Mastodon State Historic Site

Sunday found us at the Mastodon State Historic Site. It's a nice little park and worth stopping by if you are in the area. Upon arrival, Katie and I were placed in a dark room – by ourselves – to watch a 15-minute video concerning the site and the Pleistocene era. We may have been tempted to make out, as they say, but our adult sensibilities took over and we dutifully watched the video instead. After the video, there is a small museum to wander through which houses a mastodon skeleton and a few displays concerning the other megafauna of the era. This included this handsome piece of taxidermy –  a model of the giant ground sloth. 

250 cakes of St. Louis 3

No. 21 -- Location, Old North St Louis; Artist,  Jack Bowe

This week the total number of cakes posted to comes to 25 -- so I've reached the 10 % cake club. Since I only have five ready for tonight, instead of ten, I'll probably post again later in the week to keep on some arbitrary schedule I never said I'd keep. The photography has gone fairly well, though, so I do have another 30 photos ready for post processing. But again, because of my style choice, that step is a little time consuming. 

I've also learned a few things about Google maps and even some very light HTML. At some point I'll be plotting my progress on a map with a link to each photo in the location at which it was taken. I'm overly excited about this but only because I think it's magic that I can input a bunch of values in a spreadsheet and build a custom map from them. 

It is magic I say.

For the rest of the first 10%:

250 cakes of St. Louis 2

250 cakes of St. Louis 1

No. 22 -- Location, Eugene Field House; Artist, Corinne Didisheim

No. 23 -- Location, Lafayette Park; Artist, Megan Rieke

No. 24 -- Location, Broadway Oyster Bar; Artist, Gina Harmon

No. 25 -- Location, The Chess Center; Artist, Screwed Artist Collective

Faring Purth

Faring Purth recently painted a 4,000 sq ft mural named 'Prime' on the side of a Family Dollar off Cherokee Street. I hadn't heard of it before the River Front Times wrote about the piece -- I love her style and scale makes a statement.   

Beggin' for Mercy

Oh, I generally despise cute things on dogs. If you are going to do it though it's best if your dog is in on the joke. I believe Larry despises cute things on dogs too.

He received a Beggin' Strip for his trouble.

This was before we realized Beggin' Strips give him foul gas.  

Kingshighway Skate Park

These are a few final shots from the Kingshighway skate park. I like me a dumpster with some character. 

DIY Skate Park

The more poking around on the internet I've done the more significant this skate park seems to me. From what I've seen on the web this entire park was built through donations, fundraisers and volunteer work. And, as I currently understand it, this was all done without securing any permits or asking permission to build the park. While I love the appropriation of wasted space to build something positive for the community, the process is foreign to me. My wife has worked as a city planner so I'm used to hearing about the rigmarole required to build anything public. Creating first, and not bothering to ask permission later, does seem like a very St. Louis attitude though. St. Louis is home of the City Museum whose existence doesn't seem possible in this litigious age. 

When the bridge sheltering this park is finally torn down the park, of course, will be lost. Surprisingly, to me at least, there is no free and public skate park currently in St. Louis to compensate for the loss. There is a development, however, in the works to fill the void. The Kingshighway Vigilante Transition (KHVT) has set up a nonprofit organization to raise money to build a new park on Morganford Street. All they need is money. 

Kingshighway Skate Park

I had high hopes for cake hunting on Sunday. My plan was to leave the house by 7:00 AM and then conquer all of the cakes of North St. Louis before noon. Sunday morning was bitter cold though so I got a much later start than I intended. Then, once I began my tour, and had cycled several miles, I realized I had left my map at home. After returning to collect it I decided it would be best to stop by work before continuing the tour. When I left work I left my map behind again necessitating another backtrack. So instead of conquering the North by noon, I ended up arriving there by mid afternoon. Not the most efficient start to my day...   

Another reason why I was delayed from cake photography is that I was distracted by something I didn't know existed until I stumbled across it–a DIY skate park hidden in plain sight. The park is beneath the bridge located at Kingshighway and Bischoff Avenue. This bridge is the same disintegrating bridge I discussed a few days ago. The only reason I was beneath it was because it would be suicide to bike over it – I was looking for an alternative route to get to the other side.

Now, I've been under the bridge many times including the hour Katie and I spent observantly photographing its underside a few days prior – so I was gobsmacked that I've never noticed the park before. I have always passed beneath the bridge on its north end, however, and the skate park is on the south end. Really, the placement of the park is perfect because few people besides skaters know it's there. It is well concealed. 

Unfortunately, it was too cold when I visited for skaters to be out, so I couldn't get any action shots. It was an interesting space though so I will be posting about it for a few days. 

250 cakes of St. Louis 2

No. 11 -- Location, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; Artist, Lynsi Sciaroni 

I had an interesting day. I spent a good portion of it cycling around North St. Louis and feeling embarrassed that I was uncomfortable doing so. It is not the safest part of town but I loathe the idea of restricting myself from it because it has a lot to offer. In this set the only photo I would consider North St. Louis is the Grand Avenue Water Tower in No. 15, the rest will be posted later.  For that photo I chose a bit of an odd composition for cake photography because I thought the context was more interesting. I just liked the idea of the huge column-shaped water tower dwarfing the barely-visible cake. If you look closely at that picture you'll notice that water tower is in the middle of a roundabout with the cake very exposed to traffic. I wonder how long that cake has before it is hit by a car? 

I do find it inspiring, though, that during my cake hunting I have already met several people doing the same thing as me — exploring the city for the purpose of photographing cakes. This is really cool because the cake display, which I voiced reservations about initially, is extremely interactive and is getting people out and about with their families. Kids apparently love it. Because of this I have seen a lot of people complain about the indoor location of No. 11. People want to see the cakes from all angles— preferably on a weekend during non-business hours. For my photo, I think the blinds made for a unique composition. It did, however, require a lot of work in Photoshop to achieve that look.

Fortunately, of the 30 or 40 cakes I have visited so far only one appears to be hidden from public view. That cake is at Sumner High School and I think they keep it hidden behind the front entrance. I'll check back after the school year is out to see if they relocate it then. 

These, of course, are a continuation of a series began last week:

250 cakes of St. Louis_1

No. 12 -- Location, Powell Hall; Artist, Earl Miller

No. 13 -- Location, The Hill; Artist, Rich Brooks 

No. 14 -- Location, Rigazzi's; Artist, Deann Rubin 

No. 15 --Location, Grand Avenue Water Tower; Artist, Gina Harmon 

No. 16 -- Location, Ashley Street Power House and Riverfront Trail; Artist, Theresa Hopkins 

No. 17 -- Location, Le Grange de Terre (Big Mound) Memorial; Artist, Amanda Blalock

No. 18 -- Location, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center; Artist, Rich Brooks

No. 19 -- Location, Missouri Botanical Garden; Artist, Genevieve Esson

No. 20 -- Location, Brightside St. Louis; Artist, George Grove

Hansel and Gretel

It's a difficult thing to write and watch a movie at the same time. Even a movie as terrible as Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, which earned an abysmal 15 % on Rotten Tomatoes. When aggregate-review scores reach that low it's generally worth paying attention to them – why did I watch that again? At least the movie had plenty of mindless-cartoony violence.

Tomorrow I am planning an early morning bicycle tour through the birthday cakes of North St. Louis. We are two days into spring and the weather is supposed to be sub-freezing when I head out. I'm glad I haven't put my cold weather gear into storage yet. 

Hiatus

I may be on a hiatus the next couple of days. We have visitors coming tomorrow night and we generally put people up in the office. Restricted computer access, restricted blog. I'll be back Saturday if not before. 

Bridge over Troubled...

I just read a statistic that a stretch Kingshighway near Forest Park in St. Louis handles a traffic volume of roughly 50,000 cars a day. That is, it is a rather busy street on par with Michigan Avenue in Chicago or the Strip in Las Vegas. Part of this length of road is a derelict bridge that runs by The Hill neighborhood. Luckily, this bridge is slated for replacement in the very near future. Lucky, because while I don't have the eyes of a bridge engineer something tells me that you should not have large chunks of concrete missing from pieces of a high-traffic bridge.  At least we were confident enough in the bridge to park underneath a few minutes it to take these pictures. 

 

250 cakes of St. Louis 1

#1 – Location: Compton Hill Water Tower, Artist: Genevieve Esson

OK, so I have criticized the cakes. I do wish that the powers that be had chosen a more St. Louisian symbol than a birthday cake to celebrate the city's 250th anniversary. It's easy to criticize though, and who cares about my opinion of a project I had zero involvement in? Really, with 250-unique cakes placed in 250-significant locations in the greater St. Louis area, the scale and execution of this display is impressive.

There is an opportunity here too for a photoblogger. For me, there are several good reasons to take as many cake photos as I can over the coming year including:

1. Exploration – I have not been to all of the locations where cakes are displayed. They make a convenient excuse to tour the nooks and crannies of the city.

2. Practice, practice, practice – While the cakes aren't moving targets they have so far proved to be a challenge to photograph well. Lighting is often unfavorable, the space is often tight, and how exactly does one keep a theme interesting if it goes on very long? 

3. Health and Fitness – Many of my non-professional pursuits are hedonistic in nature. Photographing these cakes requires no food or drink and likely will require a great deal of walking and cycling.

4. Experiences – Nine of the ten cakes I'm posting today were photographed yesterday during a 25-mile bike ride. During that ride I was yelled at by security (thanks to photo #4) and received racist catcalls after photographing a cake by a Martin Luther King statue (photo #8 – yeah, the irony was not lost on me). While these weren't positive experiences, they certainly gave me more perspective than a day of sitting on the couch. 

5. Convenient Blog Fodder – Self explanatory.

I don't have a specific number of cakes or schedule for cake photography in mind. I doubt, however, that photographing all 250 will be attainable. For one, 250 is a large number and I have >40-hour-a-week day job. You'll notice, on top of the time and effort it takes to visit the sites, my current preference for post processing is fairly work intensive. Also, a few of the cakes are placed indoors or might not be accessible to public photographers. For example, I technically wasn't allowed to photograph #4 and I've already encountered one cake that I was only able to photograph through Venetian blinds. 

So, we'll see where this goes. 

#2 – Location: Left Bank Books, Artist: Peat Wollaeger

#3 – Location: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri, Artist: Laura Weinrich

#4– Location: St. Louis Children's Hospital, Artist: April Morrison

#5 – Location: Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, Artist: Martha Clark and Sarah Scott

#6 – Location: Missouri History Museum, Artist: Thomas Sleet

#7 – Location: The Sheldon, Artist: The Sheldon

#8 – Location: Fountain Park / MLK Statue, Artist: Screwed Arts Collective

#9 – Location: Fabulous Fox Theatre, Artist: Rick Monrotus

#10 – Location: Washington University School of Medicine, Artist: April Morrison

Under Pressure

Highly pressurized gas cylinders found in the train yard. At least they are kept under pristine storage conditions... 

Vanderventer

On my way home tonight I wandered a little further east than I usually do before crossing highway 64 to the south. The bridge I planned on crossing was closed because— duh—  construction. To get home I ended up much, much further east which put me on Vanderventer Street. I hate cycling on Vanderventer because it is dangerous and there are few options for egress. To get off the street I turned on an unmarked road and ended up in a train yard. It was interesting but had no outlet, so ultimately not useful.  There was some corrugated steel tubing though. Who doesn't like corrugated steel tubing?

But I have a gluten sensitivity

St. Louis turns 250 this year. To celebrate, 250 painted-fiberglass cakes have been commissioned that will be placed around the city.  As of today, 178 locations have been caked. 

I dunno, I've thought about capturing as many cakes as possible as a photography and cycling challenge but I have a hard time getting excited about cake.  Well, not Cake, I like Cake, but not cake, not really. 

I guess you had to be there

I talked myself out of carrying my camera this morning. The front tire on my bike is worn through to the tube in places and I know it's just a matter of time before it blows. Blown tire = higher likelihood of bike wreck = higher likelihood of ruined-fancy-camera. So I left it at home because I figured there was little chance I would use it on my commute. 

Wrong. 

Tonight, as I left work, I looked west and saw the parabolic James S. McDonnell Planetarium glowing bright red beneath a clear patch of sky surrounded on all sides by dark menacing clouds. It would have been a superb shot if I had my camera with a reasonable lens and a tripod. I suppose I could have taken a picture with the phone (my ancient low-res phone) but what's the point? This was one case where I'd rather just experience the view and take no picture than take a bad one. 

Barkus_3

I've been sitting here for a few minutes trying to figure out something clever to say without being wordy. It's been difficult though because Larry has been over in the corner licking his paws with the regularity of a ticking clocked— he's an irksome beast. So I called his name and told him to stop and his response was to come over next to me. He then farted a horrible fart. 

Jerk.   

Barkus_2

Oh, the things people do to their dogs.

I typed in, "how do you dye your poodle pink?" into google and found a YouTube video on how its done. The method involves water, food coloring, a spray bottle and your dog being white. Larry the beagle, unfortunately, is not a good candidate for the treatment. 

Larry would be Enhanced Larry if he were purple. 

Barkus_1

I missed another posting last night so I'm going to backdate to keep my record untarnished. It's OK, I know what I'm doing, I won't get caught. 

Last night's post didn't make it because I've been nose-to-the-grindstone over the past week and there hasn't been time to shoot anything new. I did take yesterday and today off but then decided to throw an Indian-themed dinner party tonight. Indian food is some of the most time consuming food to prepare properly so I have been marathon cooking since yesterday morning. 

Also, we took last evening to go play trivia at the local electric workers' union. It was a fund raiser for a some cancer charity.  Trivia night-as-fund raiser is a unique St. Louis experience. I'm sure other cities do it, but here it is very much ingrained in the culture. There is always beer and wine and food and sold-out tables and it is usually held in a church or school basement. Most people will attend one at some point. For example, Katie and I have been to three in the past year and we are not really trivia people. That is, there are plenty of opportunities to play. Last night, in the union hall, was the largest of the trivia fund raisers we've been to. There were about thirty tables with eight people each competing. We came in second, then came home late and full of junk food.

Today's post is a bit of a photo dump from the Barkus Mardi Gras Dog parade that happened about 2-weeks ago. 

To The Dogs

It's late, and I've been going since 5:30 this morning. Before sitting down to type this I had butchered my way through 30-odd pounds of meat. Squishy work, but we have raw meat processed and portioned for over a month of dinners. 

Friday night. Woo. 

Since I never really had a proper dinner this evening I cobbled together some hot dog fried rice rather late. Hot dog fried rice is a don't-knock-it-if-you-haven't-tried-it dish. Just make sure you have Tabasco on hand.