA-EN

Siewa-en, or the garden of pure, clear harmony and peace, in the Japanese section of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We all could use some pure, clear harmony and peace, but frankly, in the short to medium term, I ain't optimistic.

I used to know a little Japanese but it has been so many years since we have been there that it slipped away. My crowning achievement was asking a store clerk for directions to our hotel (before mobile phone maps). Our sensei, or teacher, told us that you really can't say that you are lost. "Only a child would say that," she told us. But with knowing the phrase for "where is the **** Hotel?', plus right, left, straight ahead and simple counting we found our way home. 

By the way, I found the hardest thing to learn in spoken Japanese was counting. It's mind-boggleingly complicated by the standards of European languages. You could look it up.      

MADELEINE MONDAY

What goes through the minds of children?

One of the few outdoor things to do now is visit the zoo. Numbers are strictly limited and you have to make a reservation, not that there are many people in mid-winter. The family walked through area where the space for the larger animals bore some resemblance to their usual habitats, The path was bordered by sculpted cement made to look rock and crags. Ellie crawled into this recess, almost like a little cave.

I asked her what she was doing. "I'm a homeless baby bear," she replied. After a bit of this we all went ahead to see more creatures.         

LOST AND FOUND

Someone dropped their mittens in Forest Park and a kind soul put them up on a wall where they were easy to see. From this angle they look like the eyes of a cold and hostile muppet.              

HOW MIGHT HAVE THINGS BEEN DIFFERENT?

People who have so much idle time that they are regular viewers know I did not grow up here. I was born in Manhattan, raised in Queens and went to high school in the Bronx. As graduation approached, I didn't know where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. I just wanted out. My high school was run by Jesuits, they steered us to Jesuit colleges and this was the one farthest away from home that let me in. 

What would have happened if I stayed in New York? No way to tell but things have worked out pretty well here. Some time when the weather is better I'll walk around campus with my camera. The place has come up in the world since I was there but, IMHO, it has the absolutely worst, most banal collection of outdoor sculpture I've ever seen. Something for future posts.        

STILL SOME COLOR

This is a few steps away from where I took yesterday's picture, just off the path where the cyclist was riding. It's rare bit of color in January. Not sure what the plant is - the leaf looks maple-ish but the size is more like a shrub than a tree.  Any arborists out there?        

WHEN YOU GOT NOTHING YOU GOT NOTHING TO LOSE

At least photographically, to use the words of Bob Dylan (https://youtu.be/UskDupcLM0M). Over the last couple of days I went out walking in Forest Park and our large botanical garden looking for something to shoot. There were a few morsels. This is on the path around the Grand Basin in the park. Do you really need a mask on a bicycle with no one else around?            

BEER FOR DESSERT

The window of a downtown restaurant. Some jurisdictions (we are politically fragmented) have allowed them to remain open with much-reduced seating. Mrs. C and I wouldn't cross the threshold of any and it's too cold for outdoor dining, no many how many gas heaters are around. We do take away, Thai last night.

I'm tempted by this combination, though. Schlafly is one of our excellent small breweries. Anyone up for a pilsner float?        

GROUNDED

        

It's a strange sight. In a somewhat seedy commercial area on Chouteau Avenue is a car and truck repair facility that sits in the middle of a whole block, surrounded by a big yard. It is filled with junked sections of military aircraft including jets, prop planes and helicopters. The place never seems to change. I have no idea what it is about, other than perhaps the owner's fancy. For that matter, I never see any signs on business activity. One of our little mysteries.        

THE HARD WAY

This stuff rarely passes my lips but if what they sell is better than what's made the easy way, I don't think I'd even pull into the parking lot. A neighbor used to own this place but I think he decided he had a higher calling in life. Big Bend and Shrewsbury for the locals.                  

SOME COLOR, AT LEAST

I've been complaining (and boring you) for some time about how dull things are around here, how little there is to shoot. Leaden skies, temperature hovering around freezing but no snow. Blah. So I go out cruseing.  

This sign is a local landmark. Versions of it (neon in the past) had been around before I showed up here for college in 1967. All St. Louisans know it. It is on a hilltop and coming down Clayton Road or I 64 you can see it from far away. The Amoco brand has almost disappeared. It has a complicated history, now being pretty much merged into BP (which most Americans don't know means British Petroleum).  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco                 

WITHER AMERICA

There is a show going around with very large high-resolution photographs of Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel. It's stunning. The exhibit closes here soon and Mrs. C and I went to see it last weekend. This is from a complex panel about judgment day. It just seemed about right for the time.           

BARE METAL

My mental health is still not in tip top shape and it isn't the time for beautiful or humorous images. Besides, I have next to no new material. This bare metal tree next to the art museum, Roxy Paine's Placebo, feels about right.