ANYONE KNOW WHAT THIS IS?

We live in a residential area that has little to look at on a walk but other suburban houses. There is a park quite nearby, though. It's got a baseball field and a playground but the rest of it is made up of rolling lawns and groves of trees. No developed walking paths. If I have to get out of the house (and it's getting to me more and more) it is a pretty, quiet place to go.

I never leave home without a camera these days, collecting whatever crosses my path. This plant was in the park. I don't know if we are looking at leaves or flowers but they are visually striking. The normal ground covering where I grew up was asphalt and concrete. Can anyone help identify this plant?     

A LITTLE LESS THAN TWO METERS FOR MOST OF YOU

A sign in Forest Park. The city closed some roads in the parks to car traffic where too many people were congregating too closely. Otherwise, the parks are open for walking, running and biking. St. Louis County, which is a separate political entity, closed its parks altogether. That may be a bit over the top.

The occasional rant: it's so stupid that this country, and it alone, has not adopted the metric system. Why? For starters, we're a bit geographically isolated. We have only two international land borders. Canada has 10% of our population so we often ignore it. Mexico is held in contempt by our national administration (why else the wall?). Too many Americans think of Mexicans as purveyors of burritos and tequila, non-union construction workers and gardeners. It's systemic racism. Everybody else is a good sized plane ride away. So here we are - big, a bit off to ourselves and not giving a damn. We don't have to.            

TRAIN TIME

The Midwest is criss crossed by train tracks. It's almost all freight. We can get to Kansas City and Chicago from here by rail but it's so slow that you're better off driving. The freight  tracks run right through our town. 

Even with our not-so-strict rules, I'm tired of sitting at home. Went out for a walk yesterday afternoon and had the luck of finding tons of metal crossing one of our main streets.

The reference in the title is to some music from a long time ago. Listen to https://youtu.be/wX9muArmeFg , and pay attention to Ginger Baker's drumming.   

GRADING ON THE CURVE

Hardly anyone out. Almost alone when I went to the newish north side of the Arch's park, which replaced a parking garage (which was convenient and cheap). I mostly don't like the new design but I think this corner is interesting, with its curved ramp and the many arches of Eads Bridge.         

Socialize? Sure!

Not specific to St. Louis but anyway...

Families don't get to spent time together these days. My family is spread across the country anyway. One of my intelligent relations organized a family get-together on Zoom yesterday. Three months ago I had never heard of Zoom. We got people on there from Manhattan to San Francisco. By the time we had finished yakking the meeting had devolved into cocktail hour. Oh, and everyone is well.