Pic Today 1/31/15

HOME SWEET HOME

Discovering these two homes

in very remote parts of rural Missouri

helped me realize

"a man's home"

is indeed his "castle,"

no matter how old or 

in what state of disrepair.

Both homes are very much occupied,

at the end of the road,

in very beautiful parts of our state.

In need of repairs, yes,

but very livable and comfortable.

And both are over 100 years old!

Pic Today 1/30/15

CACTUS IN A

WINTER GREENHOUSE

Cold outside,

hot inside.

Perfect for these thorny beauties.

Fun to shoot their

colors and patterns

close up!

But watch out.

(Ouch.)

Pic Today 1/29/15

FLOOD WALL GRAFFITI 

The St. Louis Riverfront

is going through some major rehab,

some of it planned,

some of it "volunteered". . .

with some dramatic river art ! !

All along the flood wall,

there's some fantastic graffiti

painted by some very serious artists.

Most of the graffiti is done at night,

with tell tale paint buckets left half full

by morning's light.

There's no charge

for visiting this riverfront art exhibit.

Pic Today 1/28/14

WHERE THE BUFFALOS ROAM

A warm winter day

at Lone Elk Park

(St. Louis County),

and the buffalo were enjoying

a beautiful day.

(Me too.)

Pic Today 1/27/15

LOVE THE WINTER SUN

Especially

on winter's coldest days

find the sun,

face it squarely.

Close your eyes

and feel the warmth.

Soon, my friend.

Soon.

Pic Today 1/26/15

READY TO FEEL SMALL?

NASA has just released it biggest

hi-resolution photo 

of the Andromeda Galaxy.

It took the Hubble Telescope

3 years to photograph this image,

section by section.

The 4.3-gigabyte photo

is composed of 1.5 billion pixels.

The finished image is

60,000 x 22,000 pixels

and requires 600 HD TV displays

to view it all.

When you view this YouTube video

(just released)

keep in mind each pixel is a star

with its own unique universe.

Ready to feel really, really insignificant?

View this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udAL48P5NJU

Pic Today 1/25/15

MY AFFAIR WITH SIMONE

I confess

I'm in love with Simone.

She moved here from Paris, France

to open a pâtisserie,

La Pâtisserie Chouquette,

a very special French bakery.

As the pâtissière,

she brought with her the

very special baking skills

for fantastic, authentic pastries

and heavenly croissants.

I visit Simone early Saturday mornings

just to have her amazing, flakey croissants.

She bags one up for me,

and I drive straight back to Kaldi's coffee

for a perfect Colombian espresso.

Merci, Simone.

xoxo

Pic Today 1/24/15

MYSTICAL WILDNESS

Oil on canvas, 1878 (Louis Breton, French)

This is a painting I frequently visit 

to see at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Jules Breton regularly visited the coastal

region of Brittany to paint the

"mystical wildness" of Breton women.

Here he painted a coastal peasant girl

showing compassion for a wounded sea gull.

Interestingly, this was one of the first paintings

to be exhibited at the newly founded

St. Louis Art Museum in 1881.

Pic Today 1/23/15

CHEERS!

Here's to starting 

  and ending each day . . .

early morning latte,

and a glass of Bordeaux

at night.

Pic Today 1/22/15

NO ORDINARY MUSEUM

Is that a school bus

falling off the roof?

jet airplane hanging in the trees?

giant lizard slithering down the light pole?

pit of rubber balls to run through?

a giant slinky to climb down?

a giant snake fence surrounding us?

and we're not even in the front door yet ! ! !

Must be the City Museum,

in downtown St. Louis.

(This place is crazy fun.)

Pic Today 1/21/15

KING OF PRANKS

Local home gets hit.

Probably a 12-roll job!

(Getting TP'd is still an honor.)

Pic Today 1/20/15

PHOTOGRAPHER

DEVOTES HIS LIFE

TO FANCY HAIRSTYLES

Self-taught Nigerian photographer, 

J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

(1930-2014)

followed his passion for photography

and the extreme hair styles of

Nigerian women.

When he died last year at 83,

he left over 1,000 black-and-white

photographs of extreme hairstyles

throughout the years.

The fleeting aspect of culture

is shown in his hair style photo exhibits

which are now traveling around the world.

Pic Today 1/19/15

ST. LOUIS' NEWEST CONCERT VENUE

IS ALSO ITS SMALLEST

The "Demo Room" (in The Grove)

is billed as the "finest music experience"

a small room concert venue can offer.

Attracting progressive, national bands

and "sold out" audiences,

Demo has no chairs, no tables, 

a killer sound system, just standing room only

for rock, punk, indie, hip hop, garage,

funk, soul groups.

Last night, Foster McGinty rocked the house.

Foster (and his legendary Fender Stratocaster guitar)

made national news several years ago

after he left his guitar on a New York subway train;

but offered an award ($1,500) which 

resulted in its return.

Foster McGinty grew up in southern Missouri,

but now lives in Nashville, TN.

Pic Today 1/18/15

THIS IS THE SPOT

WHERE LEWIS AND CLARK

STARTED THEIR EXPEDITION

. . . on the Missouri River

   in St. Charles, Missouri.

They took 33 men 1,850 miles,

against the current,

departing May 21, 1804.

It took 2 years to reach their destination

in the Pacific Northwest.

Their primary vessel was a 55-foot keel boat,

with 2 smaller boats to carry their supplies.

Today's river is much deeper and wider

than when they started.

(The Missouri River was 18-inches deep,

propelled by sails and long poles

pushed by boat personnel.)

The entire trip was accomplished

against the stream.

They averaged 10-15 miles a day.