“A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his client to plant vines.”

The other night I was watching a video, or a lecture, or in a class, or something. Whatever it may have been it was about great architectural achievements in the Greater St. Louis Area. There were several neoclassical examples, post modern structures, the Richardsonian monuments strewn throughout downtown, and at least one that kind of caught me off guard. It was a single-level, 3 bedroom, 1 and a half bath, ranch. It had a finished basement and a driveway with 4 hand prints outlined in the driveway which, at one time (20ish years ago) was simply freshly-poured wet cement. It was somewhat nondescript. The roof slightly hipped, the wood siding an almost hideous shade of blue. The blinds were dusty yellow and the same color they had been for the past 20ish years. Adjacent to the driveway was a basketball pole which, since its erection, had been shortened by 9 feet. Now, using the foundation for the basketball set-up which was an 8 yr olds birthday present, stands a haggard American flag. It obviously represents the current caretakers disregard for architectural and social history. They know nothing about the people that live in their attic, and absolutely nothing about the perfect hiding place they probably use as a coat closet.

What could they know about the hand prints in their garage? Probably about as much as the initials carved in their trees. I wonder if they ever hear the echos of the life that ended in their master bedroom or the youthful laughter of lives blooming in their middle "play room". Its may be all theirs now; the happiness, the pain, the nightmares, the dreams, the people in the attic, the long-gone pets 2 feet under their backyard, and the supreme hiding places. But to me; they're just tourists. Tourists without a guide or any clue about the 15 year tour they've taken.





editors note: sometime before or after this I encounterd a giant penguin. Not like "a really big king penguin" or anything. It was a GIANT penguin, in cartoon form. I cannot for the life of me remember the context, or believe me, you'd be getting an ear full.