Winning is in the Cards

                Sometimes, the best thing you can do is make another person happy – even if just for a few hours.

                Last week, the CEO of my firm gave me his tickets to the Cardinals- well sort of.  When he doesn’t use his tickets, he raffles them off within the firm and I won.  This is a small miracle in and of itself since I didn’t put my name in the hat because I didn’t think I would have someone to go with.  After a bit of confusion and angst, I realized that I am a resourceful and capable person; I could find someone to go with.  In fact, there was that nice guy over on the trading desk…

                To make a long story short, at 6:15 on Friday evening I headed to the MetroLink station with the nice guy from trading, who for the purposes of this, we’ll call Frank.  Despite a rainy afternoon, the sky was clear blue- perfect for a walk through downtown Clayton.  Frank and I made good time and arrived at the MetroLink station just at the train was arriving.  We raced across a foot bridge and down some steps to catch it just as the doors were closing.  Our perfect timing at the Metro station was rewarded when we arrived at Busch Stadium just as they were singing the National Anthem. 

                We collected our free t-shirts and made our way down to our seats.  I’d been told that they were great seats, but I didn’t believe it until we were sitting there.  We were just off the third base line, seven rows back from the dugout.  The sunset lit up the Arch just to the left of the scoreboard.  We were close enough to the field to hear the ball when it hit the catcher’s mitt.  The whole time, Frank kept up a running commentary about the Stadium and local area.  He apparently loves coming to ball games, even though he isn’t a rabid sports fanatic – which made him a perfect companion.  His biggest excitement about the game was getting to have Nachos. 

                The game started off with a groan when the Milwaukee Brewers got the first run of the game.  That didn’t last long.  The Cardinals came back with a vengeance in the second inning.  Halfway through the top of the third inning, the Brewers replaced their starting pitcher, which is apparently a very, very bad thing.  The poor guy walked off the field with his shoulders slumped in defeat.  At the end of the third inning, the Cardinals were winning 10-1.  Frank made the observation that at least in Basketball and Football if you are getting stomped by your opposition, the clock will eventually run out; in Baseball, an inning runs as long as it has to.

                Frank held out through the fourth and part way through the fifth innings before he finally broke down and went to get Nachos.  The salty crunchiness of the chips, combined with the velvety gooiness of the cheese and tangy jalapenos made the wait worth it.  No beer, no pretzels or hotdogs, just Nachos, that was all that was needed to make that evening complete- especially for Frank who was more excited to be there than the little kids in the stands with us.

                While it was obvious that the Brewers weren’t going to stage a comeback, we stayed until the sweet end of the game, complete with fireworks! 

                In the end, I am so happy that I invited Frank to share the evening with me.  He was an easy companion to talk to and hang out with, and he was so thrilled to go to the game, that I can’t imagine anyone else appreciating it more than him.

Music and Sunshine on Delmar

                What do Maya Angelou,  Mary Engelbreit, and Harry Caray all have in common?  More on that later.

                On a clear sunny day, with a slight breeze, and just warm enough that you don’t need a jacket, you don’t stay inside reading, or knitting, or alphabetizing your novels after sorting them by genre.  I will admit to doing any or all of these on sunny days in the past, but, well, that was the past.

                Today, I was on a mission- a failed mission as it were, but if all of my failures were this enjoyable, I’d spend a lot more time seeing what would happen.  As you may recall, last week I mentioned driving through the Delmar Loop area.  Well, this week, I have a project going for which I need some art supplies.  So I headed over to Blick’s Art Supply on Delmar, fed two hours worth of quarters into the parking meter and went for a walk.

                On a beautiful day like today, Delmar bustles with people and energy.  There were street musicians busking between the shops, mostly younger guys with guitars, but one older guy played a trumpet whose clear notes floated up and down the street.  As I was passing him the first time, a man walking by tried to get his girlfriend to dance to the smooth jazz beat, but she was mortified that he wanted to dance in front of a street musician.  For myself, I was reminded of a trip I took to DC in the eighth grade, where our tour guide gave a dollar to a homeless man playing a plastic flute.  My guide said that he never gave money to the beggars, but he was happy to help out someone who made the day a little brighter.

                The shops themselves were an eclectic mix.  From a chic little resale shop called Re-Designz, that sells retro furniture and funky jewelry, to a fantastic jewelry shop called the Silver Lady, which is going to get a lot of business from me in the future.  I bought a cool silver ring there, and his selection of jewelry is diverse, affordable, and fabulous.  The proprietor loves to talk about the jewelry and the artists who made it.  I also found a wonderful independent bookstore called Subterranean Books.  I was expecting a used book store, but this is a vibrant and lively store with a unique collection of new books.  Subterranean Books is not the type of place that you go when you want to buy a book, it is the kind of store where you can find something new to read.

                Finally there are restaurants, most of which on days like today turn into sidewalk cafes.  You can’t walk more than 100 feet without having to navigate through a maze of tables and chairs, which even at 4pm in the afternoon were filled with people enjoying the sunshine with their nosh.

                In the end, between doing a little shopping, a little eating, and a lot of enjoying of the fresh air, I never did quite make it to Blick's Art Supply...

                So what do Maya Angelou, Mary Engelbreit, and Harry Caray have to do with this?  Up and down Delmar runs the St. Louis Walk of Fame honoring local celebrities.  All three scions of St. Louis have the distinction of being celebrated with their own star.

Blick's Art Supply:  http://www.dickblick.com/

Re-Deisgnz: http://www.re-designz.net/

The Silver Lady: http://www.thesilver-lady.com/

Subterranean Books: http://store.subbooks.com/

Craving Mac-N-Cheese

This was supposed to be a story about twinOak, a local restaurant where I had Mac and Cheese for lunch today, but somehow, I feel the need to share with you my adventures getting to twinOak rather than how tasty lunch was.

You see, I could walk to twinOak from my apartment in about ten minutes, but it took me almost an hour to get there.  The real story starts yesterday when I went for a drive, attempting vainly to locate a pet store that carried my preferred brand of kitty litter.  However, I neglected to actually write down the addresses for any of the pet stores that I had googled and ended up driving around in circles in the rain. 

Somehow, I ended up on Delmar Blvd, which I took all the way from Big Bend to KingsHighway Blvd.  This takes you from a very trendy University district (locally known as the Delmar Loop) through some very rough neighborhoods (where I locked my doors).  It was while passing through the Loop area that I noticed a fun sounding restaurant: Cheese-ology Macaroni and Cheese.  Not being particularly hungry, and not feeling like finding a parking spot and walking in the rain, I made a mental note to come back. 

I never did find any of the pet stores that I was trying to locate, but I did come home and curl up with my cat and enjoy a good book. 

Fast forward to today:

Feeling like I had been particularly lazy this weekend (I spent a lot of time curled up with Holley and enjoying books), I decided that I would go out and run a couple of errands and maybe try out that cheese place.

So, I hop in my car and head north, this time on Skinker.  I get to Delmar and discover that there is a hold up at the intersection.  There’s a traffic guy waving traffic through, and suddenly, with the first jogger, I realize that it is the St. Louis Marathon.  The thought briefly crossed my mind again that maybe I should consider trying to run a 5K this summer, but I quickly squashed it.  I also killed my thoughts of trying to go to the Mac-and-Cheese place for lunch.  Traffic on Delmar was going to be a snarl for hours.

Not sure where to go from there, but certain I don’t want Arby’s or McDonald’s, I crossed Delmar and headed west on Olive, and proceed to drive in circles looking for someplace to eat.   I made it up to the airport and back before I remembered a place that is just a few blocks from my apartment that I’ve been thinking about trying.  I really wasn’t sure if it was pizza or steak or burgers, but since their claim to fame is “wood fired fare”, I figured it would be something up my alley…

And so, I had a very nice lunch at twinOak.  Unable to even get past the appetizer menu to the real food (next time, I’m trying one of the pizzas), I had their Wood Fired Dough for Dipping, Mac-N-Cheese, and an order of Chicken Wings.  The Dough for Dipping was the best part- it was liberally sprinkled with seasonings and sea salt and came with a dipping sauce that consisted of olive oil with sautéed red peppers and crushed garlic.  Next time, I might just get that and skip to dessert – but if I do that, I might have to decide to run a 5K after all….

twinOak: www.twinoakstl.com

Dogs, cats, and ... sheep?

Last week, while Thumper and I were out running around, I discovered that not only is Manchester Road the most pleasant route out of St. Louis if you are traveling west, it is home to a plethora of interesting places to shop.  In addition to the very nice shopping mall at the intersection with I-270, there is a Best Buy, Kohl’s, DSW, and Hobby Lobby.    While I did stop in at some of those places yesterday, what I really had fun exploring were the unique local shops that give Manchester Road character.

The Cat’s Meow is a little shop that is filled with all sorts of wonderfully frivolous stuff, from flip-flops that allow you to change out the decoration on the strap to elephant shaped piggy banks for your favorite safari loving niece or nephew.  What the Cat’s Meow really specializes in is personalization; they offer embroidery, engraving, and screenprinting services.  There are examples of their handiwork all over the store.  On the more practical gift giving side, they have very nice selections of items for weddings, new babies, and young children.  My favorite really was the elephant shaped piggy bank.

Continuing with the animal theme, I accidently stumbled on a pet bling store named Treats Unleashed.  In addition to a variety of organic foods and expensive toys, Treats Unleashed sells fresh store-baked dog biscuits.  If I had a dog to spoil, I would be one of their most regular customers- even if it is a bit longer of a drive than I would normally make for regular errands.  The biscuits looked and smelled delicious.  The only reason I knew they weren’t people cookies is that they were being sold in a pet supply store. 

My next stop, and by far the best for my personal interest, was a yarn store called the Kirkwood Knittery.  As yarn shops go, it is one of the smaller that I have been in, but it packs a powerful punch, and I subsequently added another fifty bucks to the local economy.  The selection of yarns is diverse, but there weren’t any yarns that I couldn’t imagine using because the texture was wrong or the colors were bad.  Just the opposite, I was imagining how fun some of them would be to play with.  The gal running the shop was very friendly and helpful.  She left me alone to browse when I came in and helped me to figure out if a yarn that I had picked up was a good substitute for one used in a scarf in the shop.   Apparently, one of the owners is a very active designer, and many of the patterns for display items are free with purchase of yarn- so I even got a new pattern out of the deal.

 

After a hard day of shopping, I sat down and worked a few rows on my new scarf.  I guess that this means that I am now settled into my new home, as I have one knitting project sitting unfinished in my yarn bag while my next one is already in progress.  The knitting shop has a weekly get together for knitters; perhaps I should take my project bag and join them until the new class schedule comes out…

The Cat's Meow:  http://www.catsmeowpersonalized.com/

Treats Unleashed:  http://www.treats-unleashed.com/

The Kirkwood Knittery:  http://www.kirkwoodknittery.com

Road Trip! Highway 19

                Saturday, all of my boxes were unpacked, the sun was out, and my motorcycle, Thumper, was feeling abandoned in the parking garage.  So, I put on my gear, put some air in Thumper’s tires, and took off into the unknown wilds of Missouri’s country roads.  For my first trek, I picked a triangle of roads: I-64 to Route 19 to I-44 and back home.  Highway 19 was the road I looked forward to.  On the map, it promised to be a quiet country road, with easy riding and, hopefully, pretty scenery.  In my experience of Missouri, as long as you are off the Interstates, pretty scenery is generally guaranteed.

                Coming off of I-64, Highway 19 was everything I hoped for.  The redbuds were still in bloom, but green leaves were quickly replacing the pink flowers.  The dogwoods stole the show.  It was as if there were snow covered trees dotted throughout the woods.

                At one point about fifteen minutes south of I-64, I saw this enormous house next to a barn.  I distinctly remember thinking to myself- “Wow! That is an enormous farm house – it is big enough for a country club.”  I then noticed a dozen golf carts out behind the house, and the large sign for the Loutre Shore Country Club.  I guess that explained that.

                A few miles later, I crossed the Missouri River into the town of Hermann.  One day when I’m not on my bike, with a helmet and gear to lug around, I’m going to spend a few hours wandering around Hermann.  It's an old river town that transformed itself into a historic district.  There is a beautiful river front with a boat ramp and easy access to the water.  In town, a variety of stores beckon including antique shops and a guy who builds tire swings. These swings aren’t just tires on a rope, they are hobby horses gone wild.  When I get a tree to hang one in, I can see one in my own personal backyard playground.

                Leaving behind the beautiful brick buildings of Hermann, I headed toward Cuba.  No, I’m not hoping to foment a democratic revolution in a small Caribbean nation; there really is a town in Missouri called Cuba.  I haven’t driven around it yet to figure out if it has an unusually large population of polydactyl cats.

                Until this ride, I hadn’t really realized that Missouri had working vineyards.  However between Hermann and Cuba, there is a vineyard around almost every curve.  It is like corn fields in Kansas- well, perhaps not that prevalent.  I think that there are four wineries in the area; at least of one of which prominently offers tours of its “cool cellars” knowing that in the summer time air conditioning is a big draw for any attraction.

The ride down Highway 19 was a beautiful, easy trip, which whether done on two wheels or four offers beautiful scenery and a lovely side trip through the charming town of Hermann.

www.hermannmissouri.com