~ Kevin Charbonneau
TIME: 9:42 & 10:37 AM
PLACE: Cookin’ from Scratch, Doolittle, Missouri & Redmon's Candy Factory - Phillipsburg, Missouri
SUBJECT: Giant chicken in an El Camino and Candy
So, now I can shed some light on my cyptic-ness yesterday. I ran away left this morning with my sister and my sister-in-law to drive to Canton, Texas for the First Monday Trade Days. It is noted as being “the largest flea market in the United States. It is the oldest, largest continually operating outdoor market in the USA, operates on hundreds of acres, and provides spaces for about 6,000 vendors.” In other words we drove 10 hours to shop. On our way down, we stopped at a couple of Missouri attractions. We had to see the giant chicken in the El Camino and check out the Candy Factory. We can do that because we have no husbands or children to slow us down. Sweet.
“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)
TIME: 1:24 PM
PLACE: Market St. and Tucker, St. Louis
SUBJECT: Looking east down Market
Last week I discovered that my paternal grandfather had been involved in an automobile accident with a buggy and was arrested back in 1922. I had sent a letter to the St. Louis Police Dept. to see if I could find out any more information and they called me yesterday stating that they had located a 1-page report on the incident. I went to the Police Station in downtown St. Louis to pick it up after work. There wasn’t much in the report that wasn’t already in the newspaper, EXCEPT that it named the owner of the car my grandfather was driving. The owner’s name was Vito Geonollo aka Vito Giannola - a leader of “The Sicilian Green Ones” gang in St. Louis during Prohibition. Hmmmm, was Grandpa a gang member? Maybe this could be the reason there was tension between him and the rest of his family. Back in the late 1980’s, I was visiting with him on a Sunday afternoon; he was in a talkative mood and casually mentioned that once he had some “trouble with guns” and had to “hide away for a few days”. He wouldn’t elaborate anymore than that. Grandpa passed away in 1989 while I was a senior at college. I wish I could have spoken with him more – I have a feeling that he led a very interesting life as a young man.
“Turtle Goddess
she of the hard shell
soft underneath
awaits enormously
in a dark grotto
the young Heroes....”
Denise Levertov (b. 1923), Anglo-U.S. poet. "The Film."
TIME: 7:34 PM
PLACE: Turtle playground in Forest Park
SUBJECT: Soft shelled turtle sculpture
We have a friend visiting this weekend. Dana from “Dana Does Digital” arrived last night and is staying with us until Saturday. Unfortunately for Dana, my children were comfortable enough with her to feel that they did not have to be on their best behavior. They acted normally and whined and bickered amongst themselves as if they had known her all their lives. We try to make sure that when you’re here, you’re family, and get to see us warts and all at Casa Sujomi. Today, she suffered through a day of sight seeing with me and the kids. Our grand tour included a trip up in the Arch, a stop at the Old Courthouse, eating lunch at the Lafayette Fire Co. No. 1, shopping for a bit and then heading back to the abode for a short rest. When HH finished work, we then went back to St. Louis for some tasty sushi and Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on Old Route 66 for some dessert. On our way to Ted Drewes, HH drove a meandering scenic route to make sure that Dana had plenty of photo ops while she was here. One of the places we stopped at was this Turtle playground in Forest Park.
Non essiri duci sinno tu mancianu, non essiri amaru sinno ti futanu
Literal English Translation: Do not be sweet lest you be eaten, do not be too sour, lest you be shunned
Idiom: All things in moderation (something I need to keep in mind with this food!)
TIME: 10:16 AM
PLACE: Rosciglione Bakery
SUBJECT: Cookie Cases
We went on our annual “Italian Run” this morning. The whole family goes every year – us, my dad, my oldest brother and his family, and my sister (she came by herself this year-sweet freedom from the kids!). First we went on the Hill in St. Louis to Viviano’s for cheese, bread, olives, wine and bread.
for salami and prosciutto, then we headed to St. Charles and my cousin’s bakery for cookies. My Great Aunt Marie-my paternal grandmother’s youngest sister-joined us this year.
Here is Aunt Marie at the bakery. That’s StellaDella in the purple coat. Aunt Marie turned 84 this year and I hope I take after her in the aging department – I think she looks like she is in her late 60’s.
My favorite cookie there?
Loin des sepultures celebres
Vers un cimitiere isole
Mon coeur, comme un tambour voile
Va battant des marches funebres.
To the solemn graves,
near a lonely cemetery,
my heart like a muffled drum is beating funeral marches.
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (French poet, critic and translator, 1821-1867) Les Fleurs du Mal. Le Guignon
TIME: 12:04 PM & 12:10 PM
PLACE: Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT: Headstones & Moss-covered angel
I went to some cemeteries in St. Louis to seek out gravesites of my relatives. The St. Louis Archdiocese has a wonderful website where you can search for burials. The results will include, among other information, the cemetery, section and lot number of the internment. At the cemetery office, additional information about the plots are often available. The workers at Calvary Cemetery are very helpful. I have been to this cemetery several times and find it fascinating. After finding my latest genealogical gravesites, I wandered through the older Italian section. That section had rows with many large statues on top of the stones as seen in the first photo. About half the stones had porcelain portraits. The burials in this section, ranged from the late 1900s to the early to mid 1950s. There were many children and young people buried here. When I retuned home, I was able to trace several of the internments back to death certificates on the Missouri State Archives website. All those people were living, breathing human beings; they touched someone’s life and were loved at one time. Now, all that is left to prove that they were once here is the stone that marks their final resting place. It makes me think…100 years from now, will there be a person viewing my grave in the same way? It is a very humbling thought and can help me put my day-to-day frustrations into some much needed perspective.
“It was a bold person that first ate an oyster.”
Jonathan Swift (Irish Author and Satirist of prose, 1667-1745)
TIME: 8:18 PM
PLACE: Broadway Oyster Bar, St. Louis, MO
SUBJECT: Oyster shells and bottle caps on the wall
Happy Father's Day to all Dads, past, present and future! I made breakfast for HandsomeHusband this morning and let him take a nap before he mowed the lawn in the heat. That's the kind of wife I am. *wink* This evening we took my father to dinner at the Broadway Oyster Bar in St. Louis, Missouri. We picked up another friend and then met 4 other folks at the restaurant. HH and I first dined here together after an afternoon at Mardi Gras back in 1990. They have great Cajun/Creole food. HH ordered a bucket of crawfish, a dozen oysters on the half shell, Shrimp Remoulade and some gumbo. I ate a couple of the crawfish and oysters - yummy! My main course was a delicious Crawfish Etoufée. Dad had linguini with a sweet Creole red sauce and crawfish. Several people in our party had bread pudding for dessert...but I was too stuffed for that.
The oyster shells and bottle caps are part of this mural on the outside patio.
From yonder o'er
The high seas, fast encroaching:
Here Come The Dragons.
Jess C. Scott, Viking Longship, Dragonsinn, 12 Dec 2007/6 Jun. 2009, <http://www.dragonsinn.net/Poetry/haiku.htm>
TIME: 10:09 AM
PLACE: Creve Coeur Lake, St. Louis MO
SUBJECT: Racing Dragon Boats and StellaDella
Well, I survived the races today! We were losers...4th place in the second to last consolation division to be exact! But it was a good time, the weather was beautiful, the kids behaved and I'm not too sore. I've posted more pictures at my other blog if you have a hankering to see more from the day. Now it's late and I'm off to bed!
