Short, young, round woman jaywalking across a 4 lane one-way street in downtown St. Louis. She attempts to hurry with her feet hardly clearing the pavement and her knees barely bending. If it were not for the feminine form it would look like an old man’s shuffle in high speed. The curb appears at the end of her rush from traffic. Somehow she manages to make the shuffle leap the six inches up, but this acrobatic maneuver throws her center of gravity off forcing her body forward much too fast. She manages to regain her balance. Her travel slows to a normal gait. Surely she is heading into the office congratulating herself for beating the odds of against downtown traffic once more.
Coffee Chatter
My lady friend and I are involved in a bicity relationship. The bicity relationship came up as a result of the economy that resulted with me being laid off in St. Louis. At my age I felt fortunate to find another job in my field…anywhere.
On weekends either I drive to see her in St. Louis or she drives to see me in Memphis. Nearly everybody in my office knows this. I came to work after the three day weekend. The first thing I needed to do was get some java. I was in the break room taking care of task one when one of my teammates walks in.
Making small talk she asked, “How was your weekend?”
I replied, “Fine.”
She then asked, “Did you go to St. Louis?”
“No,” I replied, “St. Louis came here.”
There was a fellow from the other side of the building pouring some coffee. It would have been hard to not listen to the conversation.
He asked, “Who is St. Louis? An exotic dancer?” Continue reading “Coffee Chatter”
Some Squirrelly Insights
It was sunny, but cold winter morning in St. Louis. Robin and I were 
preparing for our Sunday morning ritual of 99 cents bowling. We were eating that great American breakfast of cereal and milk before we ventured out in -10 degrees (Celsius – that is) weather. She had offered to fix some hot oatmeal or cream of wheat, but I had declined as we were running a little late.
Robin noticed them first as she was sitting closest to the window. The backyard was just full of squirrels acting…well squirrelly. There must have between 7 and 10 squirrels running across the yard, through the tree limbs, chasing each other. Continue reading “Some Squirrelly Insights”
Ellis Paul
I do not know why I even bother to think or talk about “it” anymore. The”it” being why folks like Ellis Paul never really make it big main stream, but someone like Brittany Spears is a “super” star. Ellis Paul is certainly very well know in folk and singer/songwriter circles, but you say his name beyond that audience and you get a blank stare.
Robin and I went to see him the other night at a small venue in St. Louis, Off Broadway. Check it out, they get a lot of fairly well know acts through their doors. They have a bar, but the chairs are arranged facing the stage without tables. It makes for an intimate listening experience. This is especially true with folk singers and singer/songwriter types.
Anyway we took an Italian friend who listens almost exclusive to opera. He was very impressed by Ellis Paul’s talent and vocal range. As always his lyrics just blow you away if you listen at all. Continue reading “Ellis Paul”
The Tradition Continues
When my kids were in grade school, I would occasionally have them do “book reports” for various reasons. They were never very happy when I assigned them one, but they did do them…grudgingly. My daughter is much older now and she seems to have fond memories of doing the book reports, at least a few of them.
David and his family visited us recently in St. Louis. David and Brandie were determined to not waste a moment of the weekend and we visited many of the sites in town including the Arch. In the gift shop at the Arch they had a place mat with all the presidents on it. I purchased one, I though for me. The grand-kids made such a fuss over the place mat that I gave it to them with the stipulation they give me a book report on a president whenever their report cards came out. The tradition continues.
I am still waiting for Jordon’s report. Below is Teagan’s report. Continue reading “The Tradition Continues”
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band
Okay I’ve never seen or heard this band. I did hear one of their gigs being advertised on the radio in St. Louis. The name just cracked me. Of course, what little bit of their music I heard on their website sounded pretty cool. I think that was a didgeridoo I heard someone getting down with…
Wheelies at 70 mph
I’m sure it is a huge adrenalin rush. Since they had on helmets I could not tell their age, but they were probably late teens or early twenties. This age group believes itself essentially invincible. Otherwise how do you explain some of their behaviors?
We were headed east on I-270 in St. Louis. The interstate here is 8, maybe 10 lanes across. It is generally heavily traveled with the traffic moving between 60 and 70 miles per hour. In the west bound lane were three kids on “crotch rockets”, those motorcycles that are essentially racing bikes made street legal. As they were passing the other traffic, two of the riders were doing wheelies.
I have seen this behavior before in Tulsa city traffic. The stupidity amazed then, and it still amazes me now.
Perhaps they should pass a law. If you do wheelies on one of these contraptionson on public roads then you are deemed too stupid or too irresponsible to own one. They then impound your machine, sell it, and give the money to a non-profit that works with folks made paraplegic from motorcycle accidents.
Or maybe we should just let genetic selection takes its course and let them opt of the the gene pool.
Shrek the Musical
Alright I have a couple confessions up front. First, I would not have gone to this had not my girlfriend had season tickets to the Broadway performances at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis. She actually tried to sell these particular tickets, and could find no buyers. She tells me that normally when she sells tickets to these performances they are snapped up. 
My second confession is that I only vaguely knew the story line. I have seen maybe half of the first Shrek movie. So if I sound a little redundant on the story line, please forgive an old man.
Now I have another confession, I really enjoyed this Broadway musical performance of Shrek the Musical. If I really enjoyed it, my girlfriend’s level of pleasure of this show was in another dimension.
The Broadway production is first and foremost a first class musical. It is next a tried and true love story. It starts out as Beauty and the Beast and ends up as Beast and the Beast. It is also a tale about accepting Continue reading “Shrek the Musical”
I can die a happy man
I birdied 18 at Normandie Golf Course in St. Louis. It is a 243 yard par 3 from the blues. The hard part for me is that it is next to a busy street on the the left. That street is not protected from the golf course, and I so want to hit snap hooks on that hole for some strange reason.
Today the blues tees were back a bit, making it around 250 yards. I put a driver to within 7 or 8 feet and made the putt. Rest of the round sucked, but that made up for it.