where I talk with my inside voice
When I started the blog on The Pipes Family Foundation website last year, I didn’t expect to be spending so much time doing genealogical research. I mean, it’s been an interest of mine for at least twenty years, and I really started to immerse myself in it during the pandemic, but then it was just for me. Now I’m investing...
My wonderful family indulges me every year with a day trip somewhere that they might not otherwise have gone. Whether it’s to visit an alpaca farm or to climb around on the trains, they always seem to enjoy themselves. Or they do a good job of faking it. This year it was the AB brewery tour downtown, followed by lunch...
Alas, poor Yorick, even though the Shakespeare Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary year, we have never been to a performance – until today. I was offered seats through ECF, so we saw a modern reimagination of Hamlet and it was really good. I was getting a little tired by the end – it’s hell getting old – but I...
Laura was planning to take Jane to a UFL game and she asked if we would want to go along. Noah has gotten more into football his first year at college, so he was interested, but this was our first time going to a UFL game. It turned out to be a really good day. The Battlehawks beat the Birmingham...
When we heard that Alan Walker was coming to St. Louis, we decided to get tickets and give them to Josie for Christmas. This was her first concert, and my first time at The Factory. It was a really good show – although we were both glad we brought our earplugs. There’s a short video below.
Josie has taken an interest in musical theater recently, and one of her favorites is Six – a fun romp through the history of the wives of Henry VIII. It seems unlikely subject for a Broadway musical, but no more outlandish than Hamilton I suppose. The music is really good, and the show, albeit short, is very entertaining. As a...
Because ECF gave them a grant of $10,000 this year, the St. Louis Ballet sent me an invitation to watch their dress rehearsal for The Nutcracker. So Noah and I went to see it tonight. It was a really good show – the dancers were great and the costumes were very festive.
Iliza brought her “Get Ready” tour to the Stifel Theater tonight. Dixie and I had been planning to see this show for quite a while, but I surprised her with VIP tickets, so we got to go backstage after the show and meet Iliza. It was a great show and it was really cool to talk to her afterwards.
I took Josie to the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton today. I think she was surprised at the scale of it – about six city blocks filled with booths selling every kind of art imaginable. We also had some good food – street corn from one of the food trucks and we had a late lunch at a place...
I took the kids to the History Museum to see the new and improved exhibit on the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. They did a great job putting it together and there are a ton of interesting artifacts on display, including a lead crystal punchbowl very similar to my grandmother Ellen’s. This might be our last homeschool “field trip” since...
Josie and I went to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Muny. She remembered a couple of the songs from when we watched the movie a while back. If I were a rich man, I would get season tickets so we could make this a family tradition.
Tonight we went to see Les Miserables at the Muny. Grandma Linda shared a few of her season tickets with us this year because this is their last year going (we might have to buy their seats for next season!). It was a really good show.
I wanted to visit the National Museum of Transportation for Father’s Day this year and my family indulged me. We walked around in the heat checking out the trains and cars (including a beautiful Pontiac Fiero that makes me miss mine) and the other exhibits there. Then we went to Dalie’s Smokehouse for lunch and got some of the last...
I’m typically in charge of cultural education in our little homeschool, and this week was no exception. I took the kids first to see Moulin Rouge at the Fabulous Fox (great music! maybe even better than the original movie soundtrack) and they both really liked it. Then last night we went to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to see them...
We drove down to Jackson, MO, to witness our second total solar eclipse, and it did not disappoint. I think we all agreed we liked this one better than the one in 2017. Not only did it last longer, but the shadow was darker and the colors were even more surreal. Plus, we got to see some looping prominences that...
We took advantage of the nice weather today and went to the Minifig Shop, had lunch at Dewey’s Pizza, and then spent the afternoon at the zoo. I’m not going to have too many more opportunities like this. Have to grab them while I can.
