Saturday Night, Anne and I went to go see the Christmas classic, A Christmas Story, in 3D.  I love this story about Ralphie and his quest to own an official Red Ryder carbine-action two-hundred-shot range model air rifle.  But poor Ralphie is foiled at every attempt.  First by his mother, then by his teacher and finally even by Santa, they all sing the same chorus. “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

I awoke Sunday morning to falling snow.  We got a couple of inches by the end of the day.  So no biking on Sunday.  Instead Anne and I walked over to the Art Museum to see the show, Five Centuries of Japanese Screens.  It closes next week.  This was a collaborative show between the Saint Louis and Chicago Art Museums.  Due to its joint nature, photography was not allowed in the show.  However, as I was wandering around the rest of the museum, waiting for Anne to finish the show, I found this one screen that did not make the show.  It is certainly of lesser quality then the pieces in the show, but it adequately convey’s the concept.  It is entitled, Flowers and Plants of the Four Seasons.

I always enjoy finding something new in the Park.  After leaving the Art Museum and heading for home, we came upon, Tree In Tree – New Grows from Old.  One part art work, one part work of nature, a plaque named this site and dedicated it to honor the ancient Osage Indian presence in Missouri.  A Osage Orange sapling had been planted within the hollow trunk of an old red oak tree.  One branch of the sapling had been drawn through the eastern side of the trunk and tethered. 

The plaque explained that the planting of the sapling symbolized a “re-rooting” of the Osage in the earth of their ancestral homeland.  Indians of North America often manipulated trees by bending branches or trunks, as the trees were growing.  These marker, or guide trees, usually pointed the way to water of sacred places.  The tethered branch, in this tree, points eastward. 

The Osage consider that they are always traveling eastward in their life paths.  This is a conceptual journey they take each day.  The orientation towards the rising sun is also a metaphor for a new beginning.  The plaque concludes with the following wish: This is a gesture of support and hope for the revitalization of Osage culture and language, the growth of more positive relations within and between cultures and the generation of more positive conditions for the environment we all share.

I uploaded another YouTube video.  Enjoy!