st. louis date

Brambleberry ice cream at Jeni's? Yes please. 

T.S. Eliot poetry from Left Bank Books? Of course. 

Bellefontaine Cemetery 

Art Museum

Left Bank Books

and Jeni's Ice Cream. 

    Where do I even begin? How do I describe our little sliver of Sunday happiness? I want to share everything about it. Like the picnic in the cemetery - (peaches, popcorn, mineral water and bagels.) Everything was spread out perfectly on the white cotton blanket and I felt like one of Renoir's picnic paintings had come to life. Then, we walked about looking at the names of historical figures on tombstones. We never did find the burial sites of William Clark and Sara Teasdale, but we did find some strawberries. 

     When our legs got tired from walking so long, I read the google map instructions to Charlie and he drove the silver Solera. The directions weren't very good and we got lost. Or perhaps we weren't paying very close attention to the map: (Charlie was holding my hand and I was telling stories about Mosi.) Somehow we arrived at the art museum, but not without several u-turns and backtracking. 

     Next came the second hand bookstore on Euclid St. Using torn notebook pages, Charlie and I wrote notes to future readers that we stuck inside our favorite books. (I did anyways. Charlie chose more sinister books that he had never read.) I purchased a book of Eliot's poetry. 

“Now that lilacs are in bloom

She has a bowl of lilacs in her room

And twists one in her fingers while she talks." 

- Eliot. 

     Cold, expensive ice cream concluded our date. Flavors of bramble berry and chocolate and pistachio blended together in crisp waffle cones. I wonder what people thought of us - two lovers sitting in the window seat, laughing and reading the printed napkins. Whoever saw us, we didn't pay much attention to them.

     At the point of dusk Charlie and I parted ways. Our day was full and long and happy -- a foretaste of the lifestyle we hope to lead.