Bob, Nink, Meghan and Andrew arrived in Saint Louis on Friday. All, long time friends and former Saint Louis residents, they blew into town for two reasons. They are attending a wedding in Branson and their son Andrew received an award from his alma Mater, Fontbonne. Nink met Professor Mary, our fellow Team Kaldi’s teammate. Andrew is now a doctoral candidate in Applied Sociology at Yale. Friday night, we all went to Ted Drewes, a Saint Louis tradition. It was a warm and sultry night. In the morning, we sent them on their way to Branson.

Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Red in the face and all covered with sweat-ie.

It was actually more like the butt-crack of noon before they departed. By then last night’s sultry had turned to down right surly weather. We rolled the bikes through the climate control airlock and entered the soup that passes for the atmosphere around here. Our modest goal, was Left Bank Books, just across the park from us, in the CWE. While winding down Wydown, I had an epiphany for today’s blog post: Check out the progress on preparations for the Lantern Festival, at the botanical gardens. It opens later this month. We’ll have to wait until then to see the magic.

So, we diverted to the gardens and photographed the new lanterns. These are elaborate outdoor sets crafted mainly of silk and steel. They celebrate Chinese culture through bold color, dazzling light and striking design. At this point it is still a work in progress. The gold dragon at the entrance is finished and I think, illuminated at night. The centerpiece of the show, what I’ve dubbed the Porcelain Dragons, is only half-finished. It is skinned with real porcelain plates, cups and spoons. They are all ornately tied together with string. This fiber artwork is repeated with precision throughout.

The show doesn’t officially open for another two weeks. It will run all summer. It just so happens that Dave departs for Hong Kong in about a week. I look forward to hearing about his trip. This is developing into a China-centric year.

Left Bank Books didn’t have Anne’s book, but she did buy a card. I will buy her books on Amazon tonight. I can hear the hissing from certain quarters, but the bad news is that publishing is dead. The good news though is that the written word is doing fine. [this blog aside] I’ve finally signed up for Amazon Prime, primarily for the online video service, but I also get free shipping. How long will that last?

We next stopped at FroYo, the home of premium frozen yogurt. Oh, come on, it was hot out. The business model is cafeteria style. You create your own frozen yogurt creation and it gets priced by the pound. I mean by the ounce. We ran into Kubie at the Forsyth entrance to the park. It just so happens that she had launched at about the same time that we did. She actually rode all of those four hours, while we played. We got a measly 15 miles, but better than none.