Busy, Busy, Busy.

I am trying to fit it all in before I leave: the sights, tastes and experiences only found in a big city. St. Louis is a grand old city and to me, of humble origins, it seems down right cosmopolitan and refined. Folks from places like Chicago, Philadelphia and cities in California laugh at my naivete. They lament the lack of chic. Me thinketh that a bit precocious.

What we lack in urbane sophistication we make up in open space. Really, isn't that more important? Doesn't that make up for any and all shortcomings? I recently spent time in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky. Hardly a park to be found. Unacceptable, in my mind.

Tower Grove Park, in the south central portion of the city, is spectacular. I would have to say it is the crown jewel of St. Louis Park system. Forest Park gets a lot more press due to its sheer size and central location. Tower Grove Park easily surpasses it in beauty. Henry Shaw, the man who founded it back in 1868, imported more than 8,000 trees, shrubs and plants from around the world in his attempt to create an exemplary, wooded Victorian Park of national significance. I would have to say he succeeded.

The Count Down is On

I can't believe the school year is winding down and the end is in sight. That means I only have a little over 1 month to see all of St. Louis I intend to. So I better get busy.

This past week I did a few long rides out in West County. I decided to ride my mountain bike. This was a good thing because there was a lot of curb hopping to be done due to the traffic and road construction. The sights are truly beautiful if you are willing to ride about 10 mile of horrendous city traffic before you get to the rolling hills.

I must qualify this last statement. To really see the beauty of the landscape one must have a well developed sense of imagination. One must also suspend one's belief in the wisdom of humanity. For me it is a coping mechanism. I can and I must imagine how breathtaking it was before the advent of The Subdivision. Truly, this category of development is the bane of the contemporary American landscape.
The street names are so trite and ubiquitous. Does any suburban area not have countless streets with such whimsical names as Ridge Crest Ave, Stony Pointe Drive, Aspen Bluff Blvd, Springwood Court, Lost Pines Lane? Do the masses understand the irony of those former bluffs, springs, ridges and crest having been bulldozed to make way for these idyllic little Pleasantvilles? No, I thought not.

But I did enjoy my many miles immensely, in spite of. And I found hidden pockets of treasure in the form of strongholds of un-pretentiousness. In one case, I was winding my way along a county road with a 6,000 sf house every acre or so and I noticed a sharp left that dropped precipitously down along a roaring stream. It was definitely the road less traveled and it felt like I was in an entirely different zip code. The homes were all the river-side cottage types and the inhabitants looked like your average blue collar, hard working folk who maintained their own lawns and kept their own gardens. It was so quaint I could not believe it had not been co-opted by developers. The reason surely being that this area is obviously in jeopardy of major flooding ever 50 years or so. The best part is that the road ended in a trail that took me back to the road from whence I came. Just like in New England.

And then the weather gods were smiling upon me. I left for 3 days to attend a Foreign Language Conference a the University of Kentucky in Lexington. It rained here in St. Louis the entire time while the sun shined on me in Kentucky. It stopped raining upon my return to St Louis.

At the conference I was lucky enough to attend talks on such topics as: The Argument/ Adjunct Distinction in Syntax and the Semantics of the Spanish Subjunctive, Transitivity and Subcategory Gustar in Spanish, Syllabic minimality in Spanish Truncation. Exciting stuff. Well, if not exciting at least interesting. I also attended a few workshops on language technology. It is amazing what some people are doing in the classroom with technology. Mostly at the university level since it requires an investment in technical infrastructure. Most public school do not possess funds for this kind of techie-bling . Unfortunate.

Spring has Sprung.

This photo was actually taken over three weeks ago. Trees are starting to leaf out and the cacophony of birdsong is ever increasing in decibel level in the wee hours of the morn. Man, do I love spring!!!!!!!

Let's see......since we last spoke, time is flying and soon we will be back in our beloved home state.


We skipped school and headed to Russia (pronounced Roosee), Ohio to visit Tony's family. Tony headed to Idaho for INL obligations. Owen and I hung out with Sharon and Fitz during the worst snowstorm the area had seen all winter. Our visit happened to coincide with a climbing competition in nearby Dayton, Ohio.

The competition was at Urban Crag and the format was an on sight comp. This format was new to us. On sight means that the kids are sequestered until a few minutes before they climb, get a few minutes to visually review the route and then have to climb. While most kids seemed to be consulting one another on the possibilities, Owen had no one to talk to so he gave it a glance and returned to climbing in the bouldering cave. This comp had more kids than I have ever seen. Owen got a third place! As always, he was stymied by the long reaches but did manage to flash the crux of his final climb before being stopped. The two kids ahead of him were a good 4-6 inches taller and both were 10 years old.

Then I was off to my Wilderness First Responder course in Salt Lake held at the University of Utah Medical School. This program is put on by the Wilderness Medicine of Utah (WMof U) http://www.wmutah.org/home.html I highly recommend it for anyone who spends a lot of time in the wilderness or works in the field of outdoor education. It is the least expensive program out there since WMof U is a non-profit organization. Most of the instructors are serious outdoor athletes who also happen to be medical students at the university. Salt Lake is a fantastic city to be stuck in for a week. Great food and awesome mountain views. Dare I ask for anything more?

A dawn view from the east of the city

Upon return our very favorite family, the Bruemmer Clan, came from Idaho came for a spring break visit. Owen was beside himself with joy and happiness during their stay and sunk into a deep depression (that lasted a full half hour) when they left us. I neglected to pull out the camera to record the festivities, but let it be known that fun was had by all. We biked, partook in cultural offerings, dined sumptuously and cavorted.... as would be expected with this lot. Owen dreamed of stowing away in their luggage but in the end decided to wait the eight weeks until our return to Idaho.

Now we are off to Tybee Island, off the coast of Savannah, Georgia for an extended weekend with the my family.

Before and After

It never fails. Every year around February I look at Nellie and think, "Is she getting a little chubby under all that fluff?" I decrease her food a little figuring that if she is, that will take care of it. Inevitably when I get her shaved for the warm weather, I experience guilt and self recrimination because, in fact, it is only I who has gained winter weight. I wish someone would starve me and make it easy. But no......

Wait. Back up a few lines. "...shaved for warm weather..." Yes, it is a little premature. Even in St. Louis. But since I have to run with Nellie on roads to get to Forest Park, all the road sludge gets deeply embedded in her long fur. I was having to bath her too often. So she suffers to make my life easier. Very selfish of me, I admit.
But she truly does not seem to mind. She is just sooo happy to be back to running on a regular basis.

We have been driving once a week to do our longer run/frolic on trails. The east end of the Chubb Trail that includes a loop around Castlewood State Park is my second favorite trail destination. It is an easy 6-8 mile run with little elevation gain but great bluff and river views. I usually have a chance to see some wildlife and in the past have seen deer, coyote, turkey, eagles and always many hawks. It is a verdant, lush landscape starting in spring and stark and bare this time of year. Come April I will begin referring to it as the Tick Run because Nellie has picked up as many as 15 of those nasty, creepy crawlies in a single run.

I tried to get a photo of the bluffs without the offensive houses but it was impossible. This, of course, gave me something to obsess about as I ran. Will someone please tell me why masses of people feel the need to ruin any and all god-given, spectacular views by plopping their ugly, gigantic friggin houses right smack dab in the epicenter of the breathtaking scenery. Don't they realize that it is beautiful and awe-inspiring right up until that moment that they bulldoze the shit out of it to erect their odious symbols of self-congratulatory, self-grandeur? Have some humility people. Why is every one out to trump god's gift of beauty? ("Because we can", I hear as a not-too-distant echo.) What ever happened to tucking away one's abode in a discreet and organic manner? Christ, surely I can't be the only freak who feels affronted by this crap?

Okay, I'm finished. Sorry.

Pictorial Vignettes: Backwards through time.

It is difficult to get to passionate about life in St. Louis. It is always interesting but never stirs any deeper emotion. It does not have the sort of landscape that motivates me to wax poetic nor go off on a detailed narrative of any one event or place. It has the capacity to overload the senses (and the pocketbook) w/ its abundance or urban offerings. I do not complain (too often), mind you. There are much worse alternatives to "interesting".

I tend to derive a certain sense of self from my geographic surroundings. Landscape is ever-so-important to me. In New Hampshire I was never happier than on those solitary Sunday mornings in January that I would set fresh tracks on century old carriage roads. In Idaho my favorite place to be is heading south up Taylor Creek trail at either dusk or dawn. More likely to happen upon a moose or mountain lion.. hee hee..at those hours.

Try as I may, I am unable to compose a respectable blog-length piece on any one St Louis event thus far. So what follows is a series of descriptive photos on a handful of the exploits that have occupied our time since arriving in the Show Me State.

These are the Arch Rival Roller Girls flying by my camera. This is St. Louis' All Female Flat Track Roller Derby and yes, we attended a "bout". These events attract an eclectic crowd w/ a decided goth overtone. Owen did not enjoy it so much. The humor was adult (e.g. spanking booth for charity) and went over his head...oh the innocence.

Nellie in a state of repose.

Tony finds a handy new use for his rack.

Owen competing in the Halloween Pull Down in Kansas City. It is hard to tell in the close-up photo, but he is coming out from under an overhang. He placed 3rd in the recreational division beating out most of a field who was 2 or more yrs older. The kid is a sight to behold....if I do say so myself.



Red River Gorge, Kentucky. This is the best place I've been so far. It is truly a geologic wonder with over 100 natural land arches. It was the venue location for the Petzl RocTrip Climbing Festival. My parents and brother's family met us there. We had a blast! Owen won a lot of climbing shwag and rubbed elbows with some of his sporting heroes.





Who said you can't bring a baby camping?
Owen's favorite climb of the weekend? Up the pole of the big top tent. Hey, there were no signs saying "no climbing".
Hanging around at the Loop.

Sushi Festival downtown. The featured event was a sushi eating contest. Winner ate about 70 pieces in 10 minutes. Think you can eat more? So did they. Most predicted eating over 100 pieces.



An afternoon at the beloved CITY MUSEUM!! .....for Tony, Owen and friends. An afternoon of Harry Potter for Wendy!!! Thanks Tony.

Views from a bike ride home from Illinois.

Dining at our favorite restaurant. Perched along the bluffs of the Missouri River and with an ever- changing menu, each dining experience is unique from the previous. This time I ordered sauteed trout topped with a root vegetable lyonnaise served on a bed of italian parsley puree and crispy cabbage au gratin. Tony had a grilled strip steak with crayfish lobster butter, rosemary grits, beer-braised greens and smoked paparika dusted fried leeks. How do they come up with these culinary combinations?

Although Nellie definitely preferred last year's daily runs along the Chubb Trail, a 12 mile drive away, this year she is making-do with the off-leash dog park just a short walk from our back door. The Puppy Pool Party, held the final day of the season at University City public pool is a fund raiser that benefits the park.