Mansard des gendarmes

Affton police substation on Gravois Road.  I know I am technically incorrect:  this is probably not architecturally a mansard roof and "gendarmes" refers to the French national police, not really the local beat cops.  But here you have it anyway- a bad mansard police station.

Barcycle

What?  You don't have one of these in your neighborhood?  This is a barcycle.  You and your people pedal and drink while a driver navigates the barcycle from bar to bar.  I've read the barcycle has been idle while undergoing scrutiny bythe taxi commission.

Not Musick to my ears

On my way to a swimming meet in Sunset Hills, I spied this bad mansard perched atop a South County hill.  "NO MOM!" the kids shouted in unison as I turned around to get a picture.  This house is located on Musick Drive off of Gravois Road very close to Grant's Farm.  

That's what I pretty much did this week- drive back and forth on Gravois.  Not my usual geographic routine but at least I found another bad mansard.  

Exciting things to open!

 I love my calendars.  I use Outlook at work and ical at home and both feed to my iphone.  I also subscribe to my husbands work travel schedule.  I have color codes for everything.  Red for work, pink for school, purple for Girl Scouts, orange for sports, etc.  I have just one paper calendar I hang in the kitchen to keep the kids reminded of relevant dates.  Without my calendar, I am lost. 

I have a category called "neighborhood need to know".  Things like festivals, openings, closings, etc.  A small but important category.

Four dates have me excited.

July 14- reopening of the Grand Bridge.  Finally.  The span from highway 40 to Chouteau will re-open.  Holy Smokes it's been a while waiting on this one and the roads handling Grand's load have been a mess (Vandeventer, Compton).  During the school year the Grand bridge affects me greatly because I use it to get to my kids school from downtown.  And then during the summer my kids go to camp at SLU and how great it will be to pick up the big kids at SLU and get to Mimi's preschool in Shaw without dealing with the congested mess of Vandeventer/Chouteau/Manchester/etc?.  (This week the kids are all at different camps at Hampton/Gravois- Gus at karate, Audrey at Willmore Park, Kay at Cor Jesu).

July 27- Opening ceremony for the Olympics.  I confess. I am an Olympics junkie.  I will watch the Olympics for 3 weeks straight. I think I've even planned the births of my children around the Olympics.  I have good memories of watching the Olympics in the middle of the night while breastfeeding (Mimi Beijing 2008, Gus Turin 2006).  I was pregnant with Kay (Sydney 2000) and Audrey (Salt Lake 2002).    I planned this year's summer vacation around the Olympics so I wouldn't miss any coverage.  I will be glued to my TV.  See this post from my 63104 mom tumblr for an Olympic encounter with 1996 Magnificent 7 member Shannon Miller:  LINK.

December 2012- reopening of St. Louis Public Library's downtown branch.  I am so excited to see the remodel.  Love sunny Barr Branch, but Central is so much bigger.

Sometime in the future- a Great River Greenways trail expansion from downtown all the way down to the River des Peres trail.  If I have my information correct, I'd be able to get from my house in Soulard to a trail along the Mississippi that would then take me to the River des Peres trail or northward to downtown and beyond.  Does anyone know how exciting that would be?   If there was a Sidney Street trail head, I'd be only about 1/4 mile from the trail.  As opposed to now where we have to load up the bikes and drive to a trail.  With 4 kids, that doesn't happen very often.  I'd need an industrial bike trailer to get those bikes around.  See here:  LINK.

Lemay

Poor Lemay.  It's a little hamlet right where St. Louis' south city ends and south county begins.  And for that reason, both the city and county people make fun of the hoosiers in Lemay.  Admittedly, Lemay is a little rough.  In fact, I think the people in Lemay would proudly tell you it's a little rough.  As in "I wouldn't want to get into a bar fight in Lemay."  But I know folks from Lemay and for the most part they are hard working, honest folks who like cold Busch beer and biker bars.

Bar fights and hoosiers aside, Lemay is an important place.  It it a very old part of St. Louis going back to when a French guy named Lemai had a ferry service over the nearby Mississippi River (thus the street name Lemay Ferry).  It has some nice sturdy homes and attractive architecture.

This poor building, not so much.  A bad mansard front and a solid brick behind.  And why was I driving through Lemay?  See below.  Softball game. 

Audrey jumping.  I wish I could tell you she was fielding a ball but really just doing an action pose for me. 

Brune

Brown mansard, Grove neighborhood, Chouteau Ave.  I snapped this picture on my way to the K9 Athletic Club to pick up our mongrel dog Otto from doggy daycare.  Did I really just write that?  It's true.  Otto spent the day frolicking with his doggy friends.  He loves going there.  Otto actually got his start in the Grove.  He was found as a puppy roaming the streets and was turned in by a homeless woman.  

Here is a photo of him in Francis Park.  My older daughter had a soccer practice at Nottingham school.