Froggy went a-courtin' and he did ride, M-hm, M-hm.
Froggy went a-courtin' and he did ride,
Sword and pistol by his side, M-hm, M-hm.”
He rode up to Miss Mousie's door, M-hm, M-hm,
He rode up to Miss Mousie's door,
Where he'd often been before, M-hm, M-hm.
Read MoreIt is undoubtedly true that before very long there will be a lot more birds in Forest Park. Ducks, geese and quite a variety of other species and types of our winged friends are feeling the spring urge, warning the others away from their own territory and ready to settle down and nest. It’s a good thing to do no matter what sort of creature you are (though I will make an exception for those inhabiting my attic), and nature is apparently feeling quite natural about now.
Read MoreYes, indeed it does! Last night as I lurked in America’s premier urban park, the wind, while a great deal more relaxed than earlier in the day when it was tossing trees down and ripping the shingles off roofs that are gettin’ old, like me, was never-the-less going over me like Harvey Weinstein with a new actress. I had plenty of clothing on, mind you, but it seemed every gap and every seam was under constant assault by the grabby midwestern wind.
Read MoreYes, indeed it does! Last night as I lurked in America’s premier urban park, the wind, while a great deal more relaxed than earlier in the day when it was tossing trees down and ripping the shingles off roofs that are gettin’ old, like me, was never-the-less going over me like Harvey Weinstein with a new actress. I had plenty of clothing on, mind you, but it seemed every gap and every seam was under constant assault by the grabby midwestern wind.
Read MoreI spied him as I waited at the light. He was dancing in the bike/running path in front of the Missouri History Museum; leaping, twirling and throwing his arms into the air in an elaborate celebration of life. I parked by the museum and hustled over to where he stood and introduced myself. His name is Lou, and, he told me, he does a three-hour run every day. So I sat on the grass by the path and he danced for me. Naturally I took photos.
A young mother and her two little ones came out of the History Museum and walked across the grass towards the parking lot. The older of the two children, a boy, calls out,
“I’m running in the grass!” and his mother begins to sing, “Running in the grass, running in the grass.” It’s a catchy, joyful tune and it plays in my mind for a few minutes.
Wandering on from there I saw the people on strange scooters, the lady with the baby and dog who exclaimed “Nice Camera!” when she saw me (yes, that’s why I bought it), the man in the green parka wearing a dust mask and glasses over his face and the woman with the scaredy-dog, who was very reluctant to cross the suspension bridge (not because I was jumping up and down on it, either).
I also bumped into Wiley Price, the award-winning photographer for the Saint Louis American weekly newspaper (he saw me first) and we talked for 10 minutes. And there were golfers out. Lots of them. I’m hoping this means spring is not far!
Scairdy dog navigates the suspension bridge with lots of gentle coaxing from his owner.
You could click on this link if you want to see more of today’s photos.
About 132,398,214 gallons of water fell on Forest Park in February of this year. How do I know this? The National Weather Service, which keeps track of things such as this, informs me that we had a rainfall of 3.56 inches for that month. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, it is about 1.6 times the monthly norm. This past Saturday we had 1.28 inches of rain, which,
Read MoreAcross from the Highlands Golf Course, where aficionados of the sport practice the art of knocking a small, hard, plastic sphere that has never done them any harm to way over there, perhaps an even more sinister sport is practiced; archery. I was out wandering America’s premier urban park when I first stumbled upon this odd juxtaposition of avocations, dragged there by my hound, a humble rescue dog with the suitable name of Rigby (if he were a fruit we would have named him Figby).
Read MoreIt was wet and cold, always a great combination, when I arose from my slumbers to engage the duties of the day. It was pouring down rain. The caterwauling and anguished barks of the falling waters reminded me I needed to finish preparing for a youth summer program expo at University City High School (to promote the photography day camps I am teaching), so I was off to the Studio in short order to collect what I needed before getting soaked while carrying it into the school.
Read MoreAlong the southern boundary of Forest Park there lies a fairly substantial bit of land cut off from the rest of the park by US40, AKA Interstate 64, and in this section there lies Turtle Playground, a creation of the late Bob Cassily, and a favorite of my children as they were growing up.
Read MoreBack there somewhere, in the family tree (though on my wife’s side) was a man named Reed Sample (1812-1879). As a saxophone player, I like to sample reeds, looking for the perfect sound that emanates from the choicest of materials and the best cut of the shaping blades. In case you’re wondering what that has to do with Forest Park (I’m beginning to wonder myself), I wandered into the Forest Perk Café today (Thursday) to sample what they had for breakfast (I could stretch this whole thing by suggesting the menu is actually a sample read… but I won’t).
Read MoreThe view arrested my attention as I was passing by, making a survey of the park, just like the bear that went over the mountain. This was more than just the other side of the mountain, however, so I stopped, parked my little blue truck where I was certain I wouldn’t get a ticket and walked to the side of the road overlooking a small stream flowing out of the successional forest and down toward the Muny. Sunlight was streaming through the trees of Owl Hill, illuminating th
Read MoreWherein I quote a gloomy feminist poet.
Read MoreI need to be careful how I word this, or I will receive thousands of messages from Minnesotans and residents of North Dakota telling me that the cold of which I complain is an average summer day up there, and that they go swimming and wear shorts in weather like ours. So what I will say is this: to a softie such as myself, here on the edge of the great plains where the temperature never goes below minus 20 Fahrenheit, wearing only t-shirt, shirt, two sweaters and a down parka and with only snow pants over my Gap 1969 jeans (I remember 1969, I was on the mall in DC for the big anti-war rally on November 15 &16, jumping up and down and shouting “Hell no, we won’t go” while my father stood nearby reading Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida) and a mere two pairs of thick woolen socks inside
Read MoreI cannot tell you just how disappointed I was at the light snowfall that we had today. Earlier in the week we were getting dire predictions of a massive snowfall that would snarl the city, engulf us in an ocean of white fluff and render ineffectual all of our attempts to conduct life as usual. Our weather reporters seem to chronically over promise and under deliver. But we did get snow. Annette and I ran through it as we were leaving the Art Museum where we, along with her parents and sister, were circulating to see the “Art in Bloom” exhibit. A challenge issued to
Read MoreThe weather forecast for this weekend is snow, but how much we will get no one seems to agree on, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I am hoping for a lot of it, as I really like snow! We are already into our third month here in 2019, even though it seems as if it just started, and though I am ready for spring, winter is loath to let loose and allow spring its time. One sign of winter is gone, though; the skating rink closed on the 28th of February and will not open again
Read MoreIt was the end of a busy day with the judges for the 4th annual Saint Louis Photography Club photo contest, as we went through over 200 images submitted by our members. We worked from 9 to 5 on the viewing and judging of the images, with me showing the images and our judges, studio photographers Don Love and McArthur Smith and photojournalist Wiley Price entering their judgements while Donna Burch, our IT professional, collated the data (now I need to
Read MoreToday, Annette came by to pick me up in her little blue pickup truck so we could go to the zoo. It was very cold outside and the roads were slippery, but Annette was not at all afraid.
“What animals would you like to see at the Zoo?” I asked her.
“¡¡Elephants!!” she answered rather emphatically.
Read MoreIt’s been getting colder today, slowly descending into the fro-zone when the marshy ground I was slipping around on today will become much more supportive and less likely to dump me into one of the waterways in Forest Park. It was while I was down by the wetlands and riffles of the Deer Lake Natural Area when I saw the white duck. I was where several large pine trees have made a very cosy room, scented by the thick carpet of pine needles that lie beneath and decorated with a random scattering of pine cones, and thinking of staying there for a while, but instead I went down onto the rocks
Read MoreIt was, as Mister Rogers would so often say, a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Yours truly was eager to get his two-wheeled contraption, Romiette, out on the road again after weeks of inactivity, so he aired up the tires, dug his riding gear out from under a mountain of miscellaneous clothing, strapped on his helmet, pulled on the special riding gloves, wrapped his GoPro strap around his chest, and unleashed the power! Or something like that. He huffed, and he puffed and he blew around that old park (all 2 square miles of it) at an average (if the park’s stated milage is correct) of close to 18 miles per hour.
Read MoreSince there was no one around when it fell, we really have no idea whether it made a sound, but there it lies, numbered and remembered in the official files of the Forestry Department of the City of Saint Louis. Weathered, rotting, and beautiful, Tree 92 has a large burl at its base to which is attached with a nail an aluminum disc with its number stamped upon it. Nearby are other trees also with small aluminum discs bearing numbers attached at their bases.
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