Reflections On My New Home

This week marks seven months since I moved to St. Louis.  When I left Alaska, it was with sadness to leave my friends, but with eagerness and excitement to start a new life.  I was looking forward to crafting my life from the ground up, making new friends, finding new haunts, and rediscovering myself.

Along the way, you have patiently followed bits and pieces of this adventure.  You have come dancing with me, enjoyed some hot cocoa, taken numerous walks in thepark, and shopped vicariously through me.  When I moved here, I assumed I would be spending three or four nights a week on a jiu-jitsu mat, and instead I find myself spending that time on a dance floor.  I figured I would be lonely the first several months, searching for friends, struggling to find a place; instead everywhere I go now, I find people who are genuinely happy to see me again.

Life is what we make it, and I find that the life that I am making for myself is wonderful and fulfilling.   There is a certain balance to my life that for many years was missing; emotional, social, physical, spiritual- all of these things are coming together in a cornucopia of life.

No, it has not always been an easy journey.  My first couple of months, I did every random thing that crossed my path as I searched for those routines that would help define this new chapter of my life.  This led me to a gymnastics meet, outdoorconcerts, and the occasional farmers' market.  Some of these have become integral parts of my life (such as swing dancing), and others have a definite “been there, done that” flavor (Area 51). 

I have made awesome new friends, some for gossip, and others for hugs, and many more for a smile or a laugh any time. 

I’ve also learned a lot about myself.  My sense of rhythm is not awful, as I have always believed.  It is just poorly developed- a skill rather than an innate talent.  Meeting people is not a difficult task, it is just another skill (which was also poorly developed).  Downtime is something to be appreciated, but like so many things in life, it is easier to appreciate when it is not excessive.

Where will I be at this time next year?  I don’t know.  But I look forward to continuing to share my adventures- there are more parks, festivals, museums, restaurants, concerts, races, flea markets, dances and neighborhoods to wander through.  Some of them may be places we have gone before, but that’s okay.  This is my home now.

Thank you for continuing on this journey with me. 

A few fall pictures from Forest Park for your enjoyment:

Dancing Chairs

Art – pretty, bold, intricate, minimal, visceral.

Some art simply seems to decorate a space, providing some relief from the monotony of a beige concrete wall.  Other art tells a clear story or captures a particular scene.  Occasionally art is so abstract that it seems incomprehensible to anyone except the artist who created it (and even then you wonder if they really had something in mind).  Finally, on rare occasion, you will come across a piece of artwork that simply speaks to you, engendering an almost visceral reaction, bringing you back to it time after time, hoping that you can recapture that initial feeling of wonder.

                This summer, I came across a sculpture like that here in St. Louis. 

                The first time I saw the Dancing Chairs was in August when I was playing Kickball for Kids.  I was wandering around the perimeter of the game fields and came upon it.  I stopped, and the strains of B. B. King singing “Saturday Night Fish Fry” floated through my head as the chairs came alive and danced before my eyes.

                I could see the turns and sugar pushes, the walks, the sweat hearts, and the neck wraps.  The synergy between the lead and follow was perfect; the dance expressed joy and laughter, transporting the dancers into their own personal world.

                More than that, I saw myself dancing on that grassy dance floor, moving my hips to a lively beat, and twirling my cares away as the singer in my mind's song was being dragged out from under the bathtub. 

                I skipped a few steps down the sidewalk, dancing from one end of the sculpture to the other, imagining the choreography that would capture the dance the chairs were engaged in, before I ran off to play some more kickball.

                The sculpture is Dancing Chairs by Rod Baer.  It is located just to the north of the ball fields of Shaw Park in Clayton.

Description: http://www.art-stl.com/public-art/public-art-details.cfm?pid=147&title=Dancing%20Chairs&artist1=Rod%20Baer

A Bit of Cool and Missourians Pull Out the Winter Coats...

                With a bit of nip in the air, my new hometown has decided that the cold has arrived, and they should bundle up in parkas, scarves, and mittens.  I must say that I get some odd looks running around in sleeveless shirts because it just isn’t cold enough yet to admit defeat to autumn.  But yes, I have also pulled out my sweatshirts, my fun ponchos, and all the wonderful fall clothing that I got weird looks wearing in summer in Alaska, but fall was too cold to enjoy them.

                Out into a cool, but sunny, autumn afternoon I ventured yesterday.  At the Botanical Gardens, they were hosting a “Best of Missouri” festival, with local restaurants, crafters, and vintners selling their products.  The festival was packed with people, to the point that moving from one booth to the next was akin to being caught in a river current.  You couldn’t stop if you wanted to in some places.  There was live music perfect for dancing, and a kids’ craft area back near the amphitheater.  The photo is from the food area, which was not quite as crammed with people.  

                Honestly though, the best part for me was the excuse to go walk through the gardens again.  Even with fall here, it was a riot of color with flowers in bloom, trees turning color, and all of the statuary again in prominence after the Lantern Festival. 

Parking hint for next year during the Best of Missouri – just give up on finding parking to begin with, park down at the back end of the garden by Tower Grove Park and walk.  It is a lovely neighborhood full of old houses, and the parking near the front of the garden is an absolute nightmare for this particular event.

Missouri Botanical Gardens: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/