I experienced a beautiful long weekend. On Friday my parents and I headed to St. Louis to see the special pre-Raphealite exhibit that closes at the end of the month. There were several exemplary pieces, but I felt there was a lot of “filler,” especially in the area of decorative arts. I know, I know, William Morris created beauty in textiles as well as in paintings, but some of the pieces in the collection didn’t even fall in that category, which the audio tour even admitted to. Nevertheless, it was wonderful seeing some of Rosetti’s pieces in person.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed over to the St. Louis Zoo. It was definitely spring, and the animals were feeling quite frisky. We watched the mating ritual of a peacock and peahen; the peacock needs to be beautiful, because the actual mating doesn’t seem to impress the peahen much. There was a four month old King Penguin who looked like the character in Happy Feet. Very fluffy, gray feathers, he looked like the odd-man-out surrounded by the others in their black and white coloring. We also visited the primate environment they opened up last year, and I was happy to see the animals looked much more at home.

We finished the day with dinner, a trip to Trader Joe’s (my first opportunity to visit one), and World Market. By the time we were done, we’d missed rush hour traffic and made it home without any problems.

I spent the rest of the weekend puttering around the house. I wanted to move my deck furniture into place, but once I got the debris cleared off, I decided I need to power wash it first. If I can get that done this week, I’ll be able to spend part of next weekend in my hammock.

I’m currently listening to the John Butler Trio’s “Sunrise over the Sea” album. Excellent tunes.