Cape Girardeau History and Photos

November 8, 2013

Hey, Look at That!

OK, it’s a bad pun. I couldn’t decide to go with that headline or one that read, “Hay, Look at That!” Both are equally bad.

Sometimes you run into a fortuitous stop sign. I had to show Curator Jessica Old Appleton and the Old Appleton bridge on our way up Hwy 61 to St. Louis. While I was waiting at the stop sign for traffic to clear, the light hit this field of hay bales just right.

(Click on the photo to make it larger.)

Older farming stories

November 7, 2013

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

Brother Mark introduced me to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on the old Route 66 in St. Louis many years ago. It was only natural that I drag Curator Jessica there before she had to fly back to Ohio. (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

The official Ted Drewes website says that Drewes has been making frozen custard since 1929, after getting his start in Florida. The Chippewa location where we ate opened in 1941. With St. Louis’ westward expansion and changes in dining habits, this store is open all year except January.

Something I didn’t know was that Ted Jr. (his dad died three decades ago) goes to Nova Scotia every fall to personally select the best Canadian balsam fir Christmas trees to bring back to St. Louis for sale.

“What’s a Concrete?”

“What’s a Concrete?” she asked.

“Think ‘Better Blizzard.”

She wisely suggested we order “mini” sized Concretes. A “regular” would have been too much and a “large” would have killed me. I don’t remember what she had, but I enjoyed the Hawaiian.

She couldn’t understand why the server inverted the cup when she handed them to us.

“That’s to demonstrate how thick the custard is and why it is called a Concrete. Try that with a DQ Blizzard some time and see what happens.”

November 7, 2013

The Heritage Trio

I posted a shot the other night of a couple of young women playing a guitar and singing on Water Street.

Well, with my readers, you never know what kind of memories are going to get triggered. Brad Brune posted a long, hilarious account of his musical career that I’m going to let you read under the original story. You might have to press Ctrl-F5 to refresh your browser to see all the new comments.

To give you a hint at his prowess, after taking a test in his early grade school days and asking how he did, he was told, “Don’t worry, Bradley, Brunes are good at sports.”

Linda Stone weighs in

Before long, Linda Stone Schrimsher said she had a photo of the The Heritage Trio, a band featuring Gary Fischer, David Hahs and Brad. Here’s what the boys looked like.