ingenious innovation: shoe goo

I like shoes. A lot.
I think about them,
shop for them,and
have favorite pairs.

I got these Birkenstocks
in Germany over
TEN YEARS AGO. They
were falling apart and I
still could not throw
them out.
Shoe Goo to the rescue!
They are now good as
new.

on the up and up

a

The annual hot air balloon race was this weekend in St. Louis so Ann, Pirate and me went to Forest Park (gosh I love that place) to have a picnic and watch the slow moving action. We took a paddle boat out so we could peddle around the lake and see the balloons fly overhead while Pirate lounged.

popeye picnic

On Saturday I took a drive to Chester, Illinois, the home of E.C. Segar who created Popeye the Sailor man and developed his characters based on people in his town. Every year there is a festival celebrating Segar and Popeye's clan. This year's theme: Popeye in Little Egypt, hence the Pharaoh Popeye sand sculpture.

lazy days

Labor Day weekend was spent in St. Louis this year, my favorite close getaway. As always, there was a trip to Forest Park to say hi to Mr. Saint Louis. But this time there was even more walking around town: to the older parts of the city to look at the brick homes and sidewalks, the Loop to window shop, to Union Station to see the fish, and the new Citygarden downtown, full of sculpture and plants. Pirate loves vacations because we always seem to find new smells and new pet stores, which means a new toy... or two.