THERE'S A REASON FOR IT

This is the bottom of Art Hill, the long slope that's the place to go sledding in this town. The body of water at the bottom is known as the Grand Lagoon. When we got heavy snows (it happened), the paved path would be covered and the reckless could - and did - fly straight into the water (and it's more than a meter drop). Eventually, the park put a line of hay bales at the bottom. Now it's spaced bales with that orange net stretch stuff.

Forest Park lies between our two major universities, St. Louis U. and Washington U. When I was an undergrad at SLU, we used to swipe plastic trays from the cafeteria to use as minimal sleds if there was a big dump. Kids would zoom out of control and occasionally someone would shoot off the end. I saw it happen.                  

DO THE BEST WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT

There is a cold drizzle falling as I write this Monday evening but temperatures are cleanly above freezing. Any snow cover is gone, although a few decaying snowmen remain. Art Hill, the long slope below the art museum, was patchy over the weekend but bare now. Children will try their sleds on anything available.             

STRIPES AND CURVES

A crosswalk in Forest Park, leading to a walking trail through the trees. Sometimes we just have to be satisfied with patchy, sloppy snow.          

WE FINALLY GOT SOME

I have not looked up the statistics but it seems like we get a lot less snow than we did years ago, and what we get doesn't last as long. We got a little Friday night and Saturday morning, enough to cover the grass, but the temperature was just above freezing. Still, families brought the kids to Art Hill, the long slope below our art museum. It's STL's premier sledding venue.      

A SIMPLE BRIDGE

There was a more distant view of this bridge to the tea house in Sunday's post. The craftsmanship is beautiful, joinery rather than nails. The up hill part feels a bit steep to old legs. It's representative of what we saw in gardens during our visits to Japan.                

TWO TRACKS FORWARD

Only one of them won't get your socks wet. I'll take the flagstones. Still in the botanical garden.               

THE PATH

Photographers love leading lines and curves, so how could I go wrong with a picture containing both. Winter in the Japanese garden again.               

THE WAY OF TEA

Farther into the Japanese Garden. The light coat of snow was just enough to muffle what little sound there was, leaving only the report of your own footsteps. The bridge leads to a little tea house, open for special occasions.                

A WALK IN THE PARK

A couple in the winding entry path to the Japanese Garden. A cold weekday may seem like an odd time to visit but it has a special beauty: no crowds, something interesting around every bend, little sound but the wind.            

WHATEVER MATERIAL IS AT HAND

I have a couple more butterfly house pictures I could run but I wanted some new material. Had an idea to shoot yesterday but nature was against me. Wednesday was very warm for February. We had heavy rain and dropping temperature overnight into Thursday morning. We reached freezing by late morning, the rain changed to sleet and then light snow. Bitter cold Thursday night. The town is now an ice rink. So I stepped out on my front porch and took pictures of whatever presented itself.        

ALIEN SNOW MONSTER

In front of my house after our big snow last week.

TURKISH PAVILION

My favorite local park, Tower Grove, has many so-called pavilions, open-sided structures that families and groups can rent for events. They have exotic designs and whimsical names. This one, the largest, is known as the Turkish Pavilion. No parties on a gray, snowy day.            

FIRST SNOW

We've come late to the party compared to most of the U.S. but it happens sooner or later. We don't normally get a lot of snow but there was some Saturday morning, just enough to make my granddaughter beg to go sledding. Won't be much left by Sunday. Don't know the name of these berries just outside my front porch (I bet Mrs. C does) but they are pretty against the blue-white and green.

FREAK OF NATURE

I have other photos to show from Ste. Genevieve but this is worth an interruption. It snowed here most of Tuesday afternoon. Our average latest frost is about two weeks ago. Being in the middle of things we get buffeted by air masses moving east from the Rockies, south from the Canadian plains and north from the Gulf of Mexico. This shot was taken from my front porch yesterday. I wonder what the tulips and dogwood will look like by today.             

HORS SERVICE

I'm not sure why I'm using this picture. I just like it. Sculptural, nice light. Out of service water fountain on the Arch grounds.   

TODAY'S CHALLENGE ASSIGNMENT: Rush Limbaugh, a name at least all Americans know, was buried Wednesday in St. Louis. He was from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, about two  hours drive south of here, and lived much of his recent life in Florida. He was interred here in Bellefontaine Cemetery, our swankiest necropolis. I'm sure I won't be the only person who wants a look but I'd like to get some images of the site. Hope it is accessible to the public.                     

THURSDAY ARCH SERIES

Haven't had the local totem on for a while. This was taken last weekend when there was still snow on the ground, composed with certain photographic tricks, er, techniques.            

MADELEINE MONDAY

Ellie's first snowgirl. I provided technical advice but she did all the work herself. We didn't have any charcoal so she used Ritz crackers for the eyes, mouth and buttons (her idea). Some critters got the carrot nose pretty quickly but none of them touched the crackers. They know the difference between natural and processed food.  

And happy birthday to my grandson Atlas Henry Crowe in Michigan, who is two today. Big, strong and smart.       

WE DON'T GET A WHOLE LOT OF SNOW

So when we do, we have to make something of it. Forest Park, of course.        

COLD NIGHT

The view from my front porch late Monday evening. Much of the US got wapped Sunday night and Monday. We didn't come out too badly, all things considered.The light here is from a street light off to camera right and the slash is a tree branch. It was -6 F / -21 C when we got up Tuesday morning but the house is well sealed. This doesn't happen here often but it's not unknown.                              

LOOKS OMINOUS, PLUS BONUS SNAP

Something else unusual from the Climatron. Looks a little scary to me, like something poisonous or a creature that would bud and swell and sprawl until it had devoured everything in sight. The unfocused leaf on the right could be its henchman.

We got our first serious snow of the winter yesterday. The picture below was taken from my front porch at noon with a temperature of 3 F / -16 C. The snow continued all afternoon and into the evening. Other places had it worse. Texas was about completely shut down. It snowed in Houston, for heaven's sake. That's like asphalt melting from a heat wave in Fairbanks.