Woke to rain tap-tap-tapping outside. Followed by rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. I had to dash out barefoot into this to fetch the paper, just beating an even greater downpour. Then sirens and flashing red-and-blue lights rolled up the block. Two emergency vehicles passed beyond our immediate vicinity, before coming to rest somewhere up the street. It was too far away to see who they visited and too cold and wet to walk up there to gawk. Instead, I made Anne her breakfast. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. This morning, she had ordered some gifts online that were available for immediate pickup, but I said no. Let’s wait until tomorrow, until after the rain stops.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We got out to Forest Park for a late afternoon walk. There was little wind, so I brought the drone along. We parked near the Jewel House, a 1930s era Art Deco greenhouse. Built of iron and glass, we once attended a wedding there. Certainly the fanciest wedding that I’ve ever been to. The bride walked down the aisle barefoot, atop a ribbon of white rice paper, leaving her footprint impressions as she went. The Jewel Box is still open, but you could never hold a ceremony like that now. Yesterday, I was content to unpack the drone and circle the building’s exterior. I got a few shots to use.

We headed next to the northeast corner of the park. Our target, a new apartment building on Kingshighway that borders the park. With rents starting in the low four-figures, but climbing up to the high, this new skyscraper is available for immediate occupancy. It boasts over thirty floors. Anne calls it the coffee filter building, because it looks like a huge stack of those corrugated paper coffee filters. It calls itself 100 Above the Park. The hundred is its street address and its height rightly places it above the park. With some great views, it might herald a trend for similar structures to ring the park, like Central Park in NYC is walled off. I hope that this will not occur. I’d hate to see the park penned in like that. Using this building as a subject, I shot my first drone video. It was kind of a rough neighborhood for drone flying. Nearby was the main air-ambulance heliport in town, but I was careful, stayed away from it and waited until there were no helicopters around. Probably of more danger was One Portland Place, home to Saint Louis’ own gun-toting barefoot lawyers. It showed up in a still.