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Best River View in Cape

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.

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MO Dry Dock Building Gone

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.

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Hutson’s Christmas Window

Old Town Cape’s 2011 Christmas window ornament has arrived. This year recognizes a Cape holiday tradition, Hutson’s Fine Furniture Christmas Window display. (Click on the photo to make it larger so you can see more detail.)

Old Town Cape is so old they aren’t set up to handle online ordering, so here’s the  Old Town Cape 2011 ornament order form that you can download, print and snail mail to them. (Put a little note on it that you get it here or mention that when you place your order.)

See old ornaments

The form lists all the ornaments still available from previous years. You can see photos of all of the old ornaments in the post I did last year.

If you’re in Cape, you can also get the ornaments at the Old Town Cape Office, Lang Jewelers, Jayson Jewelers, CVB, Zickfield Jewelers, Knaup Floral, C.P. McGinty Jewelers, Bob’s Shoe Service, Shivelbines Music, Pastimes Antiques, Renaissance and Hutson’s Fine Furniture. The cost is $30 with a stand and $25 without. Shipping is $5.30.

 

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Unofficial Class Reunions

I think I’ve run into more classmates this visit than any other, just by the luck of the draw. It started out with the Class of 1961 and its 50th Reunion. Then, I got a call from frequent contributor Keith Robinson, who said he was in town from Kansas City. (I let him slip away without getting a photo of him, drat.)

Shari Stiver came down from St. Louis over the weekend and she, her mother and I roamed around Cape and Perry Counties in search of interesting things. The low water level on the Mississippi River let us go out on an old quarry south of Tower Rock that is usually covered by eight or 10 feet of water.

Terry Hopkins

Monday, former earth science teacher, ham radio operator, pilot and first teacher I ever called by a first name, Ernie Chiles, and Terry Hopkins from the Class of ’66 shared lunch at Mario’s Pasta House. I didn’t bother to shoot a photo of Ernie because, except for being a bit grayer, he looks just like he did when he was standing in front of a class at Central. You can click on Terry’s photo to make it larger. Terry wrote a touching piece about how important the Capaha Park Pool was to him when he was growing up.

Ernie’s plane is sick

The weather has been great for flying, so I was hoping to refresh my stash of aerials, but Ernie says his plane is down having a carburetor rebuilt. I recall that he was having to play with the mixture a bit on our last flight because the engine kept sputtering.

“I’ve never left anybody up there,” he said, reassuringly.

Reminds me of the time I was flying in the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s helicopter and we suddenly dropped like a rock to a not-so-soft landing on the beach. “What was THAT all about, Andy?” I asked the pilot.

“See that red warning light. That detects flakes of metal in the transmission. Sometimes that means nothing. Sometimes that means the thing that keeps that big fan over our head turning is chewing itself to bits. You’re better off if you figure out if it’s something or nothing while sitting on the ground.” We got a ride back in a squad car and the chopper got a ride back on a flatbed truck.

Pat Sommers

Pat Sommers and I were debate partners. I’ve written about Pat before, much to his chagrin. What you do in high school can come back to haunt you if your friend is a pack rat photographer.

While we were trading war stories about debates won and lost, Pat reminisced about the feeling of power he had when he was waving the gavel around after being elected Speaker of the House when we went to the State Student Congress. (I was elected Outstanding Senator or Representative.)

Central had a showing much stronger than what our numbers would have led you to believe possible. It came about because we put together a coalition of all the smaller schools to challenge the numerical superiority of the metro areas of St. Louis and Kansas City. That, or we just got lucky.

All this socializing is playing the dickens with my work schedule, but it’s been fun catching up with old friends.

 

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