St. Louis Missouri
Still here. Got places to go and people to see.
Stopped at the Donut Drive-in on Chippewa and got some donuts. When I worked 3rd shift for IBM out at McDonnell-Douglas Automation I always got donuts from there on Monday morning and ate them while I was doing my laundry at the laundromat up the street.
Drove out to Hermann and got me some Missouri wine.
Missouri has wine?
Yep! In fact it was Missouri rootstock that saved French vines from phylloxera.
I bought two bottles of Vidal Blanc and two bottles of Norton.
I stopped in to see one of my old IBM buddies who had to retire on disability after he got his brains scrambled in a motorcycle accident. A few months back he fell for the internet scam where he won some money and all he had to do was send some money to pay for the Federal Express fees. This is another time I wish there were a God so that the people who prey on old folks and mentally bewildered folks would suffer an eternity in hell.
Drove by the house I grew up in. I could hardly recognize it.
Summer in St. Louis:
When my friend's son dropped by yesterday to pick up the rocker I had brought from Tucson for him, after insulting a St. Louis tradition, IMO's Pizza, by calling it matzo topped by Velveeta, he asked me which had the worst summers, Atlanta or St. Louis. That's easy. St. Louis. He agreed, but everyone in St. Louis he tells that to, doesn't believe him. I know. Atlanta is in the South so it should be hotter, and it may be, but this is an example of "it's not the heat, it's the humidity". The humidity in St. Louis is much worse than Atlanta. Another thing is Atlanta is at a higher elevation that St. Louis. I've noticed that the nights are cooler in Atlanta than they are in St. Louis.
One more day here and it's back home to Georgia.
Posted by denny at July 7, 2008 07:56 PMi was born here in atlanta, and always thought atl summers were hot. then i lived in houston for awhile.
when i moved back, i got a kick out of how everyone thought it was hot here, and that it's not so much the heat as it is the humidity. the atl don't know humidity.
don't get me wrong. it certainly does get hot here. but it ain't tropical. and it's not always over 90% humidity. and there are breaks from the heat (like you said, it does cool off at night, and it is not always humid).
have fun in your old stomping grounds. thanks for continuing to check in and let us know how things are going.
cheers, pip
Posted by: Pip on July 7, 2008 08:46 PMnow you have me interested in mizzou wine. went out to west texas a couple weeks ago with kid #1 who is off to college soon. picked up some Llano red.....nice. If they can grow good grapes on the caprock out there I think they can grow them about anywhere. I love it. colleague told me she is starting a vineyard in Minnesota.......minnafuckingsota.... dang.
Posted by: patrick on July 7, 2008 10:54 PMWell, to be fair, I've lived in the STL area all my life. I'm not impressed with Imo's. I'd rather have some dough with my toppings ;) Or, as I tell my friends, "if I wanted a cracker, I'd buy some saltines." Gimme deep dish any day.
Posted by: Jim on July 8, 2008 12:51 PMPip - Talk to me about Houston weather...Coming from Eastern Canada, specially Northern Ontario, I could hardly breathe in that semi-tropical atmosphere. We ran from our air-conditioned house to our air-conditioned car to another air-conditioned building. No fun swimming in the warm Gulf of Mexico when you're used to a cool Laurentian Lake. The only comfortable place to be during the summer months was in a pool. The British had rented this adequate bungalow for us with no pool!!! That's when I learned all about American hospitality. My children nearly lived in my neighbours'pools. They were fed lunch and supper at the BBQ grill on the patio, and then, back in the water. Could hardly drag them home for the night!
Houston: warm, humid climate...warm, generous people. Still miss the company and the accent after 40 years!
Posted by: Claudia on July 8, 2008 02:52 PM"matzo topped by Velveeta" LOL! IMO's may be popular in St. Louis, but that description isn't far off. Maybe it depends on which one you go to though.
Posted by: Phil on July 10, 2008 10:17 AM