When I was stumbling around trying to find out how to get to the old M.E. Leming Lumber Company, I took a chance on going down LaCruz Street in what used to be Smelterville. I sort of didn’t see a sign that said don’t go here and popped out next to Consolidated Grain and Barge, now labeled CGB. I didn’t realize CGB was such a big deal until I checked out their webpage.

The barge in the photo is idling until a southbound tow gets past. The low water has had things a little tight of late. In order to be able to steer, a boat has to be able to go faster than the current, so the southbound traffic has the right of way.

Aerial of LaCruz Street area

CGB is at the end of LaCruz Street, the street that runs from Sprigg, at the bottom, to the river. Look for the two storage bins to the right side of the light-colored lot. The facility just to the left of where the barge is passing is Cape’s Sewage Treatment Plant. Cape LaCroix Creek empties into the Mississippi at the right.

Photo gallery of CGB

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.

Jim Stone, Shari Stiver and I had our own mini-reunion October 2010 after the big official one. We promised to do it again. Jim had something come up that kept him from coming Octoberish, but I was lucky enough to still be in town the first part of December, when he could make it. We thought we’d give it another shot.

Right before we were to get together, though, Shari said she was suffering from a bout of bronchitis and wouldn’t be able to make it. We tried all kinds of entreaties.

• Brother Mark and his friends had just finished baking hundreds of cookies; he’d send a sample of those down with her.
• Jim offered to pick her up and drive her to Cape.
• I offered to go half on a bottle of oxygen to keep her alive.

Finally, on Friday, it looked like she might make it, but, alas, she cancelled on us at the last minute.

“Jim, do you think this is the 2011 version of when she used to tell me, “I’d love to go out with you, but Friday night is the night I wash my hair?”

He was kind enough not to answer me, because I think I already knew the answer.

So, anyway, we spent the afternoon roaming around. Late in the afternoon, I spotted that the back door at Central High School was open. He hadn’t been back in the place in decades, so I said, “Let’s go.”

(I subscribe to the Roger Miller King of the Road Theory: “I know…every lock that ain’t locked when no one’s around” when it comes to this kind of thing.

Wandering the hallways naked

“I’m from Florida. You’re from Boston. We’re old and confused. We’ll just tell anybody that asks that we’re late for our math final and we can’t find our lockers and that’s why we’re roaming the hallways naked.” (Recurring dream / nightmare.)

Jim was properly impressed with the quality of upkeep. (We did note some peeling paint in the stairwell leading up to the auditorium stage.) I tried to convince Jim that we should go up to the third floor to his old haunts in the science department. He was reluctant to explore too far. He’s done some work for the State Department, so he might know more about rendition flights and whether they apply to people snooping around in old high school buildings than I do. We wiped our fingerprints off and exited the building, speaking to a number of people on our way out who didn’t give us a second look.

Jim wanted to cruise downtown to see if there was any life after dark, so we ended up at Port Cape Girardeau for dinner. I had some fancy-named nachos that were excellent – way better than the taco chips drenched in Velveeta cheese that you usually get.

Neon at Broussard’s

Instead of heading back to the car, I started strolling along Main Street. The neon lights and people on the street in front of Broussard’s Cajun Cuisine caught my eye.

Wow, more neon

I looked behind me and saw more neon.

You’re from Boston?

I was just lining up a third shot when I noticed that Jim was huddled in a doorway to get out of the slight breeze that was blowing down the street. “Stone, you’re from BOSTON. How can you be cold?”

“If I was in Boston, I’d have warmer clothes. I didn’t remember that Cape could be this cold.”

In fairness, a street thermometer showed the temperature to be about 27 degrees. One weather forecast said that we might experience record low temps for this date, although I don’t remember what the old record was.

So, instead of being able to bring you a nice collection of neon photos from Main Street, I had to put Stone in my van and crank the temperature up to Melt. You know how it is when folks get old. They can’t stand the cold like they once could.

Other Jim Stone stories

• Jim Stone’s shoebox photos
• Jim Stone and Shari Stiver visit Cape in 2010
• Jim Stone, Shari Stiver and Sally Wright cover Barry Goldwater in Cairo
• Jim Stone and Carolyn Penzel honored
• Linda Stone: “I played CHESS with Jim Stone”
• Ernie Chiles, Jim Stone, Ken Steinhoff and the Rock of the Month Club

I was whining to Brother Mark this evening that I was sleepy and didn’t have any idea what I was going to post in the morning. He suggested I go looking for Christmas lights and decorations. Mother and I needed to make a quick run to the grocery store, so we headed out. I figured Hutson’s traditional display would be a sure bet. We pulled up just as Town Crier Darryl Morgan and his escort, Betty Morgan, made an appearance in front of the store. Bingo! Early bedtime.

Sky cooperates

When I made my first frame, it was yellow like the world had been eating carrots. Recognizing that most the light was coming from incandescent light bulbs, I went into the Nikon D40′s menu and switched Color Balance from Automatic to Incandescent and dialed in the maximum amount of color correction. I could have done the same thing in PhotoShop, but it’s better if the quality is at least close before you start playing around.

The sky had a natural blue cast at sunset, but the menu correction I did boosted the blues even more. (That’s the last of the photo geek-speak.)

One of those Cape coincidences

Here are some of the folks I ran into (you can see them in the gallery):

• Abby Meyers, 5, and her grandmother, Melody Hutson;
• Simon, 7, and Ben, 5, Edmunds along with their dad and grandmother.
• Montgomery Bank bell ringer Becka Hollis

I was ready to call it a night. I looked around one last time and saw a toddler in a stroller who looked just a little older than my 8-month-old Grandson Graham. I grabbed a couple of frames under some miserable light at a super low shutter speed. He was grooving to the music, so I was afraid they’d be blurry. Since I had gone to that much trouble, I asked his mother his name and gave her a business card.

Terra Hendrickson looked at the card, then she looked at me, said, “You sat next to us on an airplane.” Indeed, she was right. Tarra and Roscoe – now a year old – were seatmates on Cape Air at the end of July. They were on the way to see hubby Karl’s parents in Alaska. I was en route to St. Louis, West Palm Beach and Seattle. She had lost the card I had given her on the plane, so she had never seen the photo of her and Roscoe that ran then.

Old Town Cape Christmas ornament

Old Town Cape chose Hutson’s Christmas Window as the 2011 ornament. The ornament looks pretty much like my photo (but my sky’s prettier).

Hutson’s Christmas Display photo gallery

Click any photo to maker it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

Cape has entered The Ugly Season. I’ve been living in Florida too long. Sure, we have torrential rains almost every day during the wet season, but they start and stop in about 15 minutes. Your side of the street could be getting pounded, but your neighbor across the street is perfectly dry. Florida rain knows its place and stays in it.

I woke up Thursday morning looking out the window at something that was between rain, mist and fog. The temperature was well above freezing, but I wasn’t as I ran around town taking care of some errands. It was like that when I woke up; it was like that when the sun went down. It’s probably going to look like that until about May.

330 N. Lorimier

One of my stops took me over to see Laurie Everett, Wife Lila’s niece, and proprietor of Annie Laurie’s Antiques. She and some other folks in the shop INSISTED that I had to go up a few blocks to an estate sale at 330 N. Lorimier.

After the emotional tailspin I had last weekend at a home auction, I wasn’t sure I was ready to hop back on that pony. Besides, it was cold and rainy and they said I’d have to park and walk a fair distance. The thing that sold me, though, was Laurie insisting the house “had the best view of the Mississippi River of anywhere in Cape.”

She was right.

First private pool in Cape

Cash box custodians Heather Meyer and Melanie Wood filled me in on some of the house’s history. It was built in the “19-teens” by the W. H. Harrison, the Harrison part of the H & H Building, one of Cape’s early tallest structures.

The Harrison family owned the whole block and built what was thought to be the first swimming pool in Cape Girardeau on a terrace below that white fence. Below THAT was a grass tennis court. The pool, another man said, needs some work, but was filled as recently as 1-1/2 years ago.

The tennis court “was a bit of a jungle,” but it’s been cleared up now.

Dr. Gibson came next

Dr. Gibson and his wife were the next owners. They passed it down to their son, Jim Gibson, a lawyer, and his wife Nancy. When Jim died, Nancy decided to move to a smaller place.

The estate sale will continue through Saturday, November 5. Here’s a link describing some of the items for sale. I don’t know how long the link will be valid.

Servants had the best view

The photo at the top of the page was taken from a second floor window. The servants lived on the third floor. They had a smaller window, but an even better view. The door to that area was closed off, so I couldn’t see for myself.

The house appears to be well-maintained. I’ve been in so many depressing and falling-down buildings of late that it felt good to be in one that had been taken care of.

330 N. Lorimier Photo Gallery

Here’s a selection of photos showing the house and the items for sale. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

Remember when you were a kid and lost a tooth? Your tongue kept going into the gap like it couldn’t believe something was missing. I had the same experience when we drove down Aquamsi Street south past the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. (Click on any photo to make it larger.)

Something was missing.

Old MO Dry Dock building torn down

I happened to be looking at an earlier post of the Missouri Dry Dock area and saw what it was: the old brick building at the north end of the dry dock was gone. March 22, 2010, was a lot cloudier day than Oct. 20, 2011, when the top photo was taken..

Only a foundation on April 17, 2011

I don’t know exactly when it was torn down, but all that’s left is a foundation north of the large yellow building and south of the bridge in this aerial taken April 17, 2011. The building on the left is SEMO’s River Campus.