where I talk with my inside voice
As part of the America250 celebration, I signed up for a project called Connect250 which is sponsored by StoryCorps and NPR. The premise was take two Americans (somewhat) at random, and record them having a conversation about what life is like in 2026. I was paired with a delightful woman from Zanesville, Ohio, named Sylia, and our 40-minute discussion will...
It was our turn at the Muny this week, so Noah and I went to see Newsies. It was a good show, and while the songs weren’t quite as memorable, the choreography was excellent. Really talented cast.
As part of the America 250 celebration this year (which has been lackluster at best, thanks to President Camacho), the Union Pacific railroad sponsored a nationwide tour featuring the last operative “Big Boy.” So I dragged Noah down to Union Station, in the 100-degree heat, along with 10,000 of our closest friends, to see it. It was still pretty cool.
After having visited The Home of the Brick in Billund, the bar is set pretty high for me, and I’m not sure I will get much out of these Lego displays anymore. But the St. Louis County Library was nice enough to celebrate my birthday with Lego Night at the Clark Branch, so I figured I had to go check...
This is probably the last year we will have season tickets at the Muny. I hate to lose the great seats, but there are rarely more than two or three shows each season that we want to see, and it’s such a hassle exchanging the tickets. Linda has said she’s done, so in the future I think we’ll just buy...
We took Josie to Mizzou today for Summer Welcome. It has been two years, almost to the day, that we took Noah to his Summer Welcome. This time Dixie and I chose not to stay overnight, and she is driving back tomorrow morning to pick Josie up. But the program was largely the same, and met in the same auditoriums...
Because Noah was having some friends over today, and both Dixie and Josie found errands to run outside of the house, I figured I better find something to keep myself occupied too. So I went down to the History Museum and visited the exhibit on the Mill Creek neighborhood in downtown St. Louis. The neighborhood, which was a black metropolis...
We are two for two with Stages St. Louis at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. Last summer we saw Austen’s Pride, which was really good, and this time it was the Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was very funny and had some talented performers. Stages has also applied for an ECF grant this year, so we may be going back...
We just returned from our Nordic Odyssey to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It was quite a trip, with both highs and lows, but we survived and we had a good time overall. Dixie sprained her ankle, and banged up her knee, when she took a fall at the train station on Day 3 of the trip. And we missed our...
Well, this is it. The end of the road for the Atlas Classical Academy. We graduated our last student this weekend. We are so proud of Josie and all that she has accomplished. Now she looks forward to starting at Mizzou in the fall, and hanging out with her brother for a couple of years. Good luck, Josie! We know...
This tradition of organizing movie night excursions for my coworkers goes back 30 years at this point. But, with the exception of a movie night reunion with the old crowd back in 2023 (to see The Marvels), it’s been quite a while since this was a regular occurrence. I’m hoping to revive the tradition now that I’m on MQ-25. Tonight...
Tonight, our ECF chapter was invited to a reception at the St. Louis Zoo to celebrate the WildCare Park donors. ECF has given $150,000 so far towards the upcoming opening of this unique safari attraction in North County. Dixie and I went, along with a few others from the committee. We had some good food and listened to some good...
Josie’s latest piece is from a photo that she took while we were in Florida. I look at this beautiful painting sitting on the table in our basement where we literally spent hours studying art and learning some of the techniques that she is still using today, and I also remember how often my art classes ended with her in...
Just a couple of weeks after Josie’s prom, her friend Aidan asked her to attend his Pattonville High School prom with him. It was a large group of students and they hired a photographer to take some pictures beforehand. Their status as a couple is still unclear to me, but he is a very nice and responsible young man who...
In October, I rejoined the Boeing Volleyball League after an almost twenty year absence. The first few games were rough – I didn’t have the stamina I once had, and my skills were pretty rusty. By the time we went on hiatus for the holidays, I was starting to feel more like my old self on the court. By February,...
Completed in 1890, the Samuel Cupples House is now a part of the Saint Louis University campus. Since Noah was home this week for Spring Break, I decided to take the day off work and we all headed downtown for a self-guided tour of the place. Unfortunately, the basement gallery was closed, so we didn’t get to see any of...
