Happy 4th of July

 

St. Louis Arch

Shine on, St. Louis!

St. Louis Arch

The redevelopment of the Arch grounds has been going on for quite some time - years, in fact. It was supposed to be completed by the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Arch, which was to be celebrated October 28, 2015. Oops...But great progress has been made, and the area looks really good right now. Pedestrian access is much improved, with people able to enter the park without having to cross multiple lanes of traffic. The museum is not yet open, with the latest prediction stating that it will be ready for visitors "in the summer of 2018".

Jim and I went downtown Saturday morning to check things out. We began at Citygarden, a lovely small park that opened in 2009. With its water features, it is packed with families in the summer looking for a spot to cool off during the intense heat that is prevalent here.

Citygarden

statue depicting Harry Kiener

Next we walked to Kiener Plaza. Dedicated in 1962, the park was named after Harry Kiener, a local amateur boxer, wrestler and swimmer who also was part of the U.S. track team at the Olympics held in St. Louis in 1904. The plaza recently underwent extensive renovations, and reopened in May of 2017. The new design is wildly successful, and includes a children's playground. There must have been 75 people taking part in a yoga class Saturday morning.

From there we headed to the Arch, stopping to admire the wonderful gardens that serve as the front yard to the old courthouse. It was great to see so many people out and about in the city, especially considering that it is not yet summer and no Cardinals game was being played. St. Louis gets such a bad rap in the media due to the way the crime statistics are tabulated. It makes me happy to see people enjoying the beautiful amenities our city has to offer. Shine on, St. Louis!

St. Louis City

Gazing into My Crystal Ball

Saturday four of us from my Women in Focus photography group got together to take pictures using crystal balls. What a unique way to look at things! While the temperature was a fairly balmy 66 degrees when we met at 9:00, the forecast was for rain and high winds. We decided to go for it anyway.

We first drove to the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park in East St. Louis, which offers possibly the best views of the arch and downtown St. Louis. It is a little remote, but there was actually one other person there taking pictures when we arrived. It is here that I fell in love with my crystal ball. I can see that I'll have lots of fun using it as a photography prop.

Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park

From there we drove to Bellefontaine Cemetery in north St. Louis. One of the most beautiful cemeteries in St. Louis, Bellefontaine is also the final resting place of many of the Who's Who in St. Louis history. While at the cemetery, the winds picked and the scattered clouds added to the mood of the setting. The 20 plus degree temperature drop and rain we could have done without though!

Bellefontaine Cemetery

I found it somewhat ironic that a rafter of turkeys was hanging out in the cemetery right before Thanksgiving. Hiding in plain site? Gobble, gobble - Happy Thanksgiving!

turkey

Heart of the Community

Jim

Each year the Webster Groves-Shrewsbury-Rock Hill Area Chamber of Commerce hosts the Heart of the Community Awards Dinner. This year the event took place on Friday, February 3rd at the Westborough Country Club. The ceremony was particularly exciting as Jim, along with his company SWT Design, was given an award for Outstanding Green Initiative. What was especially rewarding was the fact that two people from two different communities nominated him.

Recognizing both the green design that he and his firm have brought to Webster Groves and many other areas as well as the fact that SWT "walks the talk" in the design and renovation of their own corporate campus in Shrewsbury, the award is certainly evidence that what Jim and his company are doing is being noticed in the area. It is so wonderful to live in a community that gets it! It was nice that several of Jim's colleagues were able to join us at the event, and an added bonus that my friend Linda provided the musical entertainment for the night.

Heart of the Community Awards

Sunday was such a gorgeous day that I knew I had to go shoot something. With my camera, that is. I contacted one of my photographer friends, and she readily agreed to accompany me. As the morning was still a bit chilly, we first went to the Missouri Botanical Garden for the annual Orchid Show. It is one of my favorite events at the garden. I am always in awe over the stunning array of various orchids that are on display. Surprisingly, especially since the show just opened on Friday, it was not too crowded. Perhaps everyone was at home getting ready for their Superbowl parties. We had lunch at the garden, and took a stroll outside for a bit before heading to our next destination.

Eads Bridge

My niece has been posting photos of progress at the St. Louis Arch grounds as she works downtown and often runs on her noon hour. I wanted to check things out for myself, so that was our next photo stop. I never tire of taking photos on the riverfront. I absolutely love the workmanship of Eads Bridge. Completed in 1874, it is still in use today for both cars and the Metrolink.

It was hoped that the renovations on the arch grounds were going to be completed by the time the arch turned 50 years old, October 28, 2015. (As an aside, the arch and I share a birthday, albeit 10 years apart.) Obviously, that deadline has come and gone. But I will say that a lot of work has been accomplished since I last visited the landing area this summer. I think it will be very nice when finished, though I have concerns about parking as they tore down the parking structure closest to the arch. While it may be fine for buses to drop off kids on the landing and let them scramble up the dozens of steps leading to the arch, the elderly or infirm will not be able to make that climb. Even the newly installed handicap ramps would be a challenge for some. And we know that tourists in particular like to park close to their destination. I'm thinking they won't pay the $25 being asked to park on the levy. Suppose they build it and nobody comes?

We found a nearby lot charging $5 to park, but it was a quiet Sunday with no baseball season yet in play. I'm not sure what their rate will be during the busy season. Regardless, we had a fairly short walk to the arch. The weather was perfect, the sky was amazing, and I got my 10,000 steps in. Now THAT's a winner!

St. Louis Arch

Rollin' on the River

Queen of the Mississippi

Last week the Queen of the Mississippi riverboat docked along the riverfront in St. Louis for a few days. Built in 2015 to carry 150 passengers this paddlewheeler offers various cruises up and down the Mississippi River. My friend and I went downtown Friday afternoon to take some photographs of the boat before its Saturday morning departure. I have to say that the designer did a wonderful job of replicating the look and feel of the old riverboats that used to grace the landing of St. Louis.

The Captain's Return

It was my first time getting a close up look at all the work that is going on around the Arch. The project was supposed to be finished by October 28, 2015, the 50th anniversary of the Arch completion. Whoops! It is still quite a mess in the area, but I'm sure it will be great once it's all done.  The new bike/walking lanes along the riverfront are nice, and there is now an impressive sculpture commemorating the return of the Lewis and Clark expedition on September 23, 1806.  The dog seems to be a little out of scale, or perhaps they took an English mastiff along for the ride.

I was happy to see so many people out and about enjoying the riverfront area, especially as there was a warning from Scott Air Force Base that a demonstration was supposed to take place at the Arch at 6:00 that day. We saw no signs of any trouble however.

Malcolm Martin Memorial Park

Following dinner outside at one of the restaurants on the landing, we made our way across the Martin Luther King bridge to East St. Louis, Illinois. The Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park offers some of the best views of the St. Louis skyline. I have been hoping to capture some sunset pictures, and wanted to go when I had another person with me. The area is a little remote, and we were the only two people there for awhile. When a car pulled in with two guys in it, we decided it was time to take off. Next time we will go with a group, as we felt too vulnerable. It was fun while it lasted though!

St. Louis Arch

Captain Kirby

Sunday Jim and I relaxed at a friend's lake house. Located about 45 minutes from our house, it is an easy getaway. Our friends are out of town, so it was just the three of us. (We can't go without Kirby - he loves it there!) We packed a lunch and spent the day swimming and going out on the boat. What a great way to end the week.

What a Weekend

Man, I am worn out. As previously mentioned, Katie and her roommate are here for spring break. I picked them up at the MegaBus stop Friday afternoon. I then fixed lasagna, cheese garlic bread and a salad for supper, followed by ice cream sandwich cake. Yum! This is not the way to take off the extra pounds I added on the cruise ship. Saturday the girls took off for the zoo and art museum, and I worked on my presentation about traditional publishing versus self-publishing. I was on the program at Borders that night with other SLPA members. Jim went off on a motorcycle ride for the afternoon.

Yesterday we went to Crown Candy for lunch, and that took a big chunk of time since we had to wait nearly an hour to get a table. Then we went downtown to the arch, and unfortunately all the tram rides for the rest of the day were sold out. They are only operating one tram currently. It was packed since this is a big spring break week. We did get some nice photographs of the arch outside anyway. Then Katie and Fay took off for the Loop, while Jim and I stopped at SWT so he could check on some work. We walked home from there since the girls had dropped us off. It is about 2 miles from home, so at least we were able to get some additional exercise. Last night we hung around the sitting out on the deck since it was so nice outside.

Fay leaves on the 4:35 bus this afternoon, so I'll see what they want to do until she has to go. I could take them back downtown to the arch, or we could go to the botanical garden. It is a nice day for doing either one of those things.