Anne and I went to the Clayton art fair last night. It is not a particularly big art fair, maybe half-a-dozen blocks in total. It is not a particularly affordable art fair either. For example, one booth specialized in etchings of birds. There was a nice one of a Great Blue Heron, but an unframed print was going for $2,700. Another booth specialized in photos of fireflies, using long exposures. The Czech artist was featured in the fair’s merch booth. A poster of one of his photos was going for $600 there. Another booth featured Rube Goldberg style mechanisms, in which steel balls would circulate through a maze. I didn’t even look to see how expensive his art was asking. Still, it was a pleasant evening to be outside, looking at beautiful, if unobtainable things.

We had parked off of Wydown, outside of downtown Clayton and avoided all the parking hassles there. It was a bit of a walk, but like I said it was a nice night. Returning to the car, we noticed that the Starbucks at Hanley and Wydown had closed. When I was still working, I would patronize it daily. In 2009 at the height of the Great Recession, some days when I walked into the shop, I would be the only customer. It would be just me, the manager and his two “latte ladies” in the store. Before that it was Café Paradiso. I always ordered the same drink, a regular plain old latte. So, when it was crowded and there was a line, I would queue up and as I passed the barista, he would hand me my drink, even before I ordered it. The look consternation on the other people in line was priceless. I wonder what the spot will become now.