Spring!

It's been a while (again) since I've posted...I went through a bit of a low this past week. I think it was maybe because of so much moving around. I needed time to catch up with myself!




Last weekend (March 25th) my friend from high school, Colleen, drove over from Kansas City and picked me up, and we headed up to Rockford, Illinois. We joined up with 4 other friends (some of whom I've known since I started elementary school) for a laugh-packed weekend at Trixie's house. At one pointed we ended up in the police station, with Linda and I flashing gang gestures while sitting chained to the wall. The explanation is simple: Trixie is married to the Chief of Police of Rockton, Illinois (a small town just north of Rockford) and he gave us a tour of the station.

There does seem to be somewhat of a water motif running through my travels. While most of the time was spent catching up while also reminiscing with my fabulous friends, I did have a few moments to myself in downtown Rockford, where I nostalgically took in the Rocford Trust Building, where my Dad worked for so many years, and I let the Rock River take my thoughts through my childhood and teen years in Rockford.






Almost a week later (after a couple of intense days meeting with people at the SLU campus here) I met up with Mary Sue in Mastadon Historic Site about half an hour south of St. Louis. It's a huge park, with creeks running through it and sites where the bones of mastadons and other historic animals were found in the 1800s. Of course most of the tusks and bones have disappeared, probably into a number of private collections (what are these private collectors like? Who can they brag too? It all seems really pointless to me to be able to nudge someone and say "Hey, wanna see my mastadon tusk?" It wouldn't impress me...). Still, the day was beautiful, and then we went on to Kimmswick, a small town with a number of restored buildings from the mid-19th century, when it was founded. It seems to survive on a relatively large number of quaint little antique and novelty shops, as well as cafes and restaurants. The best part of the very hot day (86 F, 30 C) was going over to the Anheuser estate right on the Mississippi River. The breeze was cool, and we stood and watched the swift river current, with its eddies and swirls, and understood Mark Twain's passion.




Saturday (April 3) Diana and I did some Easter egg coloring out at Chris's house in Illinois. We also did some shopping for Diana's first Easter dinner - they had invited friends over, so I watched her prepare a dessert. It seems from what she says that the dinner was quite a success (but she worries - is she getting old? - having people over for dinner!).

And this Easter Sunday morning, I got up and went for a walk in Tower Grove Park. If you've seen my previous blog from 2007 (http://anneinsaintlouis.blogspot.com/), you'll have seen my beloved park in summer, fall and winter, and now I'm experiencing Spring. Just a little over a week ago I didn't take any pictures because it was all too bland and dull...few leaves and brown grass. Now I wish I had for the "before" and "after" effect. It really does fill the soul to see the vibrant colors and to feel spring happening so resolutely. I'd never seen such trees covered all in white. They're called Bradford Pears, and they are not without controversy (whatever is?). While they are beautiful in the spring, and provide nice shade in the summer, apparently they are prone to falling apart in strong wind and storms (with the concomitant damage to cars and houses). They were introduced into the U.S. sometime during the last century from China. Whatever their drawbacks, they are beautiful to look at.

The other thing I did this Easter Sunday morning was to go to the Casino! JoAnn, the woman who owns the house where Diana lives, took me to a brunch that she had two invitations to. Needless to say, we did sample the slot machines on the way to and from the brunch...but I didn't do too well. I think I'll stick to the park from now on...