Jessica's Day at Camp

Day 2 was great.  I had a little time and went out to the backyard pool.  Denise & I floated about and Chris continued to splash us up.  It was lovely, while the water really warm, nice to relax.  Unfortunately I didn't pay attention and about an hour later, I was sun burned!  Yes - ouch - I was warmed by the glow for three days.

This day was a long time in coming.  I had made plans in January to surprise Jess for her 16th birthday.  There was some family responsibilities I had to take care of and had to postpone the visit.

So a belated Happy 16th Birthday for Jessica.  Her choice for the day was to go to the St. Louis Art Museum.  As she put it, "Aunt Patty will take me".  There was one requirement by me, it had to be a dress up day.

So off to the museum we went.  The building was built for the 1904 World's Fair.  It is grand and very stately and subsequently the museum moved in.  It is also undergoing a massive expansion that is expected to open January 2012.  We went over the the front desk to get information and a map.  Did I mention the is no admission to the museum?  That is right for the museum as a whole is free, only the special exhibits needed a ticket.    The exhibit, The Mourners, a must see.  We went to the desk to get information from one of the hosts.  I had some questions and our host was just lovely and explained all about the museum.  He slipped us two tickets for the exhibit.  The exhibit - amazing - 40 figures sculpted from white alabaster dating back to 1404.

After getting our map and thanking our host for the information, we made our way around the vairous galleries.  Jess thought he was "hot" for me.  LOL!! 

One of my highlights was to see Jessica's eyes as we rounded each corner of the galleries.  Being in the same space as so many famous artists always gives me chills.  She would exclaim, "I studied that in school".  A real treat was to see part of Claude Monet's Water Lilies.  Ever since my visit to Paris and immersing myself into French Impressionism, Monet is one of my favorites.  There is something about being in the prescence of great art that is humbling and exhilarating in the same breath.  When I see it, I reminds me that - all is possible.

Before we knew it, time had flown.  We were full of all the art we saw and now hungry for dinner.  We had a few minutes to make it over to the Loop for dinner at The Melting Pot.  I ordered a split of champagne so Jess could taste and I toasted her.  She picked out each of the courses.  Our beginning was a Spinach and Artichoke Swiss with vegetables and bread cubes.  The cheeses were just delightful !  Then on to a brightly made salad. 

The main course was a Coq Au Vin cooking broth and a full assortment of fishes, chicken, beef, and an extra order of lobster all with individual sauces.  Wow - this was really good. Jess had tuna steak for the first time!  We relaxed, talked about school, summer, which sauce was best with each item we cooked.

The menu at the Melting Pot covers just about everything.  You couldn't go away hungry.  What you could go away with, is just a great satisfied feeling of great fresh food served in a fun way.

Then on to dessert - a chocolate fondu with fruits and cakes.  Yes we had room for chocolate!  This is all that was left.  Mind you if the pot wasn't so hot, we would have scraped every last spec of chocolate.  When we looked at our watch, it was three hours later.  Isn't dining, great food and great company, just fine.

This was a special time for me.  I'm sure we will have some more dates like these in the future.  Thanks Jess!

Taylor's Day at Camp

It was Taylor's Day with me.  She planned that we would do the Loop.  The Loop is the 6000-6600 blocks of Delmar Boulevard near Forest Park.  Its lined with many shops and plenty of places to get a bite to eat.  We walked the entire street - both sides - walked all the planets and visited with each "star" in the Walk of Fame.  A star is for an individual that has some connection to St. Louis - very interesting to find all these folks!

While it was hotttttt and humidddddd, it was great.  We would hop in and out of little businesses and stores.  Visited a yarn shop, while lots from Vermont, there was some hand dyed roving that came from some sheep not far from the shop.  Another shop had this interesting perfume, we both tried it and kept smelling the difference all night long. 

Several shops had vintage clothing, and some with 'hi' fashion clothes.  The vintage vinyl record shop - Wow, talk about stepping back into time!  There were the shops with all sorts of local artists jewelery, pottery, and artwork.  We missed some of the shops as the either closed early or were not open.  Not to worry, it gives us some places to explore on a future trip.

For me it was a great time! We had a chance to talk about her future at college.  About girl stuff, and just about what was going on.  She'll be leaving for college in just about a week from now to join the undergrad class at  Franciscan University of Steubenville!  Go Taylor!!

To wrap up our evening - we went to Pi Pizzeria.  You may think, yeah? big deal pizza?  I must say it was the best thin crust pizza I have ever had and it was gluten free!  We shared a salad and designed two, very different, great pizzas. I had a local draft beer - while not gluten free, it was fresh and really cold.   We sat back and enjoyed ourselves.  The restaurant was fun, very very busy, and by the time we left (about 7:30), the place was packed - inside and out - with a line waiting in 95degree weather!

Once again Taylor, thanks for a great day!

Camp Aunt Patty Day 1

Camp opened early this year.  The local kids were given a heads up around the 3rd week of June.  They were told that they better see what they wanted to do and let me know.  As for the St. Louis gang, they were not coming east this summer.  So I transported myself to them.  Getting a date with all of them home - no small feat!

A little snafu with travel - my luggage didn't want to do the camp thing and took another vacation.  The airline was good about tracking it down, scolding it, and getting it to me some 9 hrs later.  Thank you AA!  Thanks Pete!

Knowing I'd be driving around quite a bit, I rented a car.  Thrifty was the choice for this trip and other than finding the 'stand' for them to pick me up, it is a company to do business with.  The front desk folks suggested that if I needed to get back to the airport for my luggage, come by their lot and they would shuttle me over and back for no fee.  Now that is really nice!

L to r - Taylor, Chris, Me, Shelby & Jessica

Unfortunately the car rental place couldn't take care of the weather.  Just as I was ready to pull onto the highway - the heavens open up and I drove in torrents of rain almost all the way to my brother's place.  My GPS, Agnes, yes we named her, worked like a charm except for the flooded roads and finding PF Changs.

Of course, with all of this, I'm delayed in getting to their home.  My dear sister-in-law, Denise, has made a feast and was so worried that it was drying out.  Never mind for me - it was the darn best chicken I've had in a really long time.  Great enough to ask her for the recipe. 

The rest of the evening went well.  We were getting caught up on what has been doing in their lives, figuring out which kid had me for which day and what we were going to do. Continuing checking in with AA to get my luggage.

At the crack of dawn, I'm up and having breakfast with Chris and Shelby.  Taylor & Jessica are already at work.  Shelby is working on a school project- Now this kid has determination - she makes you proud.  She has to write a project and begin the research for it over the summer so they can get a kick start on day 1.  She picked Rosa Parks, and a few others.  I threw in William Wilburforce just in case the various other people she picked didn't pan out.

Then it's 9:15am - yes - what are we doing - I'm off with Denise and Chris to see Percy Jackson & the Olmpians - the Lightning Thief.  It was a great movie and quite the experience to watch it with my nephew, he'll dispute my review.  It's about two hours long and since Chris has the book committed to memory, I received a full dialogue on the differences between the book and the movie.  While the action and graphics would knock your socks off, I'll admit to Chris the book sounds like it had all the soul of the story.  Oh, since my luggage arrived, Chris and I got to share Gluten Free pretzels - yum yum.

You may be thinking a movie at 10am in the morning?  Well, in St. Louis, many of the movie theatres have a free movie, in the morning, once a week during the summer vacation.  That's pretty good and a great public service. 

Back home after the movie so I can get ready for Taylor's day with me. 

It Bloomed!

Wow - look what I found this morning as I did my early gardening!

It's a Water Hyacinth.  I found this perennial plant  Bob's Vegetable Stand in Wethersfield at the beginning of the season.  They had explained that I need to put it into a big bucket of water and let it sit.  A month an a half has gone by, nothing happened except for happy yellow jackets that loved the water.  This moring to my surprise, it bloomed.

This plant is considered a very agressive pest and clogs water ways.  While it is a perennial, it will not survive the winter up here in the north.  It is native to South America, and is illegal to transport or have them in Texas.  Florida has had them for decades and if left unchecked, like the Kudzu, the hyacinth will choke out and kill waterways.

In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy the blooms until the frost get's here and may continue to keep this water plant in my garden for summers to come.