23, Saint Alfred Road, Olivette, Missouri

I liked the house at 23 St. Alfred Road in Olivette, Missouri, the moment I saw it. Granted I had seen better houses, but somehow I felt that the one on St. Alfred was all I had ever hoped to own. I still remember standing out on the backyard and looking at the extension of the neighboring lawns and, in my mind, feeling that I was in a park somewhere and that my house was in it. I made up my mind right then and there that it was the house I would buy, even though my income at the time would not permit me to acquire the mortgage money I would need. I moved in June, 1964. ur daughter Laura was born shortly thereafter in October of the same year. Mary Beth's kindergarten was nearby at Old Bonhomme School - a very convenient location. Eventually our two other children also went there. Now, as a grandparent, I find an incredible delight whenever I see our grandchildren walk on the yard's grass, feed the birds, or even attempt to climb a tree. It was wonderful also to watch Murphy chase a squirrel, or a rabbit, which he would generally never catch. To this day I still miss him very much. The day he died was one of the saddest days of my life. Granted that, as in every life, Kathy and I have our sad occasional moments, each in our respective way, and often for different reasons. Nevertheless, on the whole, I have had no regrets for having lived here. I shall, however, regret it a lot when I have to say good-bye to it for the last time..

Front-porch view, trees and more trees - a tree raker's delight. Thank Heaven that the City of Olivette has a pick up service for the leaves in late Fall...

Murphy probably hoping that someone comes out to play on the snow with him...

Murphy still hoping.

The apple tree behind Kathy and Jackie Lipsitz is no longet there. A disease got into it and I had to cut it down a year after the second photo above was shot. On the other hand, the maple tree that Sarah is climbing, watched carefully by her grandmother, is still very much alive. A spring that runs underground close to the tree's roots has seen to it that, although it is not the oldest tree in my garden, it is nevertheless the most beautiful. Sarah, born in 1990, was about two at the time.

It won't be long before the leaves start falling. As this 1999 photo illustrates, Missouri is one of those places that one who has any ability to be inspired hates to leave - even when leaving means attending the Frankfurt Book Fair, or some other similar event.

SAINT LOUIS - Although Travel Guides refer quite often to THE ARCH as one of the city's great landmarks, one should not forget that St. Louis is rich in other offerings to the public, such as the Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Forest Park and the Municipal Opera,  St. Louis Cathedral and its magnificent tiles display, etc.. Then, of course, there's one of my favorites - Grant's Farm, home to more species of deer than any other park in the world. Owned by Anheuser-Busch, the Farm is home to the present Busch family. It is also open to the public free of charge courtesy of the brewery that will provide lecture guides as its "trains" moved about the land that, for a time was home to U. S. Grant, a young farmer, and former Commander the the Union Troops during the U.S. Civil War, who in 1868 was eventually elected 18th President of the United States. Somehow, although I have been to Grant's Farm many times, I never tire of visiting it again, and again, and...

One of the world' largest varieties of live deer is a part of the treasures that Grant's Farm offers St. Louis. The animals strive in the environment and when they are quite small most are fed by hand by the children who visit the Farm. The admission is Free to all, although Grant requests that visits be reserved in advance.