Tag Archives: The Loop

Hello Mudder, Hello Farter…

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Let's Own It, Guys!

Let’s Own It, Guys!

Our going in plan for today was for another hard humping day in the saddle, except that yesterday’s respite from the rain was only a one day affair. It rained for most of the morning. After gloriously sleeping in for a change, we decided to do brunch, after all today is Father’s Day. Anne always tells this origin story about Father’s Day. About six weeks after Mother’s Day, some Dad suddenly came to an epiphany, “Hey, what about me?” And so was born Father’s Day. We did brunch at the Peacock Diner in the Loop. The Peacock is the latest Joe Edwards property there. He has almost single-handedly developed almost everything along both sides of Delmar, turning a once dilapidated neighborhood into a national go to destination. Now he has turned his eyes on Delmar Avenue itself and the Loop was just settling in again after last year’s completion of the two block reconstruction that houses the Peacock.

Pictured below is the newly started construction for the reestablishment of a trolley line in the Loop. Those are the old fifties era railroad ties that have been paved over for 65 years. I looked for the old rails too, but I couldn’t find any exposed ones. They may have been taken up, but elsewhere in the city you can see the old trolley line rails peeking through the asphalt, one of the insights that bicycling around town gives you. This reboot is slated for completion next year. It will run from U-City Hall in the Loop to the History Museum in Forest Park, a little over two miles. It should be fun when it’s done. Wait for it:

Clang, clang, clang went the trolley
Ding, ding, ding went the bell
Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings
From the moment I saw him I fell
– “Trolley Song”, Ralph Blane / Hugh Martin

After brunch we did our Father’s Day calls home. I love my Dad, as Anne loves hers and would not miss a chance to honor them on their day. I love you Dad! We did sneak in a little bit of a bike ride in-between the storms today. May’s weather was so delightful that June’s weather by comparison seems so dreadful. Today, both the heat and the humidity were racing each other to the top of the chart. Throw in a little humanity and you have a recipe for misery, I mean Missouri. I hate to keep harping on about the weather, because it is hardly a news flash that Saint Louis summer weather sucks. It is just that all of our activities draw us out into it. I’ve recently turned on the weather alerts feature of my iPhone’s Weather Channel app. I don’t expect to leave it on forever, but it is helpful now that we are spending so much time outside.

Delmar Loop Trolley Construction

Delmar Loop Trolley Construction

It’s Only a Hill. Get Over it!

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Anne and Mark Back On the Bikes
Giant Hamster Balls
Lady in White

Anne and I went bicycling in Forest Park today. It has been over two-weeks since either of us had last been on our bikes. This is mainly because it has been so God awfully cold as of late, but not today. Today it warmed up into the high fifties, maybe even to sixty degrees. It was too nice a day not to be outside. We first rode in the park, where we got our miles. There aren’t any real hills in the park, although there are places that are called hills, like Art Hill or Government Hill. More serious cyclists would just scoff at naming these rises hills though. After we had loop-de-looped the park, we headed over to the Loop, which was holding its annual winter ice carnival. In sixty degree weather mind you.

The Loop was mobbed. Every store had its own personal ice sculpture outside of it. Like the Loop that has expanded eastward of Skinker in recent years, so too has this year’s ice carnival. We had taken DeBaliviere north from the History Museum and then Delmar into the Loop. We did this same route last summer, but I swear that there is even more new construction edging further east than I remember. As soon as we hit the Loop, traffic snarled, we dismounted and began walking our bikes the length of Delmar. This was sometimes quite a slog, because the carnival was very crowded. We could have ridden by then, because traffic had freed up a bit, and riding in the street would have been easier than walking on the sidewalk, but Anne wanted to see everything, so we walked.

There were all sorts of street performers out, musicians, jugglers, dancers and the like. Then there was this lady in white. There were all sorts of games to be played, like ice bocce ball. The most fun game looked to be a pair of 12’ diameter, hollow, inflated balls. Think of a giant hamster ball. Two participants at a time would go. Sometimes they would race each other through an obstacle course, while sometimes they would just butt heads against each other. It looked like great fun. There was an ice slide for the little kids, which Anne thought would be a great way to get a wet butt. Eventually though, I had about as much fun as I could stand and then we headed for home.

Maraschino Kisses from My Baby

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Maraschino Kisses

Maraschino Kisses

Anne and I bicycled together on Saturday and I biked by myself today, while Anne sewed on the front porch, because the weather was so nice, sunny and warm. On Saturday, we rode over to the CWE for lunch at Gringo, a Baja themed upscale taco bar. We’ve eaten there before and I’m always surprised at how small their tacos are. I had two, a beef brisket and a lamb taco. Anne had a normal sized burrito. I also had their winter special margarita. It was infused with a blood orange, giving the drink a reddish-brown color and instead of the lip of the glass just being coated with salt, this drink had both salt and cinnamon. It was good.

On Saturday night, we attended Smokin’ Joe’s annual Christmas cookie party. In preparation for this event, Anne made Maraschino Kisses. This cookie recipe uses a whole jar of maraschino cherries and calls for Hersey’s special dark chocolate kisses, but we decided to substitute kă•kā•ō dark chocolate buttons instead. They turned out pretty [good | well] and I helped. [Anne says that pretty well is correct English, even though pretty good is a Missouri colloquialism, so could be considered correct English if written within the state’s boundaries. No one faults Mark Twain for his use of language, so why me? Anne said that her parents drilled her pretty well and good in this. I’m left to wonder if any fracking was involved.] We were the first to arrive at the cookie party, which was a little awkward. We were on time, but everyone else was stylishly late. We had a good time though!

Sunday morning, we drove over to the Loop for a little walk. The Loop doesn’t really do mornings and especially not the morning after a Saturday night. Most of the stores were closed, so we were left to window-shop. We grabbed breakfast at a new place in the Loop, the Peacock Diner. This is another Joe Edwards property and it is a beauty. It is modeled after a ‘50s diner that only a Hollywood musical could have envisioned. It is both spacious and bright. I kept expecting the help to break into a chorus line of song and dance. Maybe if I had put a quarter into the juke box that would have happened. We ate at the counter, which has ever-changing bands of lighted colored panels all around it, but where I really wanted to sit was in the Peacock Carousal of Love. Yes, it really rotates. Anne didn’t want to though. I guess that she doesn’t love me anymore. “I don’t love you any less”, she says. Anne had red velvet waffles, which looked great. I had their biscuits and gravy, which was fantastic! They’ve substituted chorizo for the sausage and add a touch of tomato to give the gravy a more appealing color than bleached white.

I’ve got to go now. Anne wants to go shopping for our Christmas tree. Its 63 ˚F out in mid-December, I think that shorts and a t-shirt is appropriate Christmas attire for today. We will of course go to Ted Drewes and of course order concretes, which we will consume on the lot, while selecting our tree. So surprise me, Le Marquis, what flavor of frozen custard will you order? “How about my usual, a small chocolate-chip concrete?”

Love and Fate on the Rocks

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Bike Girl Rides Again
Lattes in Love
Ice Slide
Missouri Ballet Theater Dancers
Mustache Sculpture
Juggler on Stilts
The Sights You See, When You Do Have a Camera


Friday night, Joanie, Anne and I had dinner at Yen Ching’s. At the end of dinner they served fortune cookies and the check. My fortune was the following:

You can’t ride in all directions at one time.

Well the Chinese laborer who made that cookie has never seen me in Forest Park. East, South, West, North and then repeat, as I ride around the bike path. I call that riding in all directions at one time. It is traveling in a circle, which is the meaning of the message, but sometimes that’s a good thing.

Saturday was a beautiful day. The high was a balmy 67 °F, under a crystal blue sky. Today was a rare January day and I rode out to enjoy as much of it as I could, because the forecast calls for more seasonal weather tomorrow, followed by bitter cold. The mercury is running like a rollercoaster, one day it’s up, the next day it comes crashing down. When I left, Anne was making some noises about picking her bicycle up from Mesa.

All the beautiful people were out and about in the park. I was into my third podcast (NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour and Slate’s Political and Culture Gabfests) when Anne called. She had ridden her bike the half-mile home from the shop and wanted to do some more riding. We agreed to meet at the De Mun Kaldis. I arrived first ordered a pair of lovely lattés and a plate of nachos. Don’t laugh, the Kaldis nachos really rock. After lunch we rode home together. I was ever watchful, ready to thrust my body between Anne and any passive-aggressive parked car or any mean piece of asphalt. I hope that I didn’t make her too nervous doing this.

It was good to see her get back on the bike. It has been a long wait. When we were unlocking our bikes outside of Kaldis, we overheard a trio of hipsters. One was speaking with a fourth over her cell. The other party was late joining them, because they had spent 45 minutes in traffic, trying to navigate the Loop. The Loop was hosting its annual ice carnival today. After shepherding Anne safely home (don’t worry, this phase won’t last long), I re-launched towards U City. The place was mobbed, nothing like sixty degree weather to bring out the ice carnival devotes.

Delmar was filled with four lines of stationary cars. The outermost two lanes were officially parked. The middle two lanes were effectively parked. Fortunately, there was plenty of room for me to slip between the cars, as I glided up and down the avenue. My only real traffic issues occurred, when I dismounted and joined the throngs on either sidewalk.