• Forest Park - Everyone who's ever been to St. Louis more than once knows about Forest Park. Most people have no idea, though, how much it has to offer. We went all over Forest Park last weekend, and I was shocked at how large it is and how much stuff there is to see and participate in. We saw great show at the Muny and were really impressed with the Art Museum and Missouri History Museum. And of course, spend some time at the zoo. Map.
• The Delmar Loop - West of the city, this area is rich with activity and college kids. Definitely check out Blueberry Hill, which is owned by Chuck Berry, Fitz root beer brewery, and Vintage Vinyl. There are also some nice clubs, shops, restaurants, etc. Map. Website.
• Lafayette Square - This was probably the biggest delight of my trip. This is a fairly newly renovated area with a killer park and some mouth watering apartments. There are lots of cool shops and cafes to browse through. The coolest is definitely Bailey's Chocolate Bar. Don't ever go to St. Louis again without stopping here for a drink and some cake. Also, drive around Lafayette Square and just look at the old neighborhoods. Map. Website.
• Anheuser-Busch Brewery - Everyone knows about it, but surprisingly, not that many people have been there that I know. It's a huge, old complex. The buildings alone are great to gawk at, giving you the nostalgic feeling that only industrial America can give. The simple tour is free and really interesting. It takes about an hour, and everyone gets two free 11 ounce samples of beer at the end. You can also take the Beermaster's tour for $25. I haven't done that one yet. Map. Website.
• City Museum - Walking into the City Museum is like stepping onto a set of a Guillermo del Toro children's movie. They basically took anything they could find in a junkyard and glued it to the walls and said, "Climb on this." It's amazing. Take your kids, but don't expect to ever see them again, because they can literally crawl through any wall in this huge old building for 5 stories. The people that created this live on the top floor, I heard. They must be the most creative people in town. Map. Website.
• Eat - We ate a lot. Two notables were Companion and the Schlafly Taproom. Companion is a little cafe in Clayton that bakes fresh bread and some incredible egg casseroles. You have to eat there. Schlafly is a microbrewery with a couple restaurants. My friend Campbell said the one called "Bottleworks" has a great sardine sandwich. I hope to try it next time. The sticky toffee pudding, however, changed my life. It's the best thing that's ever touched my lips. If you have even one ounce of respect for me as a food guy, drive to St. Louis tonight and eat some. They also have great root beer.
• Drive - Then if you have time, take a drive down Interstate 55 south from St. Louis. It's beautiful - rolling hills, trees, pastures, vineyards, the whole bit. If you get all the way to Sikeston, MO, eat at the original Lambert's.

A debate for the Democratic candidates in the 21st congressional district will be held on Sunday, August 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Town Hall, Delaware Avenue in Delmar. Doors will open at 4 p.m. The five Democratic candidates, Tracey Brooks, Darius Shahinfar, Phil Steck, Joe Sullivan and Paul Tonko, have all confirmed. The debate is sponsored by Democracy for the Hudson Mohawk Region (DFHMR) and supported by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace (BNP). Co-Chairs for the event are Bruce Bushart representing Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace and Kate Powers representing Democracy for the Hudson Mohawk Region. The public and press are invited.

What: 21st Congressional Democratic Debate
Who: Democratic Congressional Candidates
When: Sunday, August 24, 5pm-7pm. Doors open at 4pm
Where: Bethlehem Town Hall Gymnasium, Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY

Anne-Marie Berger looks back at the history of Ivory Perry Park in North St. Louis. The park was the original home of Visitation Academy, but in 1963, the school moved to Ballas Road and Highway 40. After a period of great decline, the park and its surrounding neighborhood have come together for outdoor concerts on every fourth Sunday this summer.

Howard reported that Linda's Railroad Cafe in downtown Delmar has closed. He says it is displacing "seasoned citizens" who would drink coffee there. This is not good. Linda's closing has displaced the 65+ crowd and Starbucks closing has displaced the 40 and under crowd. So far no report if those between the ages of 40 and 65 still drink coffee anywhere.

All this coffee news brings me to this thought. Why isn't there a decent coffee place in Laurel? Is there one I just don't know about?

I have often mourned the lack of a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in the area. Sure, you can grab them in the grocery store or stop by Royal Farm or Shore Stop and get some. Those are not like the fresh tasty doughnuts you'd get in a Krispy Kreme. And there is nothing like hot glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. A very close second is a beignet from Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. In my opinion, both businesses have some great coffee.

My coffee at home is almost always ground just before brewing. It just tastes better. The brand of choice is Eight O'Clock Coffee, either regular or Columbian. One of those childhood memories was walking into the A&P in Millsboro with my mom and smelling that Eight O'Clock coffee as it was being ground with those coffee grinders at the end of the checkout lanes. Ah!

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Links Relacionados:

DELMAR OFFICIAL WEBSITE (joya!)

The cupcake gang may have parted ways for the summer, but that doesn't mean the prowl for cupcake goodness ends at the borders of Manhattan.

Lemon Meringue returned to her native land of St. Louis still with the fresh scent of cake, frosting, and sprinkles in her nose. If St. Louis has created such greats as Chuck Berry, Nelly (...riding in a Range Rover), and Toasted Ravioli, it must also be the place for delicious cupcakes.

Since it opened in July 2007, Lemon Meringue has been eye-ing the polkadot and white front of Jilly's Cupcake Bar, nestled on the corner of I-70 and Delmar. Her fascination with the place started even before her induction into the gang. Gourmet cupcake bakeries here are as uncommon as non-St. Louisans knowing about St. Paul sandwiches.

Lemon Meringue and her cousin, Cousin Meringue, were on their way to their grandmother's house when they decided to stop by Jilly's to try the cupcakes. They walked into a pleasant shop where Lemon Meringue and the cupcakes were separated by bullet-proof glass. No one can be too sure about what will happen when non-threatening threatening cupcake gang members have the right to bear arms.

After much deliberation, Lemon Meringue and Cousin Meringue settled on the cookie monster cupcake and the red velvet. The cupcakes are $4.25 each, which is quite a hefty price. However, the cupcakes had quite the attractive exterior--Jilly's knows how to present their cupcakes right. Lemon Meringue and Cousin Meringue hoped the interior would be worth it.

They arrived at their grandma's house and met up with Cousin Key Lime who brought lunch. Their grandma had recently fractured her arm; so doing everyday things had become harder for her. Before any eating or cupcake consumption could happen, Lemon Meringue and fam had some cleaning to do, and boy, did grannie leave them a nasty kitchen.

The laborious work of ridding the kitchen tile of its grease stains was done, and then it was on to lunch. After an appetizing meal, it was time for what Lemon Meringue lived for: cupcake consumption.

Cousin Meringue quartered the cookie monster cupcake. The vanilla cake was fluffy and sweet. Lemon Meringue was expecting the frosting to be hard, but it was just as soft as the cake. Cousin Meringue described it as buttery. Although Lemon Meringue is quite the sour one, she admits to having a soft spot for soft rock. So she would describe the frosting as silky smooth like Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way."

"This cookie half looks like a Pac Man."

If the cake was money, it'd be $2.12. If the frosting was money, it'd be $2.13. Altogether that cookie monster was worth every penny.

On to the red velvet.

After Cousin Meringue prepared the red velvet cupcake for consumption, Lemon Meringue held her slice in her hand with wariness. She openly expressed that she might be disappointed again, especially after having had that Red Velvet cupcake from Crumbs, "which tasted a lot like sucking on a penny." Nevertheless Lemon Meringue ate the cupcake with an open mind.

"What does this one taste like? A quarter?" asked Cousin Key Lime.

If by quarter she was referring to George Washington's warning against partisanship in his Farewell Address, then yes, the red velvet cupcake tasted like a quarter. The actual cake in all its red glory was neither good nor bad, but something to munch on. (Lemon Meringue has come to the conclusion that perhaps she doesn't really know what red velvet is supposed to taste like or just doesn't care for it.) Fortunately, the frosting made up for the cake's neutrality. Hidden inside the cake was a brown surprise of what seemed to be caramel. After, finishing off the red velvet, Lemon Meringue noticed the taste of cheesecake. This cupcake was quite the Puppy Surprise.

In upholding the ideals of the cupcakeocracy, Jilly's Cupcake Bar has done it's honorable duty right in the heart of Middle America. Good cupcakes. Good surprises. Good times.

Surprise! It's the S'murtle.

Jilly's Cupcake Bar:

8509 Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis, MO
314.993.JILLY (5455)
www.jillyscupcakebar.com

Average cost of cupcake: $4.25

Hours:
Monday - Friday: 10am - 7pm ; Lunch served: 11am - 2pm
Brunch/Lunch served Saturday: 9am - 2pm ; Sunday: 9am-4pm

Brian talks about his adventures delivering pizzas.

Howard always has interesting posts on local history. This post about the old Benjamin's Department Store reminds you of the rich treasure of local stores once dominating the our cities and towns.

Oh yeah, Howard found another blogger from his neck of the woods: What A Smell.

Average Girl writes about her gas experiment.

IMAO reports that since this week's Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment guns have been out shooting people.

Paul provides a link to a site where you, yes you, can create your own Obama poster. Some of my ideas:

My daughter is trying out the blog world with Apryl's Conspiracy. After my prodding for at least a year, The Conservative Geek made his debut recently, hailing from the town too big for one state. Finally Corey Franklin Murphy is trying his hand in the blogosphere, joining the growing list of Laurel bloggers. Stop by and say hi!

Pienso en ti.

La tarde,
no es una tarde más;
es el recuerdo
de aquella otra, azul,
en que se hizo
el amor en nosotros
como un día
la luz en las tinieblas.

Y fue entonces más clara
la estrella, el perfume
del jazmín más cercano,
menos
punzantes las espinas,

Ahora,
al evocarla creo
haber sido testigo
de un milagro.

Fire In The Hole's web site is here. Their YouTube page is here.

I have heard rumors that it may re-open, but I would bet that those chances are now slim to none.

UPDATE: The Daily Times is reporting the fire was caused by the neon sign:

An investigation by the Delaware Fire Marshal's Office determined the cause of the fire was a result of an electrical malfunction of the neon lighting system located on the outside of the building.

Their story is here.

Delmar Dustpan has a great article on family grocery stores in Delmar from "back in the day". I don't know about many where I was raised over in eastern Sussex. I'm sure that they were at least as plentiful as in Delmar. There was a place in our neighborhood that was at one time a sub shop. It is currently someone's home, resting in a odd location well away from Central Avenue and other major roads. I am sure in it's time the location didn't matter if the food was good.

window display/yellow pages

Sometimes a sale window display can stop you cold in your tracks on a cold afternoon; yes, that dress (and installation) is crafted entirely out of yellow pages from a phone book . The window display is for Tantrum, located in the Delmar Loop (ie U City), an apparel store featuring trendy fashions although nothing nearly this avant-garde.

Although it is obscured by the reflection of Delmar boulevard on the glass surface of the window display, a large "SALE" sign is obscured in a monosaturated mess to the manikan's right. So if you're looking for what The Loop Special Business District website call "Sexy men's & women's fashions from L.A." you might want to try looking up their number.

While you're there, if especially if you bring a special someone, be sure to check out Love in the Loop this Thursday February 14th. This Valentine's Day celebration with participating businesses is sure to impress your date, with special deals for shopping (see also: the picture), dining (including a red rose for reservation making couples), and "two for one" tickets to a film playing in the Tivoli Theater on the holiday.

The letter I received from Pastor Brown is here.

In addition, the first grade students at Dunbar Elementary will be using some of the data for their study of weather. Those students will focus on weather patterns and their influence on living things (at a very observational level).

Other middle schools in Delaware also received weather stations, including Seaford Middle and Delmar Middle Schools.

Anyone can view data from the Laurel Middle School weather station on Weather Underground. Currently, it is also the default reporting station on Weather Underground for the ZIP Code 19956. We are fortunate to have two local weather stations in Laurel, the other being operated by Delmarva Tech Solutions.

I reported about this earlier.

UPDATE: I just called the Bonanzas in Millsboro and Pocomoke City. Someone answered the phone in Millsboro and informed me that they were closed. I didn't get an answer in Pocomoke City, so I would assume they are also closed.

UPDATE 2: WBOC has a longer update, probably the last of the news on this.

I understand that the Milford Bonanza has already closed. When I called them this evening, no one answered. I called the Millsboro Bonanza and inquired about their hours of business. The young lady that answered gave me the hours without any indication that they would be closing. I didn't inquire further. I got the same response when I called the Pocomoke City, Maryland location. In addition, when I called the Delmar location, they gave me the hours of operation without indicating they would close. So they are not telling their customers yet.

I hope you all will offer prayers for those that have become unemployed. If you know someone effected, do more than just pray. Offer to help them.

On the web: Bonanza Restaurants on Delmarva and Bonanza & Ponderosa

Delmar Dustpan is also on the case.

Of course St. Louis has a number of great used book stores, many of which sell books currently out of print.  Subterranean is only one of those bookstores, located on the Delmar Loop.  You should probably already have heard about the store, since it just won Best Bookstore (indepdenant) in the RFT's annual "Best of St. Louis" issue for something like the 5th time in past 7 years.

Of course the used books at this store were already bargains (for the most part), so we suggest paying this sale a visit for that book you've eyed up the last couple times but put off until you had more money and time.  You might have the money now, but time only means someone else finds it first.  Finders keepers.

"Referrers" tells me from where my visitors came. I get a load from Delmar Dustpan, for which I have and continue to thank Howard for the link. Another Delmar blog, A Woman's Point of View, also sends some traffic my way, to which I need to say "thanks Karen." Michael at Monoblogue has also sent traffic my way. Thanks are extended to him as well.

In addition to numbers and links, I can also see the search terms visitors were using making their way to the site. Some are just strange. How about "life of a male prostitute"? Or "free married on valentine"? Here are three more odd ones: "old married couple poem", "mash up baby name", "rudy gingrich bathing suit", "star fox barf bag", and "why I shouldn't speed on the road". My two favorites of the ones listed are "life" and "old married".

Google has a site, Google Trends, where you can see what Internet users in the USA are looking for. One night I was on Trends right after watching "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" on Fox. I noticed that several of the top searches were for answers to that night's questions. Analysis of this discovery should follow, but I will leave that one alone for now.

From last Thursday's performance during the Play:stl kickoff party, the drummer of The October plays his sparkling drum set under the stage lights in the Duck Room of Blueberry Hill. This invite only event saw several acts play through the venue, and we even got a little gift bag (more on that in a bit).

As with other festivals, its been fun to see photos trickle onto the internet from the events. A great deal of those counter perspectives are available on FlickR under the obvious tag Play:STL.

We also took some performance video, but considering the dearth of intelectual property issues playing out with our friends, we're probably better off keeping it for personal use.

Our drama/dance team Illuminate provided the visual demonstrations of several songs. We had the adults and the children performing during their time.

While being tied to the performances, I didn't get out to do much else. I got to sit with my wife and kids, make some last minute adjustments to our sets, down a hot dog and water, and say hi to Howard from Delmar Dustpan. I understand through the course of the day some of our members prayed for 30 people, several of which crossed the line of faith and became Christians. I thought we had a great group of people attend. Hopefully we'll get to do this again.

I almost forgot. Right in the middle of things, there was a fender bender out on State Street. The funny part about that was the crowd's response to the accident: everyone said "Oooo" on cue. Someone did slip over to the cars to check on them and hand out some hot dogs and prayer while they waited for the police.

Behind the scenes, a lot of prep work went in to getting everything ready for the event. I wasn't able to help much with the setup because of my shoulder surgery, although two of my sons were there helping with some of the grunt work. I was told that we cleaned up everything and got it off the grounds within 30 minutes. That's a stage, sound equipment, tables, grills, etc.

Here's a link to Delmar Dustpan's coverage. Always a pleasure to see you Howard. Salisbury News stopped by and snapped some photos. Sorry I didn't get to say hi, Joe.

The crew handling the hot dogs: Mary, Dwayne, Steven D. Whyte, and Johnny.

Illuminate's first performance.

The "Illuminites" - the kids on the team.

The Praise Team musicians (I'm on the keyboard). Lin's on the bass, and Mike's on the guitar.

Perry is on the drums, but he's hiding behind Mike.

Our Praise Team vocals, Jayme, Lou Ann, and Alanna. Unfortunately, you've got to look at Mike and Perry's drums again.

Lin and I join Mike during one of his sets.

Finally, it's me. Yeah, I'm not much to look at, but it's my blog. Deal with it.

Right now for Saturday, Accuweather is forcasting "very warm with sunshine mixing with some clouds" and a daytime high of 87. A bit warm for September but nice for a day outside!

Patrick Murphy visits the Third Degree Glass Factory on Delmar where he learns the art of glass blowing.

Jennifer Roller catches up with author and illustrator Mary Engelbreit. Her popular cartoons and drawings earned Engelbreit a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in the Delmar Loop.