Getting Together

Over the last few years since my last high school reunion, I’ve continued to stay in touch with several classmates, and when they knew I was coming to town, some suggested getting together. I decided to plan a Happy Hour on a specific date and time at a nearby location and let everyone know, and whoever was able to make it…great! I didn’t ask for RSVPs, but once I sent out the notice, word spread like wildfire, and I have to give some credit to Diana who was a great help in contacting people. We met at Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill (HotShots) in Fenton. There were only 76 in our graduating class, and I thought maybe 10 of us might show up, but after the group photo was taken I counted 25 in attendance! There were even gals I hadn’t seen since graduation day! Lots of pictures were taken and at times with all the flashbulbs, it almost felt like the paparazzi was there, and from what I’ve heard, seems everyone had a great time.










The day had finally arrived for the luncheon at Lombardo’s with guest speaker, Gary Pinkel, head coach of the Missouri Tigers football team. The event was the monthly event for the St. Louis-Tom Lombardo Chapter of The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (http://www.stlnff.com/) and was being emceed by “News 4 St. Louis” Sports Director, Steve Savard (pictured at right). Moving around the room taking photos for the website was Jim Greco, a member of the Foundation (and as we later learned, father of former Detroit Lions offensive lineman, Don Greco). Of about 130 attendees, I was one of only three women in the room, and Jim made sure to get a picture of Russ and me. Lunch started with their house salad followed by a chicken piccata that was so tender you could cut it with a fork, served with a side of pasta marinara and green beans…all absolutely delicious. Coach Pinkel arrived shortly before noon, talked for about an hour including a few Q & A, and then had to catch a plane. He did a nice job of keeping the talk light and informative with some humorous lines, and he seems like a pretty humble guy. Someone had brought one of the new Mizzou helmets, which Coach held up at one point, and after it was all over, we wanted to get a close up photo of it. We asked the young man who brought it if I could, and Jim suggested I hold it for the picture. Since he had now taken a couple photos of me, I told him he had to let me take one of him, and he gladly obliged standing with Russ. We adjourned to the bar and spent the next couple hours chatting with Carmen and Angelo. So glad we decided to attend this fun event.

One gathering that had been planned before I got to town was to be held at Dana’s house as a get together with Ellen’s sister, Gail. She was looking forward to spending some time with Ellen’s friends, and we were thrilled to be able to spend some time with her. Joining Dana, Gloria, Diane, Diane, and me were Lynn, Mary, and Mary Ann, who may not have known Ellen as long but definitely had come to know her well in recent years. Dana prepared a ton of delicious food, and we had a fun evening just chatting, sharing stories, looking at photos, and toasting our dear friend.

Over the last couple of weeks Russ got in a couple more rounds of golf, and on Friday we finally made it out to the American Legion Post 338 Fish Fry (www.thomanboothepost338.com/fish-fry/) in Russ’ old neighborhood meeting up with Rick and Bob for lunch. This place holds lots of fond memories for Russ as his dad used to be one of the cooks at the weekly fish fry, Russ played Legion baseball there, and his sister’s wedding reception was held in the hall. Afterwards Rick had to get back to work, but Russ, Bob, and I drove down the street to the VFW Post hoping to meet up with another friend. Though he wasn’t there, another friend, Mike, stopped by on his way to work since we hadn’t seen him yet on this trip.

We only had a couple more days left before it was time to move on, but we have to say this has been a great month.

Cards Win!

Everyone knows what huge St. Louis Cardinals fans we are, and I always love the opportunity to see games in person (Russ prefers to watch them on TV). It just so happened that we had a coupon for buy 1 seat, get 1 free for this season, and it was only good for games M-Th and seats $20 or more. Since we were in town only for the month of April, our choices were really limited. In fact, the only series available to us was the week of April 17 against the Cincinnati Reds, and after looking at our schedule, we decided to go on the evening of the 17th. We arrived early, purchased seats for $25 a couple levels up in right field, watched a little batting practice, got something to eat, checked out the gift shop, and then settled into our seats for an exciting game. It was a real pitchers’ duel that went into extra innings. Along with over 35,000 fans, we watched the Cards win 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th! Woohoo!!










The next day we drove out to see Russ’ brother and his wife at their farm in Wentzville (about a 45 min. drive). We always enjoy our visits catching up on each others’ lives, and after a couple hours chatting, we followed Ron and Jackie to Stefanina’s Italian Restaurant (http://www.stefaninas-wentzville.com/). Everybody knows them there, and Ron doesn’t go anywhere that he can’t wear his signature bib overalls! The food is always excellent, though most of the time we get the huge 21” pizza…great for leftovers!

Each trip to St. Louis includes a visit to the parents of one of my best friends who no longer lives in town. Bill has been living in a nursing home since his last stroke, and Alice lives in their home only a few blocks away. It just so happened that the day I was planning to visit was his 85th birthday, and I was thrilled to be able to spend some of it with him. Alice had baked yummy carrot cake cupcakes for us to enjoy plus a full size carrot cake for the staff (Bill loves to share). In fact she brought him some flowers from their yard, and he was just finishing up physical therapy when we arrived. She handed him the flowers saying happy birthday, and he immediately handed them to the therapist (told you he loves to share!) She also brought along birthday cards that had arrived so far, and he so enjoyed opening them. As always we had a great visit, and time flew by way too quickly.

Gloria’s son is the manager at the Cecil Whittaker’s Pizzeria (http://cwpizza.com/) location not far from the nursing home, and I had made plans to meet her and some friends there for a late lunch. Afterwards Mary Ann had to run, but Gloria and I came up with a plan of something we wanted to do in honor of our friend, Ellen, who passed away earlier this year. When we were in high school, my mom, my sister, Ellen, and I (and occasionally Gloria or another friend) would go “park hopping”. My mom would drive us to one of the nearby city park playgrounds, and we would swing on the swings, slide on the slide, and just have silly fun. The funniest part of all this is that it was done at night! So even though it was daylight, Gloria and I decided to drive down the road to the playground at nearby Carondelet Park, and we talked Mary into joining us (someone had to take the photo!) We’re sure Ellen was smiling down on our silliness, and from there the three of us shared a pitcher of margaritas at La Casa Frijole aka The Bean House (sorry, no website)…the perfect end to a thoroughly enjoyable day.

The rest of the week was spent either going to somebody’s house for a delicious dinner (ooops...no pics from Steve and Patty’s), or people coming to the RV for dinner. Michelle and Randy made the trek over from Illinois for my homemade lasagna, and she brought some incredibly large chocolate covered strawberries for dessert...yummmm!

We also enjoyed what I had planned as a couples BBQ, but you know what can happen with the best laid plans! Even though Jim, Gloria, and Diane were the only ones able to make it, we still had a great time chatting, watching Cardinals baseball, and sharing some delicious food…a terrific way to end the week.

Friends Are The Key

We settled into our “regular spot” at the Eureka KOA on Fri. so that the traditional “5th Annual Drink As Much Beer As You Can As Fast As You Can Without Puking Party!” could be held on Sat. night. For those who may not know (or may not remember), the first year we were in town the boys drank way too much beer that first night, and so a new tradition had begun. Of course, all swore they would drink only in moderation each subsequent year, and they’ve been pretty true to their word. The attendees have varied a little each year, but the core group is always there (John, Steve, and Patty), and that was the extent of this year’s attendees. We had plenty of cans of the Limited Edition World Series Commemorative Budweiser, grilled pork steaks, served with homemade potato salad, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and garlic bread, and topped it all off with the delicious chocolate cake Patty and Steve brought in honor of my recent birthday! This evening is always a great beginning to our stay.









A couple of days later we made our first trip out to Lombardo’s Restaurant (www.lombardosrestaurants.com/). They have 5 locations in the St. Louis metro area, but we always go to the Natural Bridge location across from the airport to visit with Carmen and Angelo . Russ has known the Lombardo family since he was a kid as his dad was a frequent visitor at their original location. We sit in the bar enjoying a few cold ones, a little something off the menu (pizza on this day), and some lively conversation. There’s always plenty to talk about…the family, the old days, our travels, the Cardinals, the Rams, the Tigers, etc. In fact on this particular day, they told us that Gary Pinkel, head coach of the Missouri Tigers football team, would be the guest speaker at a luncheon on the 25th and asked if we'd be interested in attending. Though it was sold out, they said they'd find us a table, and we said yes!

Getting together with friends is the main purpose of these trips to St. Louis, and though Russ and I have many mutual friends that we visit together, we also go our separate ways at times. Our first Thurs. in town was my time to meet up with Gloria, Dana, and Diane (high school buddies at left) along with Mary, Lynn, and Linda. We met at Chili’s and had such a great time catching up, chatting, looking at a couple high school yearbooks, eating (of course!), and sometimes just acting plain silly. I’m sure our server wondered if we’d ever leave, but she was awesome and at one point even showed up with mugs of water for everyone since we had long ago paid. Guess she figured we were getting thirsty with all the talking! One of the best things of the evening was the gift Dana brought me. She had been holding onto the tea cup set that our friend Ellen had bequeathed to each of us. Each set was different and had been given out at random at her memorial service. I was thrilled when I opened mine because with my Irish heritage, this shamrock set was perfect, and though I currently have nowhere to display it, the set will be a cherished gift from a dear friend.

Over the next week Russ played some golf with the guys (never get any pictures!), and I spent time visiting more friends. It had been a couple years since I had seen my mom’s friend, Rosemarie. She was under the weather when we were in town a year and a half ago so I was excited that we were going to be able to spend some time together this trip. Unfortunately, the time went by way too fast. Many of our days while in town get double-booked with stuff, racing to opposite ends of the city, and with only one car, it sometimes makes some visits shorter than you’d like, and that was the case with this visit.

My other high school friend named Diane couldn’t make it to Chili’s the week before, and she’s been bugging me every year to go to the casino with her. Since none of our other friends are real keen on going to the casino, I picked her up one day and we headed to River City Casino (http://www.rivercity.com/). She likes to play the penny slots so we spent some time doing that (she won, I lost), and then had a huge yummy burger at Burger Brothers located in the casino while having a great time just chatting and catching up. She decided not to press her luck with any more slots, cashed out her winnings, and we called Gloria to find out where she and her gang were figuring we could catch up with them somewhere. They were just finishing up lunch when we arrived, but we sat and chatted with everyone for awhile longer. Just a nice day to hang out and be together.

One of the biggest days in St. Louis is the Cardinals Home Opener, and especially this year since they are the reigning World Series Champions! There’s lots of traditional pre-game activity including introduction of our great Hall of Famers (left to right: Stan “The Man” Musial, Red Schoendist, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Whitey Herzog), introduction of the team who arrive in trucks driven around the inside track of the stadium, and they are usually preceded by the Budweiser Clydesdales, but the weather prohibited that this year. Before coming to town, Russ had looked into getting tickets for the game, but the cheapest seats still available were $105 each! This was not only because it was opening day but also because our arch rivals, the Chicago Cubs, were the opponent. The following week when the Reds come to town, those same seats would be $12…that’s the new dynamic pricing plan so many parks have put into place. So we were content with watching it on TV (you can see I dressed for the occasion, and yes, took pictures of festivities on the TV) and invited a couple of the guys over. Bob brought lunch from the American Legion’s fish fry (one of our favs!), and John showed up a little later. The weather wasn't nice enough to sit outside, but they did have the TV on out there so as not to miss any of the action!

Friends, Jim and Judy, hosted a BBQ at their house like they did last time we were in town, and Jim promised this time there would be no red wine spilled on Russ! LOL The guys sat outside discussing sports and solving the world’s problems while us girls sat inside chatting where it was warmer. Since it was supposed to start raining any minute, dinner was held in their beautiful dining room instead of outside. Jim had grilled steaks, Judy served twice baked potatoes along with a wonderful salad, and all was topped off with a delicious wine from Spain. But the piece de resistance was the dessert Judy made…Chocolate Mousse Torte. Ohmigosh! Incredibly rich and so scrumptious!

It was hard to believe that two weeks had already flown by, and we still had so much on our calendar!