a day off

first day off since June 13th

[ie not travelling or teaching]

pootled around the Tower Grove Farmer's Market

bought blueberries for tomorrow's traintrip

there were lots of dogs

catching up on the week's news

some of them looked like bears

there are other bears in St Louis

later i went in search of the oldest skyscraper in the whirled

the Wainwright building

designed by Louis Sullivan

i nearly wrote "the first skyscraper"

but i understand the Tower of Babylon has that reputation

unfortunately it's no longer with us.

some of the detailing reminds me of Hiapo

St Louis has quite a collection of architectural artefacts

including of course The Arch

designed by Eero Saarinen

but i didn't expect to find a monument to Schiller

in the park children splashed in the fountain

and then there are other unexpected delights

i swing by Riverbend to try the other gumbo

even better than the first

retreating to my helltell just in time

to watch a splendid lightning show 

from my comfy nest on the sofa 

tomorrow i'll be taking the train

at

the

crack

of

dawn