Superheros Stalk St. Louis

There was one of those comic book/superhero/sci-fi conventions downtown over the weekend. They are for-profit enterprises and take place all over the country, or at least anywhere there is enough population to buy sufficient tickets.

There was someone wearing a Star Trek uniform shirt at the Blues Museum opening. As I walked back to my office afterward I found this group on Washington Avenue. Wish I had more time to hang out around the convention center. There was probably lot of this on the street. Sadly, though, duty called.

In general, I do not recommend crossing Washington Avenue, a busy street, with your face in a smart phone.         

La simplicité du Petit Trianon

The beauty of simplicity was this month's CDP Theme... VDP likes the simplicity of the lines of Petit Trianon castle...

La beauté de la simplicité était le thème du mois dans la communauté des blogueurs City Daily Photo. VDP adore la simplicité des lignes du Petit Trianon...

Burying carrots in the cellar for winter, Europe style

.

Today is International Carrot Day.
It brings back memories of my wonderful month with an Austrian farming community.
It was October and some of the root vegetables had been harvested and were awaiting further attention in two colorful wheelbarrows. 

Look, a three-fingered carrot!

Ready for longtime storage in the big underground cellar.

But THIS was new and exciting to me (although common knowledge for Europeans)!
They bury the carrots in this sandy ground in the floor of the cool cellar!
The old and true ways of food storage during the winter.
.
(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
.

Hofmeyr's pink church

Most Karoo towns have a historic church with a church tower that keeps an eye out over it.  The Karoo Heartland town of Hofmeyr is no different...  or perhaps it is.  Why? Because it has a pink church tower standing out above the town.  The Dutch Reformed Church in Hofmeyr was built in 1875 and at some stage went pink.  It definitely didn't go pink for breast cancer awareness because it happened way before that but whatever the reason it looks very cool.

Murder in Soho

Forget the East End murders by the so called infamous Jack the Ripper, those tales are like fairy tales compared to the murder and mayhem that actually happened in the West End.  The fear created by the Blackout Ripper and the Soho Strangler and that's just for starters!

The quiet man who worked at the Employment office, the well regarded soldier, the pimps and prostitutes.  These are just some of the players in Soho's gruesome history.

Learn the shocking truth about the Denmark St Fire.

The Murder Mile Tour is one of the best researched and well informed tours I've ever experienced.  Soho will never be the same again.  

In less then a mile you will cover 21 murder sites  and 75 deaths.  The walk is played out a little like an Agatha Christie novel giving you clues to try and solve, did the police make an error or were they receiving back handers.  What role did the new Italian mafia play?   What kind of person   was the executioner at Newgate prison?  And just who was Dennis Nilsen?  

Grab a friend (especially one whose hand you can squeeze) and go on murder mayhem next Sunday.  Bookings here.