Postcard from Memphis

Sunset over the mighty Mississippi

Last weekend we took some time out and drove south to Memphis.  There's a whole lot of not very much between St. Louis and Memphis - makes for a very easy 4-hour drive (especially if you're not the one driving!!).  As we drove across the bridge towards the city I wondered when the river was going to stop - it's far wider than in St. Louis and was very obviously higher than normal.  The trees in the photo above are not the opposite bank, they're just on an islet mid-river.

Beale Street

After getting drenched in a sudden downpour we explored Beale Street, home of the blues.  

Unsurprisingly it's full of blues clubs, bars and restaurants.  We had our first taste of Memphis-style BBQ on Beale Street ....yum!!!

Graceland Mansion 

You can't visit Memphis without a trip to Graceland (well, technically it probably is possible but we weren't going to miss out on the experience).  Mansion is a little bit grand name for it - it's really just a large house.

This is the first room you see and it was my favourite - those peacocks are just lovely!  The rest of the house was just as you'd expect - a little bit over the top and not in very good taste, but considering Elvis died in the '70's it was probably all the latest fashion back then! 

Above the pool table in the basement

A lot of the rooms were very dark and hard to photograph.  I did snap this fabric covered ceiling though - an amazing amount of fabric was pleated for this.  I really don't envy whoever had to install it all!  

Lots of gold records.

And more!

Elvis' Grave

The mansion was interesting to visit.  Then there were the airplanes, the car museum, various other exhibits covering his childhood in Tupelo and his time in Hawaii .... and the largest number of gift shops I have ever, ever seen squashed into quite a small area!  

We also visited Sun Studio and the Rock 'n' Soul museum.

And we had a really interesting tour round the Gibson guitar factory.

So, that was our weekend in Memphis!  Did I mention we liked the BBQ?  We might have to go back sometime for the food!!

Postcard from St. Louis 3

Fountains in the Grand Basin

It really is a gorgeous day today - very warm and pleasant outside.  The weather has been all over the place since we arrived last month with some days reaching 30 degrees ... but then it cools right down again.  Today is the last good day this week - storms and a cold front are moving in tonight and it's going to be wet and cool.   So, when Andy said he needed to get to the zoo for 08:30 this morning for a meeting, I decided to drive him over there and take a wander round Forest Park.

The park was created in the late 19th century and was the site of the 1904 world fair and summer olympics.  St. Louisans are very proud that Forest Park is bigger than New York's Central Park!!  

The art museum

The park is home to many of St. Louis' attractions - the zoo, the art museum, the science centre and planetarium and Missouri's history museum and entrance to all of them is - unbelievably - free meaning Forest Park is a very popular destination!  It also boasts an open air theatre, plenty of open space for festivals, golf courses, tennis courts and lots of parking.

World Fair Pavilion

And it's not all formal parkland.  

If I can take the summer heat I think I'll be driving up here for many more early morning walks.

Boating lake

Last week our air freight arrived and I was reunited with some of my craft projects.  Progress is slow at the moment, not least because I started knitting a cardigan and decided yesterday to frog it and start over!  There will be some craft progress on this blog soon ... but first we're driving down to Memphis for the weekend;  photos to follow!

Postcard from St. Louis 2.

The Basilica of St. Louis (the 'old' cathedral) and the Gateway Arch

The Basilica survived the demolition of many blocks of waterfront buildings to make way for the construction of the arch and its park.  It looks a little bit like a toy church when you see the two together from this vantage point (the deck of our apartment block) and really brings home how big the arch is (630 feet or 192 metres tall ... and wide).

I decided to be brave and venture up inside the arch on Monday when it was quiet and there were no queues.  More importantly it meant that the teeny, tiny, little pods that you travel up and down in weren't packed full!!

Looking due west

You can see the Old Courthouse in the centre with City Garden stretching out behind it (where many of the sculptures are).  On the left you can just see the ball park.

South west looking through a very dirty window ... made me think about who gets the job of cleaning windows way up there or do they not bother and just hope the rain does a good job?!

The most notable landmark here is Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals baseball team.  Our apartment block and Andy's office block are also in the picture ... but neither are very pretty or noteworthy!  Andy probably has his shortest commute to work ever - it's less than a ten-minute walk!  Most of the high-rises in the picture are hotels. 

North west

More hotels and the conference centre (in front of and attached to the Edward Jones dome - the flat white building) which is home to the Rams, St. Louis' NFL (American football) team.  We're not short of sporting venues - or hotels - round here!

Looking East

I haven't ventured over to the other side of the Mississippi yet - that's Illinois over there!  Frankly it's not a great view - there's a casino (the red building to the left) and some industrial buildings.  These photos were taken on Monday and the river is a lot higher now - we're five feet over flood stage and it's still rising.  I know it always looks sunny in my photos (I'll admit to being a fair weather photographer!), but we've had a lot of rain in the last week both here and further upstream.... that combined with melting snow from further north means there's a more water coming our way.

Inside the top of the arch!

There isn't a lot of space at the top ... I'm so glad that I had already been up and come down before our building manager told me about her brother being stuck up there for 2 hours with a party of school kids the other week when a fuse blew and the trams stopped working!!  

More photos soon - I'm not tired of playing tourist yet!!

Postcard from St. Louis

Old Courthouse with Gateway Arch behind. The water in the fountain has a pink tinge - remnants of the red dye they put in last weekend for the start of the baseball season (red is the local team's colour!)

Greetings from sunny St. Louis!!  We've been here a full week now and we're still exploring.  St. Louis isn't a big city - I'm told it has roughly the same population as Frankfurt but spread over a much larger area.  

Would you like to see some of the sights?

Gateway Arch

The arch was completed in 1965 and is made from stainless steel which glints beautifully in the sun.  There are two trams that go up inside the legs of the arch and there is a viewing platform at the top.  The arch is the focal point of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial ... underneath the arch is a museum which celebrates the pioneers who left from St. Louis to explore westwards to the Pacific ocean.  

We haven't yet been up to the top of the arch, but it's definitely on our list!

Busch Stadium

Baseball seems almost to be a religion round here.  The local team is the Cardinals and they seem to be very successful.  We live right across from the ball park, so we're going to learn a lot about baseball in the next few months!!  

City Garden

There is an unbelievable number of sculptures in this city!

BB's Jazz Blues & Soups

St. Louis has a lot of jazz and blues clubs.  Last weekend we went to BB's with friends for some great music and fantastic ribs!  We'll definitely be going back there and we'll also be trying to get some tickets for Chuck Berry's gigs - he plays once a month at another local club and tickets sell out very quickly!

And I really can't post from St. Louis without a photo of the Mississippi:

The river really isn't all that picturesque (am I allowed to say that?!) and the opposite bank is quite industrial.  The river won't look this calm soon as we're expecting flooding.  We had a lot of rain during Thursday's storms, but upstream they had even more and all that water is now heading downstream to us.

There you have it.  I'll take some more photos soon!

Just Quickly...

... there is some packing to do as our air freight leaves tomorrow and we should be on a flight on Friday, so there really isn't time to unpack my camera and take photos!  But still!!

This is a wee zip pouch that I made for the neighbour who will be keeping an eye on my mail box over the next few months.  I've arranged a redirect but there'll still be all those annoying free papers and advertisements that get left despite my polite notice asking them not to.  Love the Klimt-style design of the fabric!

And I obviously needed a new iPad sleeve for the trip, didn't I?  I made this a little larger than the last one, so that I can keep a few more bits in there.  Made in a practical cotton canvas that has been in my stash for yonks using the laptop sleeve instructions in You Sew Girl's laptop bag pattern.  The binding is better than the last one I made ... not sure if that's down to practice or the new machine.

Sadly the new machine has been packed away and some yarn projects have been selected to go in the air freight.  In just a few days time I'll be getting over jet lag in St Louis and pondering what to do next ... I reckon I'll be playing tourist for a while, so watch this space for some photo posts!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Spring Sewing

Spring is officially here, but no-one seems to have informed the weather!  It's getting colder again and more snow is expected this weekend.  However I have a touch of spring indoors with these tulips that my students gave me yesterday.  It was my last morning teaching before we head to the US in a few weeks.

I'm going to spend those weeks getting to know my new sewing machine:

It is really very good and hasn't taken as much getting used to as I thought it might, although to be fair I haven't tried out all its gizmos.

I whipped up a purse just to test it out!

Just the right size for passport and phone and a few other bits and bobs.  Made using the Keyka Lou (Michelle Patterns) zip pocket pouch pattern.

Then I tried out the quilting foot and it works like a dream - no more issues with 1/4" seams as the foot has a built-in fabric guide.  Perfect (well, apart from my substandard ironing - but I can fix that!).

I think a new iPad sleeve is next on the list.  If anyone wants me, I'm sewing!!

Bits and Pieces

I treated myself to some craft magazines when we were over in the UK last week.  I think I'll get a lot more use out of Inside Crochet, but it was interesting to finally get my hands on a copy of Mollie Makes and to see what all the fuss is about.

I'm currently going through my box of patterns and my stash to find portable projects to take with me to St. Louis next month.  I think the waistcoat above will be one of the first on my list as I just happen to have some yarn that might work for it.  The other patterns in the book are all very traditional aran cardis and sweaters ... I'll leave those for another time and a different yarn.  The good news is that my osteopath says there is no reason I can't start knitting and crocheting again now!

Other projects that I might take with me include:

- a crocheted silk shawl for me (the silk is gorgeous and I can't wait to make it),

- the last blocks for my crochet afghan (you know, the one that was supposed to be finished in 2012!),

- I've got some sashiko templates ready to play with and an old linen shirt that I'm going to recycle as the background fabric

- and my hairpin lace loom will be going with me along with a stunning Doris Chan pattern that I want to try

That's looking frighteningly like a To Do list, so I'll stop there.  It's quite nice to be able to plan a few projects though after months of doing nothing though!!

On the sewing front, I've been battling with my machine for a while.  It has done really well but it's no longer possible to have it repaired as spare parts are no longer available.  So after 27 years it is being retired and I've just placed the order for its replacement.  Not an easy purchase decision - far too much choice and so many features that I'm just not sure that I want / need / will understand!  All very confusing but I plumped for a mid-range Janome.  Hopefully it will arrive very soon and I'll be able to start getting my head round the controls before I head stateside ... I deliberately bought a model that is also available in the UK so I could download the manual in English (my learning from last year's overlocker purchase!).  

Guess what my bedtime reading is for the next few days?!!