Rainy and Sunny Soccer Weekend

Last Saturday evening (1 June), I drove out to World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) for the USL Championship (https://www.uslsoccer.com/usl-championship) match between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and Memphis 901 FC (https://www.memphis901fc.com/). The night began as usual at the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) tailgate, which had bratwurst and beans for dinner and for which money was collected for Playing for Pride (https://www.playingforpride.org/), which supports Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transaction, and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ) rights.

Some players of Fire & Ice WPSL (https://www.fireandicesoccer.com/page/show/4693840-fire-and-ice-wpsl), a club in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) (https://www.wpslsoccer.com/), and head coach Lindsay Eversmeyer were at the tailgate. The team was there to promote their season, which began the next day. (More on this later in the post.)

I marched with the St. Louligans into the stadium for the match and we were settled in ready to go, when the match was postponed just before kickoff. Lightning was detected in the vicinity of the stadium, so we were ordered to evacuate the metal seats and take shelter in the tented Budweiser Biergarten (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/biergarten) to ride out the storm. We were there for just over two hours when word came that the match was postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.

During the delay, we were watching Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between the St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues) and the Boston Bruins. We were disappointed as the Blues lost this game, 7-2; however, a 4-2 win two nights later evened the best-of-seven Final at two wins apiece.

The weather was much better the next day, when I traveled to Althoff Catholic High School (http://www.althoffcatholic.org/) in Belleville for Fire & Ice's season opening match against FC Wichita. A number of fellow St. Louligans were also there to support the home side.

The teams traded first half goals, then Fire & Ice scored in the second half to win the match 2-1. It was a very nice time in the sunshine.

After the match, I shopped for cargo shorts at two shops in the Belleville and Fairview Heights area. I found two pair that should work for me.

Later.

Going Greek on Memorial Day

I basically stayed home for Memorial Day weekend, relaxing after a long week of work. The branch was closed on Memorial Day last Monday (27 May).

In the middle of that morning, I did venture out to Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (http://www.assumptiongoc.org/) in Town & Country, Missouri for their annual St. Louis County Greek Festival (http://stlgreekfest.com). I parked about 0.5 mile (0.8 km) in an office complex parking lot, then walked to the church.

After browsing among the craft vendors in the tent located near the sanctuary, I walked into the gymnasium for lunch. I ordered dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with ground beef, rice, and herbs, topped with a light lemon sauce) and spanakopita (chopped spinach, seasonings, and feta cheese in layers of buttered filo dough), with lemonade to drink. It was most tasty.

After lunch, I walked outside to see some Greek dancers perform to recorded music. It was nice seeing the routines from different areas of Greece, with the dancers' costumes from those different areas.

After the performance, I went back inside to treat myself to karithopita (honey walnut cake with a light syrup) with Greek coffee. This was most satisfying.

Soon after that dessert, I walked back to my car and headed home. I had some personal matters to attend to before watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final that night between the St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins. Let's go Blues!

Later.

Photographing Models at the IPMS/Gateway Meeting

After work Tuesday night (21 May), I headed to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's meeting of the Gateway Chapter of the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS) (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home). Stormy weather outside--including a tornado warning--kept the crowd low this night, but the meeting went on without weather incident.

This meeting had the second 2019 Modeler of the Year contest, with the Special Category "6 is a Serious Number." That is, the subject has a 6 (six) in its name or designation. We had 20 total contest entries, including eight in this Special Category.

We also had a clinic on model photography. Rick Keasey brought in his photo studio and invited members to bring their models to be photographed, and their cameras to take pictures. I took photos with my Canon (https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/cameras) PowerShot digital camera, including of my submarine Turbulent, which took Third Place at the Military Modelers Club of Louisville (http://www.mmcl.org/) Invitational the previous Saturday. This clinic was a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again another time, when we hope to have more members attending to take part in this.

During the meeting, we got updates on the St. Louis Blues (https://www.nhl.com/blues) playoff game. I was home later that night when the Blues won the game, becoming Western Conference Champions, and sending them to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1970. The Best-of-Seven Final against the Boston Bruins starts this Monday night.

Later

Honoring the Missouri CAP at MOAHS

Last Sunday afternoon (19 May), the Missouri Aviation Historical Society (MOAHS) (https://moavhist.org/) had its bi-monthly meeting at Creve Coeur Airport (http://crevecoeurairport.com/). This meeting honored the Missouri Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) (https://www.mowgcap.us/publicwpsite/).

After a color guard presented the colors, several officers from the Wing spoke of their missions: emergency response, youth development, and promotion of air, space, and cyber power. Although I was still a bit groggy from my long drive home from Louisville the night before, I found this a most interesting presentation.

The next MOAHS meeting is on Sunday, 14 July at 2 pm at Creve Coeur Airport.

Later.