Cold

After yesterdays warm, 70 degree weather, I awoke to find it clear and cold. Actually, Suki woke me up to find and rectify the emptiness of her food dish. Every day, she howls and cries starting around 6:30AM, and on the one hand, I can either throw her into the bathroom and close the door in an attempt to break her of the habit,  but on the other hand, I wonder if she's even capable of learning anything anymore, and if I'm just being cruel to elderly animal.

Anyway, today I visited my site for my urban books class because the light was good for more photographs. The site is in way north St.Louis, where the land falls away to the river, which I guess was once the natural levees of the Mississippi, around the point where 270 crosses into into Illinois. I stumbled across the area while bicycling because part of the old roads have been incorporated into the Riverfront trail which ends nearby, starting from the base of the Arch.

It's a network of roads which looks like it linked riverview, the low road beside the river, and lookaway drive, which runs up on top of the hill and serves a small residential community. The roads are all there: concrete bollards and chains, asphalt paving, concrete curbs, gutters, and light poles. But it looks like its been several decades since the last car was there. The street is covered with leaves and patches of thin soil. The vegetation has grown into the street, and in some areas, is so dense as to make passage along the former street impossible. The curbs and gutters are hidden among the bushes and dirt and leaves, and really, the only thing that stands out are the light poles, which emerge from the underground and disappear into the tree canopy. All in various stages of disrepair. It's a strange and eerie place. In the deepest part, where the road is totally covered by trees and undergrowth, sometimes I have to dig down an inch or so to see if there really is asphalt under everything.

I think I am coming down with a cold. There is the nasal congestion and the headaches, stuffed ears and nose, burning eyes, and fatigue that comes with it. So I'm drinking lots of fluids, and getting a lot of sleep. I really don't need this right now. Tonight I stopped by Schnucks to pick up some DayQuil, so I feel marginally less crappy.

Actually, I had a really good night. For our advanced building class group meeting, we decided to have a dinner meeting so we made steamed chicken and I sauteed some zucchini, had a little wine, and talked about our project. Good times.