Sundays in My City #6

Have you heard of Unknown Mami? She has a delightful blog where she shares photos of her city on Sundays. She invites the rest of us to link up with her and share some of our own city's photos. Click on the logo to visit Sundays in My City!

I live in St. Louis, MO. Welcome to my city!

We have an historic road that runs through St. Louis. It is called Route 66, and at one time was the main road that one travelled to get from the East Coast to the West Coast. It has since been modified, with detours and dead ends, but signs still indicate where the original road stood. Here is a picture of one of the signs with an historic building behind it.


This is just one of the routes that Tootsie and I take when we get our exercise.



Lastly, here are some of the residents of our wonderful St. Louis Zoo!

SAMMY


LARRY, MOE & CURLY


HECKEL & JECKEL IN THE ATRIUM


Thanks for visiting my city! Now, show me yours!

This Is It!

A mere three words to describe what might have been an historical musical comeback for one of the most talented singers of all time. If his private life, along with human errors, is put aside, you simply must agree that his status as King of Pop is well-deserved.

I regret never attending a concert of his, even though I desperately wanted to be a part of the magic. I hope this event will leave us all with thoughts of who Michael Jackson was as an entertainer and how hard he worked to bring us the best that he had to give.

Rest in peace.

Sundays in My City #4 - Fall Leaves

Have you heard of Unknown Mami? She has a delightful blog where she shares photos of her city on Sundays. She invites the rest of us to link up with her and share some of our own city's photos. Click on the logo to visit Sundays in My City!

I live in St. Louis, MO. Welcome to my city!

For most of the past week, we have had more rain. This is the "bowl" in our backyard common area, which is usually just grass. When it rains fast and hard, we get the "bowl pond" which sometimes attracts ducks and geese and other fun critters! (To give you an idea of the size of the bowl, from the fence on the left side to the top of the hill beyond one could place a football field, with end zones!)




Yesterday was sunny and gorgeous! I took a picture of the trees in my front yard.



I'm originally from Southern California where the leaves are either green or brown. I am in awe of the colors here during fall! Everywhere I walk or drive in my town, I see nothing but bright orange, red, yellow and green! (and a little brown) This is a good reminder to me of just how lucky I am to have my sight.

Home Depot was on my list of errands yesterday. Once there, it took me about 10 minutes before I realized that I had chosen a cart with a wobbly wheel. I felt like a dork. People heard me coming, they stared, they laughed, "what a dork!" You would think I could have checked out the cart before I started on my hunt for storage tubs. But, noooooo! I had seen a customer in the parking lot who had just purchased a neon green storage tub. Neon green just happens to be Ed's favorite color! I HAD TO HAVE THESE TUBS! I searched and searched, with a very loud and obvious wobbly wheel, and I finally found them on the end of one of the aisles.

I still had to find new area rugs for the kitchen. They had rubber; they had cushy foam; they had "soft on your toes" plush. None of these were in Forest Green! I really wanted Forest Green! I found a small burgundy rug that I thought I could take home and try out. I didn't really like it, but I thought I wouldn't find anything else, so I bought it. Have you ever done that?

Then, as I was leaving, I saw a Kohl's and flew into their parking lot. "At least they won't have wobbly wheels on their carts" I thought. As it turns out, Kohl's had the style of rug that I wanted. They did not have it in Forest Green, but in Burgandy only. Once again, I said to myself, "I bet I won't find anything else," so I bought it. Well, I didn't find anything else, and the rugs look terrific in my kitchen!

Here's a picture of one of the sculptures from our Laumeier Sculpture Park!



Thanks for stopping by Sundays in My City!

Sundays in My City #2

Have you heard of Unknown Mami? She has a delightful blog where she shares photos of her city on Sundays. She invites the rest of us to link up with her and share some of our own city's photos. Click on the logo to visit Sundays in My City!

I live in St. Louis, MO. Welcome to my city!

Our Botanical Gardens attraction is acres and acres of lushness, color and beauty. One of my favorite places inside the Gardens is the Dome. (I know it has a proper name, but for today, let's just call it "The Dome.")



Inside the Dome





And, here is where misbehaving children go!



Thanks for stopping by! I hope your Sunday is fantastic!

Brad, We're Not Related!

I am so bummed! I've been doing a little genealogy research and have come to the unhappy conclusion that even though I am a descendant of the Pitt family, and bear the name as well, I am not a relative of Brad Pitt. I was hoping that maybe I could have been at least a 12th generation, thrice removed relative, but it doesn't look likely. We both do have a possible common relative, about four generations back, but there is no way to know for sure as the information stops at the name and there is no way to dig any deeper with this particular individual.

Man, I am so discouraged! I've prided myself on having the name for many years. I took a lot of teasing as a child, but once Brad made the name well-known, I would refer to him when anyone would ask about it.

As much as I would love to be included in family picnics with Brad, I can be content knowing that there were a lot of gorgeous men and women from whom I am descended. Not only were my ancestors hot, they had adventurous personalities, too! There were career professionals, cattle ranchers, treasure hunters, war veterans, jailed criminals, drunks...you know, the usual family stuff. It was fascinating to read the same stories on the net that my grandmother had told me when I was young.

Some of these stories are very colorful. The little light bulbs are going off inside my head. I hope to get them into Word documents, before I forget about them...like my keys and my phone.

For those of you (and me) who have no life, but a lot of time to roam around the net, I think you would enjoy learning about the who, what, where, when and why of our ancestors. Good luck!

Military Forts and Beauty Parlors, of Course!

I’ve been working this week as a temp. I've had some free time and decided to do a little net surfing. I find myself getting so engrossed in my favorite blogs, as well as, the blogs of commenter’s on my favorite blogs. It’s a little like ADD, when you enter a room for one thing, and end up getting sidetracked with something else, and then when that can of worms is opened, there are three more interesting things to do!

One blog I always enjoy visiting is Tutu’s Bliss. She has the most precious little girls, who are always dressed in the most colorful and flowing outfits. Even her little one’s Binky is decorated with a flower! Check out this blog!

When I read about little ones and their adventures, it takes me back to when my cutie pies were little and I recall all the fun things we did. I was very lucky back then to be able to stay home for a few years.


When it was just the boys, Hero & Rock, we would throw sheets or blankets over coffee tables and chairs. We would connect everything so that it was one giant fort. No adults were allowed in, except for moms with snacks. I loved to listen to the dialogue exchanges between the two.

“Where is all our stuff?”

“I no know, I tot you had 'em?”

“No I don habe 'em. Maybe Mommy habs 'em. Let’s go peek her. Cover me, kay?"

“kay, I cover you. But don’t go by duh bad-guy’s fort. If they peek you, they will yell and chase us to the river!”

“kay, I stay away from bad-guy fort! Stay by me, kay?”

“Kay. Let’s get some bug juice and spidey gummies. I haben’t had those since foreber!” The little soldiers managed to get to the rations tent (kitchen)without alerting the bad guys, and wouldn’t you know it…in the tent were some boxes of bug juice and a few bags of Spidey gums! My little grunts were in heaven!

Another fun thing we would do so as not to get bored while in the car was to scream “Dinosaurs” whenever we went under a bridge or pass. Simply screaming bloody murder was a little too shrill for my delicate ears, but screaming Dinosaurs would add just a touch of giggles to the yelling.


Once the girls were in charge, it was “Land of Beauty and Fairies.” We would all go to the beauty parlor together (in the living room) and we would take turns doing each others hair, makeup, nails and toes. Add to that the most marvelous tutus and wings, and we were the talk of the Fairy Realm. Of course, I was the Fairy Queen and the girls were my Princesses in waiting…until the U.S. Army arrived! Then we would have to quickly pack up our makeup cases and fly away to the Fairy tower (in mom & dad’s bedroom). There we would be safe because dad put a lock on the door to keep out uninvited guests, or in this case, grunts!

I really miss those days…every now and then.

I Love My Girlfriends!

"Oh darn!" Lisa yelled as she glanced at the digital clock in the car. "Why can't I ever be on time!" Her good friend, Sara, was visiting from DesMoine and had invited her to a soiree (Margarita-fest) at a relatives home. The party was to end at 5:00 and it was now 5:10 p.m. She was 20 minutes away from the party house.

Lisa grumbled as she sat in her car at the red light. To add insult, it was beginning to drizzle. She so wanted to see Sara and get one of her fantastic hugs! Sara and Lisa had been friends for many years. Their daughters had gone to school with each other. Their friendship blossomed because of their girls, and grew even deeper when they later worked at the same preschool.

Sara's husband had been transferred to DesMoine some years earlier. It was a very difficult move, not only for Sara, but for all the girlfriends she left behind. Oh, sure, they spoke on the phone, and even emailed each other, but nothing could beat the "real thing" of face-to-face girlfriend love.

The weekend passed and Lisa felt bad about missing the party. She meant to call, but time got away from her until Monday.

"I'll give her a call, or send off an email tonight" Lisa promised herself. She had several errands to run after work, and then needed to stop off at the house to pick up something. As she walked into the kitchen, the phone rang. Lisa checked the caller ID, as she always does, and saw that it was a friend who also knew Sara.

"Hello" Lisa said, thinking she would be speaking to the Caller ID owner.

"Hello, Lisa?" said a most warm and familiar voice.

"Sara...how are you? I'm so glad you called! Listen, I feel horrible about missing the party last week! How long will you be here? Can I see you before you leave? How are you? How are the girls?" rambled Lisa.

"Oh, that's okay" replied Sara, "I'm great. Three more days. Yes. Fine. Fine. Say, a few of us are going to meet for drinks at Mi Casa in about 10 minutes. Do you think you can join us? I know it's last minute, but I would love to see you!"

"Are you kidding me?" shrieked Lisa. "I'll be right over!"

Oddly enough, two cars full of girlfriends pulled up to Mi Casa at the same time. They all screamed with delight and they group hugged each other. When they were inside the restaurant, Lisa gave Sara her warmest hug, and got back the best "I'm glad to see you" hug ever!

The waiter brought chips and salsa and the girls toasted each other with their fancy umbrella drinks. Then, as everyone began talking at once, Sara & Lisa looked at each other and began to laugh.

"Oh, how I've missed you" smiled Lisa. "Where do I begin? You look marvelous!" joked Lisa. The two went on and on laughing loudly as they reminisced. They had both become quite fond of one of the elementary school teachers, who was a prankster with a wicked sense of humor. He became Monsignor to them, and they became Sister Sara and Sister Lisa to him. Over the years they each would sign birthday cards to each other with their religious names. The whole idea was really quite hilarious since the three were well-seasoned sinners, and had already made their reservations to fry in hell.

By now the umbrella drinks were beginning to take effect, and everyone was quite giddy. They all took pictures of each other acting as if they were at a high school prom. The waiter just smiled as he brought more chips. It was getting late and no one really wanted to leave.

"I've got to go," Lisa said. "I need to get dinner started so it will look like I did something today!" They all chuckled because they were all thinking the same thing!

After another big group hug, the girlfriends blew kisses to each other and made their way to their cars. Lisa smiled and waved as the others drove away.

"It's a good day," she thought "when the merry-go-round stops and life takes over for a little while!"