Yellow And Purple (273/365)

 
“Color serenade
Of flowers and butterfly
Nature's quiet bliss”

#141 Haiku Orange Blossom-Yellow Butterfly, Dorothy (Alves) Holmes

TIME:  4:34 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Yellow butterfly and purple salvia

I finally took the initiative and pulled out the dead, brown summer annuals from all of the pots early this afternoon.  My garden center had a 10 for $10 special going on – mums, pansies, kale, and cabbage plants were mix and match.  I picked up ten dollars worth along with a larger mum and six pack of pansies.  It was a gorgeous afternoon to be outside doing some gardening.  While I was replacing the plants in the pots, I could see that the butterflies and bees were enjoying the day as well.  They were really giving the salvia and sedum in the front flower beds a workout.

Make A Wish (272/365)

 
"I was a dandelion puff...Some saw the beauty in me and stooped quietly to admire my innocence. Others saw the potential of what I could do for them, so they uprooted me, seeking to shape me around their needs. They blew at my head, scattering my hair from the roots, changing me to suit them. Yet still others saw me as something that was unworthy and needed to be erased."

Nicole Bailey-Williams (American, high school English teacher, a freelance writer, and former host of "The Literary Review”)

TIME:  6:42 PM
PLACE:  YMCA Soccer Fields
SUBJECT:  Dandelion seedhead

I wish I could lose 10 more pounds.
I wish laundry fairies were real.
I wish the dog didn’t shed so much.
I wish my oldest daughter could see how beautiful she is.
I wish there were 2 of me so I could do the things I want to do as well as all the things I have to do each day.
I wish that I could win the lottery and pay off all our debts.
I wish that I could give my Mom one more hug and kiss and tell her I love her.

September Tree (271/365)

 
"But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness.  The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head ... The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on."

Robert Finch (American-born Canadian poet, 1900-1995)

TIME:  4:03 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Red Sunset Maple Tree

I was off work today and ran errands in the morning.  I had the worst headache – it was working to be a migraine.  I ended up taking some migraine medication and laying down from noon until about 2:30.  I felt so much better afterwards. 

Time again this month for my tree picture.  The leaves are just beginning to change – I wonder if they will all still be on the tree at the end of October?

Bud (270/365)

 
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Anaïs Nin (French author, famous for her published journals and erotica. 1903-1977)

TIME:  6:21 PM
PLACE:  Back yard
SUBJECT:  Chrysanthemum bud

One of the things I love about fall is how the buds of mums look like little tightly clenched fists before they blossom.

Neapolitan Sedum (269/365)

 
Homer opens the freezer and pulls out a box of Neapolitan ice cream and finds that the chocolate is completely gone (The vanilla & strawberry are untouched.) 
“Mmmm...chocolate!...D'oh!”
He pulls out a second box, with the same result.
“Mmmm...chocolate!...D'oh!  Marge!  We need some more vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream!”

Radio Bart. Perf. Dan Castellaneta. The Simpsons. Season 3, Episode 13, 1992. Television.

TIME:  5:07 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Sedum “Autumn Joy”

Cooler weather arrived today with rain and grey skies.  A perfect rainy Sunday to take a nap and I managed to squeeze a small one in around 3 this afternoon.  My sedum plants in the front flower beds are beginning to flower…love the triple play of color they have at this time of the year.

What You Crave (268/365)

 
Burger Shack Employee: Ding-dong! May I interject for a second? As a Burger Shack employee for the past three years, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that if you're craving White Castle, the burgers here just don't cut it. In fact, just thinking about those tender little White Castle burgers with those little, itty-bitty grilled onions that just explode in your mouth like flavor crystals every time you bite into one...So you guys maybe should just suck it up and go to White Castle.
Kumar: You can always get your work done in the car.
Harold: Let's do it.
Kumar: All right. Awesome. Then listen, listen - no matter what, we are not ending this night without White Castle in our stomachs. Agreed?
Harold: Agreed.

Anderson, Anthony, Kal Penn, and John Cho, perf. *Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle*. Dir. Danny Leiner. 2004. Endgame Entertainment.

TIME:  11:20PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  White Castle hamburgers

I attended a trivia night with some girlfriends and as is tradition at these events, everyone brought something to snack on.  I did not feel like making anything, so on the way to the venue, I stopped by White Castle and ordered a case of 30 burgers and a large diet Coke.  <= that made me giggle while placing the order at the speaker because of the irony and it brought on a memory.  Once when I was maybe 5 and my brothers were 6 & 7 years old, Dad and Mom took us out to eat at a White Castle in South County over in St. Louis.  We all assured him that we were hungry.  We sat a table in the restaurant, Dad ordered and brought us a tray piled with about 20 burgers.  We each ate one and promptly told him we were full.  So that left 17 of them for Mom and Dad to consume.  I’m sure Mom didn’t eat more than 4 or 5, so that left 12 or 13 of them for Dad to eat.  I think he made it to about 10 before quitting, or did he eat more?  I can’t remember…Dad reads my blog, he’ll let me know how many he actually ended up eating.

Penguin Press (267/365)

 
“It's practically impossible to look at a penguin and feel angry.”

Joe Moore (American, Chicago alderman 49th Ward, b1958)

TIME:  6:39 PM
PLACE:  Muny Parking Lot, Forest Park, St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT:  StellaDella and the North Star Penguin

Tonight was the annual Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk.  There seemed to be a whole lot more people at the walk this evening, compared to last year’s event.  I say this because we actually had to wait in a long line for the portable toilets, we never had to do that before – or I’m thinking that could have been because they had less facilities than there they had last year.  Seriously, is that ever a good idea?  Anyway, we (our family, a friend of DQ, my dad and my oldest brother and his family) walked this evening.  Why, we even refrained from collecting additional batteries out of the trash cans this year, which I thought showed great restraint.  The North Star company was one of the sponsors of the event and handed out cherry popsicles for the participants.  Besides a popsicle, SD also received a hug from their mascot.

Our Daily Bread (266/365)

 
“The best things in life are nearest:  Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you.  Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”

Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer, 1850–1894)

TIME:  9:35 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Homemade bread

At 8:15am, I started a beef stew in the Crockpot.  I then left for work; worked until noon; drove back home; started bread in the bread maker; let the dog out; put the back in the kennel; went to the grade school to work the book fair from 12:45 to 3pm; brought the two youngest kids home from school at 3; left for the junior high school to count money from a fundraiser at 3:45pm; attended a PTA meeting at the junior high after counting money; returned home at 5pm; ate the beef stew and bread for dinner; cleaned up the kitchen; walked back up to the grade school with the three kiddos for a grade school PTA meeting from 6:30 to 8:15pm; walked back home and helped children with homework.  I’m thinking I could have done a little bit more today.

Orange Peel (265/365)

 
“Try not thinking of peeling an orange. Try not imagining the juice running down your fingers, the soft inner part of the peel. The smell. Try and you can't. The brain doesn't process negatives.”

Douglas Coupland (Canadian novelist, b1961)

TIME:  6:28 PM
PLACE:  YMCA soccer fields
SUBJECT:  Shed wall

Soccer practice was on the agenda again for StellaDella this evening.  It goes without saying that she needed to use the facilities during the hour-long event.  Lucky for me, this weathered orange shed was located right next to the Johnny-On-The-Spots.

Buzz Cut (264/365)

 
“You're only has good as your last haircut.”

Fran Lebowitz (American Writer and Humorist, b.1950)

TIME:  3:42 PM
PLACE:  Magic Comb
SUBJECT:  MonkeyBoy

MB prefers to have his hair short, in fact, his philosophy is the shorter the better.  Ever since he was a toddler, I’ve been bringing him to my beautician, Carol, to have his hair cut.  She adores him.  She loves to tell her customers the story about a time when MB was about 11 months old.  While she was cutting my hair, he was wandering around the shop and jabbering to himself.  All of a sudden, we noticed that it had gotten quiet.  Carol looked up from my haircut to see how he was doing and burst out into laughter.  MB had proceeded to climb up a chair and had plopped down into the sink where she washes hair.  There he was, calmly sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bowl.  She wishes she had a camera handy that day as she says it was a perfect Kodak moment.  He had no climbing into sinks this afternoon, just a haircut with the #4 blade.

State Of Inelegance (263/365)

  
"What dreadful hot weather we have!
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."

Jane Austen (1775–1817), British novelist. letter, Sept. 18, 1796.

TIME:  4:11 PM
PLACE:  Across the street
SUBJECT:  Hot squirrel

Fall is supposed to begin tomorrow, but you wouldn’t know that by the weather we are having and will be having for the rest of the week ~ we are going to be cracking the 90 degree mark!  The air conditioner had to be turned on and it’s making me cringe because I can just see the money flying out of our wallets to pay the expense.  Even the squirrels think that this is horrible weather for September…why just look at what he has to resort to to keep cool.

The Cell (262/365)

 
“Art is science made clear.”

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), French author, filmmaker. repr. In Collected Works, vol. 9 (1950). "Le Coq et l'Arlequin," Le Rappel à L'Ordre (1926).

TIME:  6:11 PM
PLACE:  Dining room
SUBJECT:  DQ’s science project

DramaQueen was required to make a model of a cell (animal or plant) for a science project.  The only restriction she had in the materials she was allowed to use was “No Jell-O”!!! <== that makes me wonder what kind of disaster the science teacher had experienced in the past with this assignment.  DQ decided on making an animal cell and asked me for some help with ideas.  I suggested a banner made of felt and other fabrics and notions.  She went with it and her final project came together like this:

1.  Cell Membrane – braided cording
2.  Cytoplasm – yellow felt
3.  Mitochondrion – orange foam with jumbo yellow rick rack
4.  Ribosomes – green tubular beads
5.  Lysosome – teal felt
6.  Golgi Body – red & gold wired ribbon
7.  Nucleus – purple felt
8.  Nucleolus – bottle cap with diamond glittered top.

The cell is attached to a backing of stiff white felt and the banner is hanging by orange yarn attached to a wooden dowel.  She did the majority of the work putting it together – I helped with retrieval of the crafting items and gave some input and directions when she asked me.  I hope I get a good grade!

A “Grate” Time (261/365)

 
“The leading cause of death among fashion models is falling through street grates.”

Dave Barry (American Writer and Humorist best known for his weekly newspaper column. b.1947)

TIME: 5:48 PM
PLACE:  Church picnic
SUBJECT:  Grate outside the gym.

We went to a church picnic this evening with the family.  We had an all-you-can-eat chicken dinner and sat by my Uncle Albert (mom’s brother), Aunt Ann, my cousin Kevin and his wife-Beth and my Aunt Alice (mom’s sister).  After dinner, of which I ate too much, HH gave the kids money and off they took for the carnival rides and inflatables.  He and I watched the polka-ing that was happening in the parking lot, then played some poker at the poker stand (HH won a 2-liter bottle of Coke-woo hoo!).  We then proceeded to lose money trying to win some gift baskets at several other stands.  We caught up with the kids, distributed additional money for a few more rides and games and finally, headed home.

Porcupine Egg (260/365)

 
“If you start throwing hedgehogs under me, I shall throw a couple of porcupines under you.”

Nikita Khrushchev (First secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1894-1971)

TIME:  6:47 PM
PLACE:  School playground
SUBJECT:  American sweet gum tree fruit

This is a photo that I took yesterday at the school open house.  The tree with the octopus roots is an American sweet gum tree.  This is its fruit which is also known as a “gumball”, “monkey ball”, “space bug”, "porcupine eggs” or as my kids call them when they turn brown, “cocoa puffs”.  I remember gathering up tons of these spiky balls with my brothers and the neighborhood kids and then we would heave them at each other.  Take it from me, those suckers sting.

Octopus Roots (259/365)

   
“Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus
If I were thou, I'd call me Us.”

Ogden Nash (American Writer of humorous poetry who won a large following for his audacious verse. 1902-1971)

TIME:  6:36 PM
PLACE:  School playground
SUBJECT:  Tree roots

The grade school had an open house this evening.  We signed in in the foyer and MB and SD were given a paper.  They were required to visit the different areas of the school with their parents and obtain the signatures of different teachers and school workers.  A trip was made to see the secretary, the school nurse, the computer lab, the library, each of their classrooms and finally, back to the foyer where there was an information table for Scouting, fund drives and school spirit wear.  Once all the squares on the paper were signed, then they could enter the cafeteria and exchange it for pizza, lemonade and cookies.  After they ate, they joined the other kids who had headed out to the playground.  A gigantic game of tag was organized by the older children and they all ran around the school grounds like crazy people.  This tree is one of three that is by the swings, monkey bars and slide structure. 

Symmetry (258/365)

 
“The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree.”

Aristotle (Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scientist and Physician, 384 BC-322 BC)

TIME:  5:05 PM
PLACE:  Union Hall
SUBJECT:  Three chairs and a table

Tonight I was at HH’s union hall, helping out with a function.  My job was to check people in at the door.  This was the view I had while sitting at my station from 4:30 to 7:00pm.  They are not perfectly symmetrical but come pretty darn close.

Also, a big shout out to my older brother Michael, who turned 46 today.  He’s over the hump and heading on that downward spiral toward the big 5-0.  I can’t give him too much grief…I’m not far behind him.  Happy Birthday Bro!

Victim (257/365)

 
“Caught in a web
Removed from the world
Hanging on by a thread…”

Dream Theater. "Caught In A Web." Awake. By James LaBrie and John Petrucci. East West Records, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, 1994

TIME:  7:47 AM
PLACE:  Front porch
SUBJECT:  Wasp in web

I don’t like wasps (who does?) so I wasn’t too upset when I noticed this one caught in the rather large spider web located in one of the corners of our front porch.  MB found two more webs and two very large spiders in the back yard while taking the dog out this morning, but when I went out there to investigate, the spiders had hidden themselves away.  After supper, MB and I went back outside and saw one of the spiders sitting on its web.  I took photos but I the pics I snapped did not capture him very well.  I’ll try again to take the arachnid’s picture ‘cause I’ve got to show you how big & creepy he is. *shudders*

Dog Day Afternoon (256/365)

 
Stewie: Now, I'm going to do something I like to call the 'Compliment Sandwich" Where I say something good, talk about where you need improvement, and then end with something good.
Brian: Whatever you gotta do...
Stewie: (flips notepad) Something good... something good... You look like SNOOPY and it makes me smile... but you have smelly dog farts.

*Family Guy*. Perf. Seth MacFarlane. 20th Century Fox Television.

TIME:  4:17 PM
PLACE:  Front porch
SUBJECT:  Oreo being brushed by MB

Well, some sort of karma came and bit me in the butt for going on about the stinky dog in the cemetery yesterday.  I arrived home from work about 2:15pm and noticed an odd smell in the house.  I let Oreo out of the kennel and took her outside, but she really didn’t do much of anything.  We came back in, walked up to the school to get the kids and walked back home.  MB entered the house and said he smelled dog poop.  He investigated and sure enough, Oreo had a smelly accident in her kennel (why I didn’t notice it when letting her out is beyond me).  I do know why it happened - *someone* had devoured a bowl of macaroni and cheese that had been left on the kitchen table yesterday and it made that certain *someone* have intestinal issues today.  HH helped me take the kennel outside to hose it down and clean around the kennel area.  Then, MB and SD helped me give Miss Stinkpot a bath.  After she was washed, rinsed and towel dried, I tethered her to the front porch and MB brushed her.  Both the house and the dog smell much better now.

Red Goose Shoes (255/365)

 
“Half the fun of having feet is Red Goose Shoes.”

Advertising jingle, Red Goose Shoes

TIME:  2:16 PM
PLACE:  5227 Gravois, St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT:  Trautwein’s Shoes sign

DQ, SD and I went down to South St. Louis on a grave marker hunt at St. Peters & Paul and Gatewood Garden Cemetery.  I found the stone I was researching at St. Peters & Paul, then we drove across the street to Gatewood.  No luck there.  We had the windows down in the Jeep and on the way to the front gates of the cemetery, I heard a jangling which sounded exactly like the noise Oreo’s chain collar and metal tags make when she shakes her head.  I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a dog.  He looked like a much skinner Oreo.  I stopped because he was running in front of the car and I didn’t want to run him over.  When I stopped, he came up and put his front paws on the window ledge.  He was very stinky, like he rolled in something dead.  How appropriate for a cemetery.  He was friendly - too friendly - he jumped in through DQ’s window!  I opened my door, got out and drug him out -  I didn’t need a stinky dog in my car!  I was able to grab him long enough to obtain a phone # off his collar; DQ called but an answering machine picked up.  A couple minutes later, a truck pulled in the gates, a guy got out and the dog took off towards him.  He was the dog’s owner, who also owned a house on the grounds.  He said that he had found the dog in a garbage can, he was an escape artist and hoped he didn’t bother us.  Except for the smell, it was no bother *grins*.  We stopped at a QuikTrip to get gas and wash the stinky dog aroma off our hands.  This sign was just down the street from the gas station.  Wish I would have thought to take a photo of the “demon dog” when he was leaning in the window.  Now THAT would have been an excellent photo of our day.

Moss-Greened Roof (254/365)

 
“Old Rover in his moss-greened house
Mumbles a bone, and barks at a mouse.”

Walter De La Mare (1873-1956), British poet. Summer Evening (l. 3-4). FM. Fellow Mortals; an Anthology of Animal Verse. Roy Fuller, comp. (1981) MacDonald and Evans Ltd.

TIME:  2:43 PM
PLACE:  Jarrot Mansion, Cahokia, IL
SUBJECT:  Springhouse roof

This morning, MB, SD and I helped in creating an outdoor classroom at their school.  Then, after we had MB and SD hosed down, the family traveled down to Cahokia for the Jarrot Mansion Special Anniversary Open House.  The mansion was originally built between 1807 and 1810 by Nicholas Jarrot, a native of France who made his fortune in land speculation (records show he owned as much as 25,000 acres in the area!).  Jarrot’s home is one of the earliest examples of Federal style architecture in America.  The property was placed on the national Register of Historic Places in 1974 and is in the process of being historically preserved.

Rear Window (253/365)

“Bad weather always looks worse through a window.” 

Unknown

TIME:  8:32 AM
PLACE:  Work parking lot
SUBJECT:  View through the Miata’s rear plastic window

The part to fix the Jeep’s rear speed sensor finally came in and last night we dropped the Jeep off at the dealership to be fixed today.  This morning was rainy, wet, overcast and cool…definitely a fall day.  I drove the Miata to work and found out that the rubber edging on the convertible top was not sealing properly and was letting the rain leak in through the driver’s side window and onto my clothes *deep sigh*  ~ ah, well, it’s only water right?  At least it dried fairly quickly once I made it into the office.

Serendipitous Heart (252/365)

 
Jonathan: This is the ultimate blend to drink. How'd you find this place?
Sara: I first came in because of the name: Serendipity. It's one of my favorite words.
Jonathan: It is? Why?
Sara: It's such a nice sounding word for what it means: a fortunate accident.

*Serendipity*. Perf. John Cusak and Kate Beckinsale. Dir. Peter Chelsom. 2001. Miramax Films.

TIME:  8:44 PM
PLACE:  Kitchen
SUBJECT:  Honey crisp apple

Part of SD’s homework was to bring in an apple for class tomorrow, so I had to make a trek to the grocery store to purchase some.  When did apples start becoming so expensive?  They were priced anywhere from $1.99-$3.99 a pound, depending on the variety; or they had 3 pound bags of smaller sized apples for $2.99 ~ but SD informed me that she didn’t want a small one *rolls eyes*.  I picked 3 medium sized apples and it ended up costing me $2.37 *sigh*.  When I returned home, SD choose one to take to school, DQ ate another apple and I snagged the last one in order to take a picture.  While taking the photo, I noticed my apple a heart outline on its side.  I *heart* serendipitous discoveries like this.

Soccer Practice (251/365)

 
“Football is all very well a good game for rough girls, but not for delicate boys.”

Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, 1854-1900)

TIME:  6:31 PM
PLACE:  YMCA Outdoor Center
SUBJECT:  StellaDella

We signed SD up for a seven-week soccer fundamentals course through the local YMCA.  They will start out with drills and work their way up to scrimmages.  She’s never played before and this should be a good introduction to the game for her.  She had her first session this evening and she loved it.

Hiding The Grey (250/365)

 
“The departing year:
from my parents I have kept
my grey hair hidden.”

Etsujin (1656?-1739), Japanese poet. Trans. by Bernard Lionel Einbond; unpublished. (Untitled haiku).

TIME:  4:07 PM
PLACE:  Living room
SUBJECT:  Me

I’ve been covering-up the ever growing, pesky grey roots in my hair for a number of years now.  The events of two weeks ago (Dad and his “memory glitch” - Thanks Dad!) accelerated my regularly scheduled visit to the beauty shop.  My appointment with my hairdresser was at 10am this morning.  One of these days I hope to embrace my sign of aging and let the silver-haired flag fly proudly…today, however, is not that day.

Labor Day Joy (249/365)

 
“It is labour indeed that puts the difference on everything.”

John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690

TIME:  10:55 AM
PLACE:  Park
SUBJECT:  StellaDella, MonkeyBoy & DramaQueen

We walked with HH’s local in the town’s annual Labor Day parade.  SD told me she likes walking in the parade because, as she put it, “I like to spread the joy around by handing out candy to all the people.”  The parade ended at a park, where there were a few inflatables, a couple of rides and carnival games for the kids.  It looks like SD is reaping some of the joy that she sowed during the parade.

Enjoying The Breeze (248/365)

 
“The really nice breezes blow through my body and into my soul.” 

Astrid Alauda

TIME:  4:05 PM
PLACE:  Bedroom
SUBJECT:  Wooden box

Another pretty, pretty day here in the Midwest.  The air conditioner has been off and the windows have been open since Friday, letting in the fresh air.  At night, it has gotten a little chilly, but I do love snuggling under the blankets while the cold air creeps in through the window screens.  A breeze was blowing this afternoon, making the curtains billow.  Even the wooden box has a smile on its face as it sits there, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.  Tomorrow, the heat is suppose to return, getting the temperature up into the high eighties.  So I guess the air conditioner isn’t finished being used for the season just yet.

Monarch (247/365)

 
“The butterfly is a flying flower,
The flower a tethered butterfly.”

Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun (French lyric poet, 1729-1807)

TIME:  3:04 PM
PLACE:  Backyard
SUBJECT:  Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Although I cannot stand the dreaded milkweed vine that overtakes my bushes and fence each year, the flowers that it produces attract many butterflies and other insects.  I guess I can’t complain about it too much as it does provide some great photographic opportunities.  It was a beautiful day – sunny, hardly any humidity and a high of 76 degrees Fahrenheit.  Today also is a double wedding anniversary day.  My parents were married on this day in 1963 and my sister and her husband chose this date to be wed in 1999…they are now celebrating 11 years of marital bliss.   

Apple (246/365)

“The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion the horse, how he shall take his prey.”

William Blake (English visionary Mystic, Poet, Painter and Engraver. 1757-1827)

TIME:  4:49 PM
PLACE:  Back yard
SUBJECT:  Apple

This apple tree never asked me how to grow, it just did.  It grew secretly and stealthily in a bush on the side of our yard.  I was backing out of the driveway yesterday and spotted this apple on a branch.  At first I thought it was some sort of seed pod, but when I investigated it further today, I saw that it was actually an apple.  I found two more small fruits that had fallen onto the gravel in the driveway.  What a persistent little tree it is.

Food Chain (245/365)

 
“It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.”

Hunter S. Thompson (American Journalist and Author, 1937-2005)

TIME:  8:26 PM
PLACE:  Desk
SUBJECT:  Jack and the goldfish

Whenever Jack hears me flip open the lid of the aquarium to feed the goldfish, he comes running to watch the show.  He thinks if he bats the tank hard enough, he will catch that shiny swimmer.  Of course, he hasn’t and won’t, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

Cheer Up & Smile (244/365)

 
 
“Actually, I think all addiction starts with soda. Every junkie did soda first. But no one counts that. Maybe they should. The soda connection is clear. Why isn't a presidential commission looking into this? Or at least some guys from the National Carbonation Council.”

Chris Rock (American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director, b1965)

TIME:  2:15 PM
PLACE:  9th & Allen, St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT:  Tile advertisements

These advertisements are located on the old Orange Smile Syrup Company building in the Historic Soulard Neighborhood in St. Louis.  The small soda manufacturer opened just prior to 1929.  The “Cheer-Up Soft Drink” and “Smile Orange Drink” were just a couple of the sodas bottled at this location until the early 1960s. The building had a roller rink for a short while in the mid 1960’s and then an industrial business, Powercraft, occupied the space for 26 years.  Today, condos fill the building.  A great history of the building (which dates back to 1871) can be found here at the Smile Lofts website.