Tag Archives: Blueberry Hill

Not Another Cowboy Bar!

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Boot Country

Boot Country

Years and years ago, young Daniel son embarrassed the heck out of Anne and I, when on a winter’s night, when Bugs and Horsey were in town, I stopped to drop everyone off in front of Blueberry Hill and as soon as Anne had helped him out of the car and his feet had touched wet pavement he exclaimed in his always loud little voice, “You guys aren’t taking me to another cowboy bar?!?” We were both mortified. In our defense, we have never taken Dan to a cowboy bar. Further, Blueberry Hill is not a cowboy bar. Subsequently, we have since taken Dan back to Blueberry Hill many times and he seems to have always liked the place. Now that he is old enough to drink beer there, I imagine that it has only gotten better. Tomorrow, Dan exits LAX for the Lou. It will be good to see him again. The photo is from Nashville.

In other news, my work is done for the day. It’s a Friday, so my work is also done for the week. It is even done for the year, but alas, it is not done for good, at least not yet. Anne and I are officially now on Christmas break and like the jolly ole elf that she is, she is in the adjoining room wrapping presents for all of those good little boys and girls. I’m nowhere near ready myself, but now that I have some time off, I’ll be getting ready. The big news at work today was this unsual weather forecast.

Howdy, Waterlogue!

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Howdy Doody Display at Blueberry Hill

Howdy Doody Display at Blueberry Hill

This picture began its life as a photograph of one of Joe Edwards’s many memorabilia display cases at his restaurant, Blueberry Hill. In this case the subject was Howdy Doody, on whose show young Mister Edwards was apparently a guest. His Howdy Doody memorabilia would normally make for a great photo, but display case reflections made my product less than desirable. Have no fear though, because I have an app for that. Waterlogue is a new watercolor app for the iPhone and iPad. Usually, I eschew these iPhone photo apps that tint, tweak and blur normal photographs to make them seem more interesting. I find the meme of imitating obsolete photographic technology tiresome. Plus, PhotoShop has most, of this functionality already available.

So, why did I plunk down $3 for this app? Certainly, the manufacturer’s mission statement does not inspire, “The idea behind Waterlogue is that we wanted non-artists to be able to see the world as an artist. To give people access to a creative tool that doesn’t require any training.” I guess, I just liked the faux art examples that it touted. It is easier to use and with its interactive rendering scheme more fun than PhotoShop. Plus, with my limited PhotoShop expertise, I doubt that I could duplicate its product. It is a meme in the making. I just hope that I’m able to cash in my three bucks worth before it becomes stale.

The Quintessential Quilter

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Deadwood by Ricky Tims

Deadwood by Ricky Tims

Anne has a cold this weekend. Boo! She managed to contract some rhinovirus, which has been nothing but trouble in a protein coat. She probably caught it from one of those runny nosed guttersnipes that she’s been schooling all week. On Saturday morning, I left her at home, feeling under the weather and took my two-wheeler for a spin through the park. It was cold. Colder than I had expected and even though I had dug out some of my winter riding gear, it was a little on the uncomfortable side.

Anne's Cowboy Boot Block

Anne’s Cowboy Boot Block

Next up, Anne and I drove to the U-City library to meet Don and DJ and to see the 2013 Quintessential Quilt show. This show is put on by Circle in the Square, a quilting society that Anne used to be a member of. We were all enjoying the quilts, when Anne made a “hmmm” sound. She was looking at a Ricky Tims quilt that was sporting a distinctive western motif. Tims had named the quilt, Deadwood. A portion of this quilt is pictured at the top of this post. Apparently, Mr. Tims is a bit of a phenom in quilting circles nationwide (Who knew?), although he originally hails from Saint Louis.

What fascinated Anne about his quilt was that she thought that she had made one of its cowboy boot blocks. After she checked the catalog, she became convinced. There Tims credited Circle in the Square quilters from 1993 for gifting the various cowboy boot blocks. I’ve enlarged above Anne’s block. It all came back to her then, which fabrics she had provided and which ones Tims had. I remember the color cats fabric, because she used it on other projects too.

I think that she was a little bit giddy when we left the show. I don’t think she ever expected to see any of her work in a juried and judged quilt show. I remember Anne feeling overwhelmed after having attended her first Circle in the Square meeting. At that meeting Suzanne Marshall showed off her new quilt. It went on to win first place and $10,000 at Paducah that year. The kicker though was that she had finished it in less than a year. Marshall won first place in this show with a new quilt, while Tims scored second with another one of his quilts. As I said, Anne was feeling a little bit giddy leaving the show, having rubbed shoulders with such talent, but I think what she was happiest about was that it had taken Tims twenty years to finish his Deadwood quilt. Now she doesn’t have to feel so bad about her own procrastinations.

Some Blueberry Hill Baseball Memorabilia

Some Blueberry Hill Baseball Memorabilia

After the show, Anne, Don, DJ and I adjourned down the Loop to Blueberry Hill. We had a late, but enjoyable lunch. If you’ve never had the thrill of the Hill, its décor reflects the eclectic tastes of owner Joe Edwards. I think that some of the animal trophies began to creep DJ out. While we were waiting for our table, I photographed one of the baseball related displays. Like Anne, Saint Louis has caught a fever, Cardinal fever. Unlike Anne’s, no one wants their Cardinal fever to subside. We know now that we’ll face the Botoxs in the World Series. I would have rather had the Tigers, but no one bothered to ask me. Anyway, it should be a good series. Go Cards!