Pic Today 3/31/14

CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHORUS

PERFORMS IN ST. LOUIS

47 Cornell co-eds are spending their

Spring Break touring the East Coast,

performing in 8 cities

with their Western-most stop in St. Louis.

The acoustics and setting at the famous

St. Margaret of Scotland Church

added to the beauty of this performance.

These female students lived out of suitcases,

rehearsed and performed in churches,

and will return to Ithaca, New York,

for an on-campus end-of-tour concert on April 8.

Our Sunday concert

included choral voice arrangements

from Renaissance to modern,

including some Cornell traditional songs.

(As an alumnus, it brought back fond memories.)

Pic Today 3/30/14

INSIDE BLUEBERRY HILL

Blueberry Hill has become a famous

local landmark and national destination,

especially for first time visitors to St. Louis.

Located in the heart of "the Loop,"

there are so many reasons to spend time here:

There are 4 bars, 5 party rooms, tournament dart area,

and the famous "Duck Room", a nationally known

performance stage for touring bands and recording artists.

(Chuck Berry plays here once a month.)

Plus, Blueberry Hill is a virtual museum for displays

of nationally known collections of rock-and-roll

memorabilia, vintage lunch boxes, baseball cards,

album covers, juke boxes, and collectable dolls.

The food is excellent, but you never mind

waiting for a table because there's so much to see.

Pic Today 3/29/14

HERE COMES SPRING

Spring is busting out all over.

Warm and rainy days in the forecast.

  We all know what that means . . .

  KABOOM ! ! !

Pic Today 3/28/14

TINY BLOSSOMS

"Each leaf,

each blade of grass

vies for attention

in Spring.

Even weeds

carry tiny blossoms

to astonish us."

              -- Marianne Poloskey

Pic Today 3/27/14

COULDN'T RESIST

Stopped by my favorite patisserie,

and tasted 2 new pastries:

Pear Danish

and

Freshly filled Chouquette

Thank you, Simone.

Indescribably

yummy!

La Patisserie Chouquette

Tower Grove, St. Louis

Pic Today 3/26/14

RARE WINES,

EXPENSIVE WINES

The world's best wines, the rarest vintages,

 are always packed in wooden cases...

Bordeaux, Burgundy, Port.

Romanée-Conti,

Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour.

La Tache, Richebourg,

Dow's, Fonseca.

Some of these bottles sell for $1,000 and more.

Even the EMPTY cases are valuable, collectable.

So when a famous wine distributor announced

it was being purchased by a larger firm,

the wine was sold,

but not the old empty cases.

So off I went to grab some wine history.

(It's as close as I'll get to having the wines!)

Pic Today 3/25/14

PRETTY ROCKS

These brilliant iridescent beauties

caught my eye at the gem & mineral show.

And no, there's no batteries or lights

inside them.

They just catch the light

and reflect a rainbow of colors.

 Shown here are . . .

Ethiopian Opalina Nodule

Labradorite

Mezezo Opalized Wood

Australian Black Opal

(Prettier than diamonds, don't you think?)

Pic Today 3/24/14

CRYSTAL POWER

This year's Gem & Mineral Show featured

collector interest and dealers in "healing crystals,"

particularly Lemurian quartz crystals.

These natural crystals are found individually

(not in mines with traditional quartz)

and are believed by many to have

emotional and spiritual properties,

which when carried or worn,

soothe, nurture and heal.

I'm interested enough in these beautiful stones

to do more reading and research.

In the meantime, I am most impressed

with collector and owner enthusiasm for

Lemurian Quartz Crystals.

(Why not, I say.)

Pic Today 3/23/14

BARGING DOWN THE

MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI

While at a friend's house last evening

on the banks of the Mississippi River,

I watched tug boats push their barge loads

slowly but surely downstream.

The ice is now gone,

with traffic free to flow.

Some 500-million tons of grain

are shipped to New Orleans annually

by barge on the Mississippi.

(Nearly 75% of U.S. exports

to the rest of the world.)

Pic Today 3/22/14

THE STAMP SHOW

IS IN TOWN

Stamp collecting (or philately)

is called "the hobby of kings."

This is the weekend to learn more

about stamps, or add to your collection.

Dealers from around the world

are at the St. Louis Renaissance Hotel

to showcase and exhibit their rarities.

It's a great way to learn about postal history,

geography, famous national figures

and specialized subjects, 

like the mushrooms of the Falkland Islands.

Experts are on hand to teach youngsters

about the history, variety and value of postal stamps.

Royalty, czars, emperors, and U.S. presidents have

all collected stamps.   In fact, 

French president Nicolas Sarkozy is an avid collector.

Pic Today 3/21/14

FIRST FLOWERS

OF SPRING

The first day of Spring

    did NOT disappoint . . .

with reliable "first bloomers"

pushing up to reach a warm sunny day:

Snow Crocus and Snow Drops

reminding us of warm days ahead.

Pic Today 3/20/14

WHEN TREES

HAVE KNEES

There are trees

who send their roots

up through the soil

to breath, for a drink,

for the sun.

These are tree's "knees."

Cypress . . . red maple . . .

especially trees that live by the water.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

Pic Today 3/19/14

HAND SPLINTS 

AS ART

At the Milliken Hand Center

(Barnes Hospital, St. Louis)

hand rehabilitation is all about

customizing the best splint for the injury

while each patient's wrist heals.

What happens to the splint,

you ask?

It may just end up in an art display

at their clinic.

And to think it all started with

a tendon, a ligament, a sprain, 

or some hand trauma.

(Personalized treatment and rehab,

one hand at a time.)