Dave's House in Soulard

I went to see Dave last spring at his compound in Soulard.
New phone. Lost a lot of contacts.
I realized how short I am as I tried to knock on the doors.
Those marble steps. That non working doorbell.

Original Tip Freeman Airbrush

And, it's for sale for $400.

Homage to Jean-Honoré Fragonard feat Your Daily Golden Moment.

I see patterns

The tortuous and ancient Elm with a rat-king resonation from an indifferent installation. Ouch, my alley.

Cats Cradle over Illinois Prison

Valley of Sighs

There I was waiting for Pist to come down the road to open the gate so I could follow him back up to the house in Beaumont Antire.
I'd lost my key to the lock but instead of getting a new key cut last fall or allowing me to just replace the damned lock he has to drive the quarter mile down the road.
I did a lot of eye rolling and unambiguous sighing. Pist is my long suffering, sporadic (I do like my space) partner and Daddy to Bellie.
Bellie is cool. She never mentions her other Daddy.

Pist is the first syllable of his last name.
When we first met - I had stalked him - he had told me he'd been called Pist since he was a kid.
I would see him at the Y. I'd be on an elliptical and he'd be on the track.
I was bored so I watched him and invented an elaborate story about him in my head. He was easy to watch.
I really wanted to talk to him so one day, as he walked by me, I said, PSSSST!
PSSSST, I said again. He turned.
Confused, he asked if we were acquainted because, unknown to me, everyone called him Pist.
Since he was a kid.
Which sounds like PSSSST.
According to him.

I discovered the story I invented about him was accurate the second time we talked.
He is a scientist and a pianist and resides in the house that he had built into the bluffs near the confluence of the Big River and the Meramec River.

Update 1/9/21. Text received this morning: Madam. You've neglected to mention it's the 4th key you've lost.

Recent Burials - East St Louis

I was visiting this East St Louis cemetery yesterday looking at the old headstones with their German surnames. This area had already been settled by the Cahokia tribe and populated again by German immigrants in the 1800s. As I drove into the more recent part I noticed the shift in cemetery clientele and all of the fresh graves from Covid. There were over 30 recent burials.

A year of travel and dodging the virvus.

Sights from home, our walks, travel, and my work this year.

Primary colors laundry in TGS :

Dear Boi traveled with me until he expired.

Fire rainbows over East STL.

Home photos. I brought in the potted tomato plants which are flowering in December but alas no bees.

A treasured encounter with double negative space. Also, Movie Stills from my narrative.

I'm still stalking brick, architecture, and clouds. Encountering an architectural detail like the exquisite wrought iron corbel seen below is the reward.

I encountered this brick in Belleville on brick paver streets. My great-grandfather owned the corner house.

A Mound community in East Saint. This area is occupied with homes that I believe were built on a Mound. Turn around on the road where I'm standing and you'll see our delightful cabin home with a vintage glider on its porch. The road that leads up to the cabin. The cell tower is tolerated for that view of the tiny STL skyline.

Abandoned Lustron in East Saint just down the road.

I revisited the most astonishing Mediterranean Revival building yesterday in East Saint Louis.

The darling little Golden was gifted with wonderful things this week. Her dad gave her a spy cam so we can watch her darlingness at will. This deluxe stroller arrived from a friend. Little Belle has hip dysplasia and has taken to sitting in pain and refusing to move on our walks. She is a rescue from Dirks Fund. She is very loved.

Belle is challenged to make me laugh. She will stop in front of the mirror to kiss herself as I giggle. She'll linger there as I sing to her, I have to kiss myself I'm so pretty!

The only gift I wanted but there were more!

I stopped making belts (but will start again in 2 months since they sell out within a week) and started new work on an old line of upcycled luggage. I was making and selling these in the 80s. Friend Gen Obata designed my logo, Know Where Fast.

Part of the upstairs studio. I've another studio in the basement.

The best seller: The NYC yellow cab train case. A version of these sold At Kerr-Oberbecks Gallery during the mid 80s:

Charro. My fave.

A pair of felted wool and silk mitts I made for Festivus.

I made a series of Kentucky Derby Winning horse headbands mostly to amuse Tim. They're gone, they've sold.

In the late fall of 2019 Tim took me for a day trip into rural MO. We drove through Hermann, New Haven, Bonnets Mill, Chamois, Frankenstein, and Washington, MO. We were almost to Jeff City.

We crossed and visited the Missouri, Osage, and Gasconade rivers and they were still very high. They love Rump. We saw many Rump 2020 campaign signs. We saw endless American flags, billboards and signs promoting their white Jesus.

Tthe Gasconade river was still above flood stage. We talked to a 77 year old man who just pulled this boat in from the water. He said the river had only recently dropped to this level. He'd been out fishing but didn't catch anything and complained about Asian Carp. I'd read about Asian Carp in the Missouri Conservation magazine and was actually able to hold a conversation about this highly invasive species with him. I was surprised to recall the details.

They cause serious damage to the native fish populations in the lakes and rivers that they infest because they out-compete other fish for food and space. They eat the alga which newly hatched fish need for food to grow into minnows. They are also thought to lower water quality, which can kill off sensitive organisms like native freshwater mussels. They were imported by the US from Asia to help aquaculture and wastewater treatment facilities keep retention ponds clean but chronic flooding caused accidental releases that allowed these fish to escape into the Mississippi River system and migrate into the Missouri and Illinois rivers. And now they are in the Gasconade river. He told me they jump into his boat.

That's Cor-ten steel on the bridge. The white gravel on the beach had recently been dumped there by the county to provide traction over the mud.

New Haven in its own shadow.

Bellie's daddy.