Waiting in Hope – Art Hill Sledding Straw Bales – Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri

After one early snowfall in November, our winter here in St. Louis has been a rather tepid affair. I know some would choose to replace “tepid” with “moderate” or “temperate” or “blissful,” but while I enjoy the lower energy bills and even some of the temperate days, the lack of snow has been depressing. And, so, I was very glad to find that at the very least the straw bales have been placed at the base of Art Hill and it at least is ready for snow days.

Normally at this time of the year the perfect curve of the bales would have been dented and misshapen by the feet of a hundred sledders crashing into it, but today it still remained in perfect coencentricity with the curve of the Grand Basin. I might wish that those two curves were a bit closer, allowing more real estate for sledding, but I am very glad that the bales are there.

There may be a greater city for urban sledding–there are certainly ones with more snow–but when the weather is right, the views from the hill looking both up and down, the wide expanse of the hill allowing for hundreds of sledders, the two bonfires lit by the city, and the camaraderie amongst the sledders all make Art Hill rather hard to beat! Snow, please don’t let us down!

Blumeyer Public Housing Project Demolition in Rain – Grand Center, St. Louis, Missouri – St. Louis Housing Authority

Blogstagram – At Dusk in Forest Park – Jewel Box, Chase Park Plaza, & Wetlands

“this night the sun” – Sunset Haiku

this night the sun slipped
by so still, eschewing the
the gaudiness of clouds

“winter light tells all” – Haiku and Image

winter light tells all
the truth, but tells it slant, just
like miss em’ly said

Into the Blue – Canadas Over Forest Park – St. Louis, Missouri

Blogstagram – Sycamore

These trees not only present the most interesting shades of beige and brown and white, but the bark can make such interesting patterns, which the winter light angling down from the south puts in such nice relief in these shots.

Cathedral of Ice – Forest Park – St. Louis, Missouri

If you are a snow and winter lover as am I, the St. Louis winter this year has been a bit of a disappointment. However, we did have several very cold days this week which was long enough to make some of the ponds in the area skateable. I came upon this scene by a very lovely pond which is on the northeast corner of the park, along Lindell Boulevard. These pictures are of a large pipe which pours water into the pond to keep part of it free of ice for the ducks, only the weather had made its spray freeze creating this amazing, translucent enclosure and fantastical ice shapes.

Pod and Vine – Milkweed in Black and White

Nest – Forest Park Wetlands – St. Louis, Missouri