NBC-10-Philadelphia-kimwolterman

Each year since the St. Louis Cardinals opened their new stadium they have had a Founders Day at the ballpark. Jim and I have been lucky enough to go to three of the events. Since we share our group of four season tickets it is not always easy to score admission to this. Hot dogs, brats, nachos, pretzels, popcorn, ice cream and soda are all free. You can take a tour of the team locker room and dugouts, have your picture taken with the World Series trophy, get autographs from retired players, and other fun things.

David Evans & Patrick Renna

This year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the movie The Sandlot (and how can that possibly be?), the director of the movie and one of the stars were at the stadium. They answered questions from the fans and later signed movies and posters that were available for sale that night. But best of all they played the movie on the giant screen in the stadium! You could sit in the seats or take a spot on the grass in the outfield. What a great evening! We have many fond memories of watching that movie with our son, who was playing ball himself at the time. How wonderful that a whole new group of children is being introduced to this family film. The weather was perfect, the company was exceptional, and we all cheered at the happy ending. Play ball!

The Missouri Botanical Garden fountain

Jim and I took a nice long walk at the Missouri Botanical Garden this morning, cameras in hand. This is my favorite time of year as the trees explode in shades of yellow, red and orange. Surprisingly the garden was not too crowded, even when we left for home around noon. Everyone must have been over at the zoo or something. Too bad for them, as we had the garden mostly to ourselves.

I love that the garden has their main fountain dyed red in support of the St. Louis Cardinals. The fountain definitely rivaled the trees in terms of bright red! We were entertained by a bird having a quick bath in one of the fountains. I imagined him laughing at the other birds as they took a drink from the same place he had been bathing!

Bird bath

Splish splash I was takin' a bath

Japanese Garden

- Don't judge a winner from the score

- You may be down but you are not out

- It takes a team

and the number one takeaway...

- The Cardinals never give up, and neither do their fans!

Today I was passing through Lambert International Airport in St. Louis when I came upon this balloon archway supporting the St. Louis Cardinals efforts in the World Series. It is such a fun tribute to the Cardinals, and I found myself wondering if that is the concourse the team will be coming through when they come back from Texas.

I flew down to Charleston today for a visit to Folly Beach, and I went to a bar/grill for supper and to catch part of the game. Some guys in the bar, of course getting louder the more they drank, began to first make fun of this series because, after all, who cares about the Cardinals or the Rangers. I could ignore that, and their terrible attempts to sing along with the music in the bar, until they started the name calling. When Albert came up to bat, one of them shouted that Albert was just a fat, stupid fag. At that point I decided to leave and finish watching the game in my townhouse. It is hard to believe how ignorant people can be.

We had a block party yesterday, and 181 men, women and children were there! Wow! I'd like to take credit for the idea as a neighbor and I had tossed around the notion of shutting down Maple Avenue for a party. But two women over on Portland Terrace beat us to the punch and organized the whole thing. They included multiple blocks and went so far as to set up a directory of everyone who responded so that we know who lives where. They ordered up a large inflatable jump pumpkin for the bigger kids and someone provide a small inflatable castle for the little ones. Porters chicken and tea, lemonade and water was provided (we all chipped in $5 per adult and $3 per child to cover that and other miscellaneous expenses). Even numbered houses brought appetizers or side dishes, and odd numbered houses provided the desserts.

I walked over at 2:30 to help set up the tables and chairs and then headed back home to get Jim, the dessert and two chairs. Jim had just returned from an overnight motorcycle trip, so I had to wait for him to shower and change. Then we headed over to the party, which was in full swing by then. It was great to meet so many new people (new to me if not to the neighborhood), especially the lady across the street who has been using my book to research the history of their home. I know her husband quite well, but she is extremely shy so I have only waved to her in passing. I also met another man who recently wrote a book about why we climb mountains; a bit of psychology thrown in as I understand it. We are going to get together and chat.

The party broke up just after 7 so we were able to get home in time to watch the Cardinals. Unfortunately it was already 4-0 so we missed whatever the Cards did big in the first inning. It was an exciting game to watch nonetheless. Go Cards!

Labor Day weekend has been a lot of fun so far. On Saturday our daughter-in-law's parents came over to spend Saturday and Sunday with us. We are so blessed that we enjoy every member of Megan's family! We decided to grill hamburgers and brats for lunch since we were going to the Cardinals game which began at 3:15. I tried a new macaroni salad recipe that suggested you make it the night before. I appreciated that hint since I prefer to have as little as possible left to do once my company arrives. We also made an ice cream pie for dessert and that, too, could be made Friday night.

Saturday morning I was able to put together the french toast casserole that I wanted to serve Sunday morning, because it also is best made the day before and refrigerated. So all we had left to do was assemble the condiments and grill the meat. Of course the day would end up with high humidity and a temperature of 100 degrees at the ballpark. Whew! Fortunately our seats were in the shade by that time of the day. We ended up getting rained on though, which was a welcome relief from the heat. The temperature dropped and the Cards won the game - so, perfect!

Following the game we went to McGuirks for supper, and were actually able to score a table in their lovely patio area. It was a very pleasant night to eat outside. Then we headed back home for some dessert.

Sunday we had the french toast casserole, fruit and Canadian bacon for breakfast, and then decided to see what the crowds were like at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The Japanese Festival is going on this weekend, so I expected it to be packed. We did have to park in the far west lots, but once we got inside it was really not all that crowded. With a temperature of 68 degrees, what a difference from the day before at the game! Cheryl and Allen had never been before, so they very much enjoyed themselves. We definitely need to take them back in the spring or early summer when so much more is blooming, but the chance to see the festival was an opportunity that we didn't want to miss. We had a late lunch and then they had to hit the road for home. It was so wonderful to see them as we hadn't had a chance to visit since Christmas.

Tomorrow we also have tickets to the ballgame, so our friends are coming over for lunch and going to the game with us. With a predicted high of 75 degrees, it will be a wonderful day for the game. But I must say that I have been doing quite a bit of laboring on this Labor Day weekend. I'll be tired tomorrow night!