Scale Models in Springfield; Flowers and Recognition at Church

Early Saturday morning (16 May), I drove to Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. There, I got into Morris' minivan with Jim Triola and David Thomas to begin traveling to Springfield, Missouri. We of IPMS Gateway were going to MOSS CON, the annual contest and vendor fair presented to IPMS Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists. 

Along the way, we picked up Randy Kleeschulte and continued on our journey., stopping in St. James for breakfast at McDonald's. After about three and a half hours of travel, our party arrived at the Arc of the Ozarks facility in Springfield, where MOSS CON took place. Six other Gateway members traveled separately to the show.

After paying our admission and registration fees, we made our way to the contest area. I brought three models--two aircraft and a ship--to enter. After placing the models on the contest tables, I started to make my way around the room, talking with people I knew, purchasing some raffle tickets, and browsing among the contest models and vendors.

I had my camera with me to take pictures of the contest models and general show scenes for Gateway's Facebook page. I bought several kits and a paint brush holder from vendors and won two kits in the raffle.

Midday, I and several other attendees volunteered to judge contest entries. This contest used the Gold-Silver-Bronze system, in which each model in a category was judged by its own merits instead of in competition with other entries in the category. A model could receive either a Gold, Silver, Bronze, or no award, and there were no limits to the number of such awards that could be given out. I helped judge automotive models and it worked out well at my end. The judges placed comments with each entry of what was good and bad about it and what award, if any, it earned. Neither of my three contest entries received any awards.

Seven of my Gateway mates won awards in the contest, so I was proud of them. I made sure to highlight their winning models on the club's social media. Overall, the contest drew 313 entries from 82 modelers.

Late that afternoon, I joined with Morris' group to pack up our things and leave for home. We stopped in St. Robert for dinner at Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers before dropping off Kleeschulte and then returning to Maplewood. I got my items out of the minivan and put them in my car before driving home. It was quite a fine day.

The next morning had me at Eliot Unitarian Universalist Chapel for Sunday service. Julie Rodriguez and Joan Burke joined me for the service, which featured the annual Flower Communion--a tradition in Unitarian Universalism. Julie brought some flowers, so she gave Joan and I a flower each from the bouquet. At the appointed time, parishioners brought the flowers up to the front of the sanctuary and placed them in glass vases. There were several vases filled with flowers that day.

After this communion, the church recognized its new members from the past year. The 32 new members--including me, who joined in February--came to the front of the sanctuary to be recognized. Each of us received a copy of the book Love at the Center: Unitarian Universalist Theologies. It was great to see this recognition given by the congregation to its newest members.

After the service, there was lunch in Adams Hall. This was followed by Eliot's annual Congregational Meeting in the sanctuary. The meeting approved three new members of the Board of Trustees and three new members of the Nominating Committee. We also discussed the proposed budget and other church matters.

Julie and Joan had to leave before the meeting ended, as Julie was seeing her son Dave and granddaughter that afternoon. I left church after the meeting to go home. After starting to post photos from MOSS CON onto IPMS Gateway's Instagram and Facebook, I bought groceries from Walmart.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

IPMS Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter

IPMS Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists: Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists scale modeling | Missouri Ozarks Scale Specialists

The Arc of the Ozarks: The Arc of the Ozarks: Serving People with Disabilities in Missouri

Eliot Unitarian Universalist Chapel: Home

Christmas 2023 with Julie: Lights, Gifts, and Movies

It is safe to say that Julie Rodriguez and I had a most wonderful Christmas season together. It started last Thursday night (21 December) when I came to her apartment right after work. Julie, her roommate Joan Burke, and myself rode together to Tilles County Park in Ladue. We rode through Winter Wonderland, a major drive-through Christmas lights display. There was a long line of vehicles to enter the park, but after about 20 minutes we were in the park and slowly driving through the display. There were plenty of beautiful lighted items--including animated lights--for the three of us to enjoy.

After our visit to Winter Wonderland, Julie decided to head to Candy Cane Lane, a stretch of Murdoch in south St. Louis near Francis Park. There was another long line of vehicles in the area, but once in we were treated to some beautiful residential light displays.

 

The next night (22 December) had the three of us hitting the road again. This time, we went to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Eureka to check out Santa's Magical Kingdom. We wound through a hilly, forested trail to see the lights. There was another great crowd of tourists there. (The weather that week was unseasonably warm.) 

Saturday night (23 December) saw Julie, Joan, and I back to the road, heading for World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois. The motor sports facility was hosting Wonder Lights Christmas, an annual light show that Julie and I took in last year. There was quite a good crowd again at this facility. Once in the raceway, we enjoyed some terrific light displays accompanied by music that we could hear on a dedicated radio frequency.

The three of us greatly enjoyed seeing the light displays in the days leading up to Christmas.

I was home on Christmas Eve, apart from getting fuel for the car that afternoon. Christmas morning, I opened my presents that were under the Christmas Tree. From Mom, I got a Starbucks gift card and a three-pack of Moleskine journals. Rick sent me three books: The Complete Screenplay for the Movie "Oppenheimer;" "Defeat: Napoleon's Russian Campaign;" and "The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film."

I left home at midday to drive to Julie's apartment, where we had a nice lunch featuring chicken. Afterward, we exchanged gifts. I gave Julie a colored pen set and a nice magenta sweater; these items were on her wish list sent to me. I opened a box she had given to me a few days earlier, but which I brought along for this occasion. It had a St. Louis CITY SC baseball cap, which was on the wish list I sent Julie.

Julie and I then settled down on the couch to watch the classic 1980 comedy film "Airplane!" on her home video. It's one of my all-time favorite movies, and hers as well. A great laugh fest.

After watching a movie at home, we decided to watch a movie in the cinema. After finding it sold out at the first theater we went to, Julie and I were able to get tickets to see "Ferrari" at the Marcus Des Peres Cinema. This new drama from director Michael Mann opened on this day. We both enjoyed "Ferrari" and especially liked the auto racing action sequences.

After the movie, we returned to Julie's apartment, where she gave me some leftover chicken to enjoy this week. We hugged and kissed each other goodbye after a terrific Christmas Day.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Tilles County Park: Tilles Park - St. Louis County Website (stlouiscountymo.gov)

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park: Eureka Jellystone – Your Vacation Destination for Six Flags® and St. Louis

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway: New Home Page - World Wide Technology Raceway (wwtraceway.com)

Starbucks: Starbucks Coffee Company

Moleskine: Moleskine® Official Website - Notebooks, Planners and More | Moleskine

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Marcus Des Peres Cinema: Des Peres Movie Theatre | Marcus Theatres

A Madrigal Evening with Julie and Joan

Last night (30 November), right after work, I drove to Julie and Joan's apartment. There, we got into Julie's SUV and headed to Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood for the 46th annual Eliot Chapel Renaissance Madrigal & Christmas Rout. This year's show--which runs from 30 November to 2 December-- is "A Chaotic Christmas."

The three of us found our table in the sanctuary and were later joined by the six other guests assigned to our table. There were nine tables with up to nine guests each for this show. Each table was serviced by a volunteer wench, who poured drinks and served cake to us. Musicians from the St. Louis Recorder Society played through much of the evening. The sanctuary was decorated with holly boughs and tapestries.

The program began with the procession of The Not-Ready-For-Reformation Players into the sanctuary. This was followed by a wassail toast, in which we sipped from cups of apple cider. The Boar's Head was brought to the principals, Sir William Cecil and Queen Elizabeth I; however, they passed on eating it. The Fool and Lady Beatrice, along with several castle guests, were in the thick of the action, which displayed much wit.

We (Julie, Joan and I) didn't know that we could bring our own food in to this event. Fortunately, one of our fellow table guests had a box of peanut butter cookies, which she shared with the rest of our table. It did well to satisfy us. There was water at each table to drink.

The Greenleaf Singers performed madrigals during the show. They performed traditional music of Renaissance Era England, along with a couple of surprising tunes. One was a madrigal arrangement of the Bee Gees' 1977 hit "Staying Alive." The other was "Good King Kong" by P.D.Q. Bach (a fictional composer created by satirist Peter Schickele). They definitely added to the lighthearted feel of the evening.

After the intermission, the Yule Log was brought into the sanctuary accompanied by song. Each table received a Yule Log cake, a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The wench cut the log at each table and gave a plate with the slice to each guest. It was most delicious. Hot coffee was also served with the cake.

The Greenleaf Singers sang three carols before the players led us all in singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Silent Night" to conclude the program. This was my first time attending a madrigal and Julie, Joan, and I sure enjoyed ourselves.

The three of us then got into Julie's SUV for the drive back to her place, where I got out after a good night kiss with Julie and got into my car to drive home. It was a long night after a long day of work, but it was a great evening and a wonderful way to usher in the Christmas season. The madrigal will return next year on 5-7 December 2024.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

Eliot Unitarian Chapel: Home (eliotchapel.org)

Eliot Chapel Madrigal: ELIOT CHAPEL MADRIGAL - Eliot Chapel Madrigal (weebly.com)

St. Louis Recorder Society: ST. LOUIS RECORDER SOCIETY - St. Louis Recorder Society (weebly.com)

Greenleaf Singers: Greenleaf Singers