Buy A Sewer Lid.......

Due to recent thefts of sewer lids in the city, officials have decided to again allow city residents to buy personalized sewer lids as replacements. Officials estimate that almost one hundred personalized sewer lids were purchased through the program offered several years ago, and officials anticipate a similar response this time.

Personalized sewer lids are limited to 7 letters, and are only available in one type style (as seen on mine). At this time, requests for specific locations cannot be honored, but you will receive a map showing where your lid has been installed. Allow 8 weeks for your sewer lid to be manufactured. Payment must be received at the time your order is placed.

You can order your personalized sewer lid online at: citysewerlids.

Another Ordinary Day

It was just another ordinary day. It was cloudy and overcast. It was chilly. The mailman came at 10:00. The grocery store was crowded. Laundry needed to be done. The library books needed to be returned, and the car needed gas.

But the daffodils bloomed in the front, across the length of the front porch. Springy yellow clusters of curly trumpets and petals.

Extraordinary!

February 14.....

Hooray!.....a holiday!!

City Agents....

No pens. No bottle openers. No mouse pads. Nothing. Nada. Just junk mail.

No birthday cards. No Christmas cards. No spare baseball tickets. No magnets. No desk calendars. No wall calendars. No wallet calendars. Just junk mail.

No potted plants. No bottles of wine. No door knockers. No wall clocks, desk clocks or kitchen clocks. No supply of return address labels. No silver letter openers. No Pottery Barn coffee cups. Just....(sigh)....junk mail.

And =that= is the reason I'm switching to a city insurance agent.

Winter Water

In St. Louis, we have January and February so that we can enjoy cozy cups of hot chocolate and hot coffee and hot tea and variations of hot toddies. We stock our cupboards with Hershey's Cocoa and stick cinnamon and Kahlua and little packets of Lemon Zinger and Honey Vanilla Chamomile.

But January and February are also the only months we can make Winter Water..... a gaspingly refreshing, achingly cold drink made by adding already cold tap water to a glass filled with ice cubes.

Quench your thirst! Drench your cells! Drink up! It's almost February!

Saturday Night Murder

Well, I was only five or six feet from him, but I thought he fell down because he tripped or something. Nope. Murdered. A doctor, I think.

Someone yelled out. People gasped and tried to get a better look at the victim. A woman giggled. Suspects were pointed out. Statements were taken. Interrogations! Accusations!! Denials!!!

Who did it? Sure, you could find out by asking one of the Lemp Mansion guests who were there Saturday night.....but it would be more fun if you just made your own reservations.

Bus-Stop Dancing

What do people do while waiting for the bus?

Some sit and shiver. Some try to read. Some watch the passing traffic. Others pace about and peer down the street.

But one young man plugs his music into his ears.....and this man ~dances~! Exuberantly dipping and spinning, he does energetic jazzy bop break sorts of moves.

He's the bus-stop dancer, and he enjoys his wait.

City Sounds

Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack:
happy sound of reindeer hooves on city roofs.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock:
sound of clock relentlessly marking off time until Highway 40 closes.

Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching:
happy sound of steadily increasing value of city houses.

A Match Made in Heaven

Here is a parish that needs some additional priests: St. Stanislaus, the Catholic parish that refused to turn their money and property over to the Harshbishop.

Here are some priests who need a parish: Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie Hainz McGrath, who were recently ordained as Catholic priests.

Now that would be a heavenly match!

The Clean Machine...

Oh, yuck!.....what kind of vehicle was it on Grand spewing clouds of thick exhaust smoke?

Cars behind it slowed 1) to avoid being enveloped in the gaspy cloud, and 2) because it was difficult to see well enough to pass it.

It was, ironically, the city street cleaning vehicle.

October 31st....

According to a St. Louis story, once a year the wolves come in from the countryside to look for tasty meals. Supposedly the pack fans out across the city: some prowl around downtown while others go lurking down the northside and southside alleys.

People can hear howling throughout the evening. Some people swear it's the train whistles howling as they pass through the city. Other people think it's children, howling with delight. Southsiders are positive that it's those city cats howling in the alley.

But it isn't.

It's the wolves howling during their hunt.

It's Happy Howl-oween night.

Sister Cycler

It was just a few days ago that I saw the cycling nun.

Pedaling along, wearing her wire-rimmed glasses and her white habit.

And buckled on top of her white head veil was a jazzy bicycle helmet.

I need to start carrying my camera with me again.

COTA Day!

Happy Change-Out-The-Appliances Day!

To the basement go the ice-cream maker, the BBQ things, the fans, the picnic gear and the weed-wacker.

From the basement come the snow shovel, the crockpot, the expresso machine, and the electric heater.

It's gonna get cold outside.

Kinetic Art

There was so much to see at the Shaw Art Fair last weekend: gold rings, silver necklaces, chopstick-bowls, tiles and textiles, wooden toys, cutting boards, watercolors, glass things, photos of the Arch (of course), prints, tabletop waterfalls.....shall I go on?......metal sculptures, puppets, children's drawings, plus a pyrography demonstration. Etc.

And on the street: a slowly moving mix of young and old city and county people, chatting in English or Spanish or something, gently elbowing one another, browsing, cell-phoning (of course), dressed in red or green or white or blue jeans or shorts or dresses, with their children or dogs or strollers or packages or water bottles. Etc.

It was quite the city art event.

Free Tours of the Metro Area!

The Metro is offering a free all-day, one-day pass to ride MetroLink and MetroBus. Pick up a pass at your local Commerce Bank, and pick a free day for yourself anytime in 2007.

Get out of your rut. Ride the Metro.

Dancing on the Station

The firefighters were either using their station house to practice their rappelling skills today.....

or they were using their station house to practice their bandaloop dancing.

Best Wings

They're not painted. They don't revolve. There are no waves of synchronized light bulbs to make them flap. They're not even slathered with barbeque sauce!

Framing the arched windows on the north and east sides of the South Side National Bank are pairs of eagles with wings perpetually flared. They're majestic limestone carvings.

Those are the best wings.

Just Around the Corner...

Some of the joys of city life are the unexpected surprises that are just around the corner.

Turn a corner that you've turned a thousand times before....but now there's a fallen tree blocking the road. Or now a work crew is painting new street stripes. Or maybe now a new shop has opened up!

Me? I rounded my corner....and there was a horse! What fun! A horse around my corner!

All in all, it was a good city corner day.

Tax Time

Seen on my sidewalk today: three joggers, carload of people from across the street who parked in front of my house and used my sidewalk when exiting from their vehicle and unloading their packages, woman and her dog, tyke on trike, man and his dog, man and two dogs.

I think a pedestrian tax is in order.

Bike Tykes

The four little munchkins zigzagged their way down the alley toward the car which had prudently come to a complete stop. One munchkin pedaled over to the side, only to dart out again to the middle; two munchkins coasted to the rear of the car and then zoomed up to the front again; and one little munchkin just stopped in the center to stare.

They were all wearing bike helmets. I guess their parents wanted them to be safe.

Directional Signals

Typical directions to a county house: "We're the 4th (or 7th or 10th or 12th) house from the corner."

Typical directions to a city home: "We're the house with the stone front porch (or the house with the shutters and window boxes, or the house with the front chimney or the house with the stained glass front windows)."

Book Fair Stories....

The older woman slumped on the bench remarked that she and her husband had been to the book fair every night.

Why?

Because her husband had donated a book that wasn't his, and they kept searching the tables in hopes of finding it.

The annual YMCA Book Fair had thousands and thousands and thousands of books.