An old photo from a local flea market showing wood made for producing music--or at least it was. As a failed violinist (good ear, bad dexterity), I am certain the beat-up violin will never again make a sound other than thunk, The electric guitar looks like it has a better chance. Musical instruments must be one of the oldest uses of wood.
See what other applications City Daily blockheads from around the world came up with here.
You probably didn't know that there is an International Photography Hall of Fame. It's even more unlikely that you know it's located here. From time to time IPHF and excellent local photographer Richard Sprengler put on workshops in architectural photography, concentrating on our local building heritage.
One such program was held yesterday at the St. Louis Public Library's Central Branch. It opened in 1912 and became worn over the decades. A massive restoration and addition of a new wing led to its reopening in 2012. It's gorgeous inside and we will head there next.
Another infrared image of the Gateway Arch. It's about all I have of edited recent images, pending an interesting event today. Come back tomorrow for some gorgeous St. Louis architecture.
Another picture from the recent day when I was out cruising for infrared images. This is the intersection of Fourth and Market Streets in downtown St. Louis, taken from behind the wheel of my car at a stoplight. The building in the foreground is what we call the Old Courthouse, parts of which date back to 1828. Hard to believe considering what's behind it, but it was the tallest building in Missouri until 1894. It's now run by the National Park Service.
Haven't had a Thursday Arch picture in some time. There are only so many ways to look at it but this is a little different. Still wandering around with my infrared camera, this time at the park across the Mississippi from the monument in East St. Louis, Illinois. It's subtle, but I like what IR does to the colors of the flag.
Before I say anything about today's picture, I'll note that our region got between 10 and 12 inches / 25.4 - 30.5 cm yesterday. That blew away the old record set in 1915 and, in fact, was much more than the average rainfall for July and August combined. Most of the problems were in low lying areas with poor drainage infrastructure. My home and neighborhood had soggy lawns but nothing more.
Anyway, this is another IR in Forest Park on a recent very hot day. We call the building at the upper left the World's Fair Pavilion, a leftover from the 1904 international exposition. (And we had the Olympics that year, too. We used to be somebody.) The slope ends at a multi-terraced fountain, waterfall and pool that kids love.
The Grand Basin, Art Hill and the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park. The slope that looks like it is covered with snow is a rich green lawn. It is, however, STL's favorite sledding venue at the opposite time of the year.
What causes infrared radiation? Heat, the same stuff the new Webb Space Telescope registers. Some of us photography nuts get an old camera body modified with an infrared sensor and go out to do our own research on what the eye cannot see.
Saturday was tied for the hottest of recent days (Sunday got to 104 F / 40 C, too). I went out driving around, leaving the car as little as possible, to see what I could capture. Green foliage reflects infrared like crazy and looks white in a photo. There there are a couple of specific Photoshop techniques to adjust the other colors. This is the pagoda on an island in Forest Park. More to come.
And St. Louis golfers go out in the mid-day sun. About 2 PM yesterday afternoon in Forest Park with a view of my car dashboard while parked under a tree nearby. 104 F = 40 C.
Citygarden, downtown St. Louis. The forecast for today, Saturday, is for a high of 104 F / 40 C. It's the kind of day when I want to take climate science deniers or the-economy-is-more-important types by the shoulders and just throttle them. Unlike many of our European friends, most of us have air conditioning and can hide indoors. But then there are the people who work outdoors and our neighbors who can't afford the electricity to run AC.
Some friends had a potluck dinner last night. Despite the heat, it wasn't too bad to sit outside once shade covered the patio. Our hosts had misters out, which kept everyone comfortable albeit with soggy napkins.
Since my culinary skills are limited, my contribution was a pasta-teriyaki-chicken-sesame-orange-spinach-and-stuff salad I found in Potlucks For Dummies. The big hit, though, was my Aperol spritz bar. We were introduced to this by a photographer friend in France and it's the perfect summer drink: half Aperol aperitif, half prosecco, orange slice and ice. Many guests were unfamiliar with it but it was a big hit.
The caption is a lovely Italian phrase that, poetically translated, means sweet idleness. My Italian is very limited (opera lyrics, basic tourist phrases. Dove sono i gabinetti?) If I understand correctly, far niente more literally means doing nothing. I am a person who does not do nothing well but I admire those who can. These gentlemen in their fishing boat on Budd Lake in Harrison, Michigan, are practiced in the art.
Another bird photo from the Chippewa Nature Center in Michigan. Woodpeckers usually have to work hard to dig bugs out of tree bark, This little suet cage passes out snacks for free.
It may take awhile to get some new local material. Like everywhere, it's bloody hot and humid in St. Louis and it's miserable to be on the street. Maybe there is a way to make images of that.
And by the way, why don't woodpeckers get concussions?
Another picture from the Chippewa Nature Center near Midland, Michigan. A couple of online photographer colleagues tell me this is an indigo bunting. (I wouldn't know. Where I grew up the only birds we had were pigeons and starlings.) It was passing the time alone one of the trails and had no fear of a tall person pointing a long cylindrical object at it.
We're home. O'Hare was a madhouse yesterday afternoon and evening with many severely delayed flights. Our connection to St. Louis was showing more than three hours behind schedule, which would have put us in well after midnight. A kindly airline agent got us on an earlier flight to STL that was running five hours late but was departing soon. So we are back but our bags are in Chicago. They should be delivered sometime today.
Granddaughters Audrey and Ellie at the home of our son and his family, Midland, Michigan. Apologies to Cyndi Lauper.
Home late tonight if the gods of the air are willing.
Just outside of Midland, Michigan, there is a wonderful place called the Chippewa Nature Center. It has an architecturally stunning visitors center with a bird watching window and an observation deck cantilevered over a small river. There are trails through the woods, along the river and past marshes and meadows. Wildlife seems to really enjoy hanging out there, including this croaker who had little interest in my lens.
My lawyer friends from Detroit all seem to have a place "up north," a getaway amid the forests and lakes. We have a rental cottage by a lake in north central Michigan. It was no farther than 15 minutes from where my son, his wife and kids lived. With their recent move, it's three times that. Oh, well. Gas is cheaper here than in St. Louis.
So the family did some stuff in Midland, the bigger town where they live now, then came back to the cottage for dinner. In the top photo, grandson Atlas waits patiently, depending on which frame in the sequence you select. Michigan granddaughter Audrey, almost 7, hangs out with her St. Louis cousin Ellie in a deli in Midland. It had started to rain by the time we got back to the cottage but son Andy, the grill master, doesn't care. And he's sure in better shape than I was when I was 42.
Grandson Atlas, 3 1/2, at Budd Lake in north central Michigan. He and I were attempting to play frisbee while son Andy got off some snaps. He's better than I am. Atlas mostly does a forehand toss but he gets some zip into it.
I just love changing planes at O'Hare airport in Chicago. It's something we've had to do a whole lot of times since American Airlines took over TWA, which was St. Louis' home town team. The blue sign on top of the cow promotes wearing masks, which precious few people were doing (our family being some of the exceptions).
So we flew from St. Louis to Chicago to Lansing, Michigan, which was the nearest airport to where our son and his family used to live except they moved to another town last week so now it's not the nearest airport. Plus there was an emergency landing at O'Hare that shut down a main runway for some time which stuck us in the smallest and most uncomfortable regional jet used in the US for more than an hour before we could take off. Then 90 minutes drive to where they live now, take the new house tour, have dinner, drive 45 minutes to a cottage on a lake which used to be near where they live but isn't now. And that's today's occasional rant.
Dad and the kids at the Hare Krishna chariot parade. They were on the stage with the people chanting, drumming and playing simple melodies. I think the girl has small finger cymbals and the boy is a bit bemused.
It's a travel day for my family, in the air and on the road to see my son and his family in Michigan. No Detroit. They recently moved from a small town to Midland, a town of about 42.000 and headquarters of Dow Chemical near the head of Saginaw Bay. You can tell it's prosperous. Don't know whether or if I'll have something to post. Maybe I'll see something while we change planes in Chicago.
And happy birthday to Mrs. C. I won't mention the number but she's looking very, very good.
Not surprisingly, there was a merch tent at the Krishna chariot parade. Everybody does it these days, certainly including religious institutions. They are equivalents at lots at Christian cathedrals and Buddhist temples.
I like how the young observer in the background fits into the picture.
Preparing the chariot for the main event. It looks like he was upset with me but I don't think that's so. The public was invited and there were a number of photographers, a few much more assertive than me.
Finally, some new local material. There was an event yesterday at a park in a far corner of the suburbs that I'd never heard of but that apparently isn't new. The International Society For Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the Hare Krishnas, have what is called the chariot parade. This enormous wagon, something like 35 feet or 10 meters high, is festooned with Hindu imagery and pulled down a trail along a lake. There was a big crowd.
I do not know the significance of the stop signs. Can anyone help out here?
Still hot here, although some rain today may give us a break. It seems like I'm out on the streets with a camera less since I retired and don't go downtown every day. For now, an old picture of summer in The Lou, chilling out in Citygarden.
I haven't been out on the street with my camera since we got home from KC. Missed all the Fourth of July stuff because it's been so awfully hot and, frankly, I'm getting old. Under the circumstances, I'm posting some more stuff from Kansas City.
Something you can't miss as you drive around town is the World War I Memorial and Museum. It's the main one in this country. Mrs. C and I have been going through KC for 50 years and I never paid much attention to it until recently. After all, although the war was historically significant it was more then a century ago. We finally visited a few years back and I was impressed - it is a terrific educational experience. https://www.theworldwar.org/ if interested.
I ain't getting out on the streets. It was 101 F / 38 C yesterday. It will be 101 F / 38 C today. It will be 101 F / 38 C tomorrow. Friends, we don't live in Arizona.
So, another photo from Harrison, Michigan, on a Fourth of July a few years ago. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
There are two cities in the United States that seem to share top honors for barbeque meats, Memphis, Tennessee, and Kansas City, Missouri. Other towns, like ours, have locally famous places but those two are considered the top rank. I don't really understand it. Mrs. C and I eat little red meat these days and I have a strong distaste for all smoked foods. To each their own. In Kansas City it is taken so seriously that the cuisine has its own learned society.
It's Independence Day in this country. Many of us fear for the future of our democracy.
I have seldom if ever posted a video instead of a photograph in one of my posts but I couldn't pass this up. It is Ellie's final iFLY ride, when they wound up the wind speed and the instructor took her far up into the cylinder. She took right to it and earlier was able to float for a while without assistance. Time of her life.
I didn't know a lot about this because we don't have one in St. Louis but there is a company called iFly which bills itself as indoor skydiving, https://www.iflyworld.com/. There is a location in the suburbs of Kansas City. You put on a jumpsuit, goggles and helmet, then go into this cylinder with an instructor. A giant fan beneath blows upward at speeds over 130 mph / 210 kph, if I read the display correctly. Before the customers got going on their guided flights, one of the instructors put on a show.
Ellie had a blast. Pix of her to follow.
