Statue & Fountain at Missouri Botanical Garden

Marine Week 2011 in Saint Louis

A couple shots of the Boeing MV-22 Osprey from Marine Week in Saint Louis, held in June:

What a beautiful aircraft.  God Bless America.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Some scenes from this weekend's jaunt to the Missouri Botanical Garden:

Hailstones from May 25, 2011 Storm in Saint Louis, MO

Here are some photos of hailstones produced by a recent round of supercells that passed through the Saint Louis metro area:

 Hailstones of varying size strewn about the grass.

 The size and shape of the hailstones varied greatly, from spheroid to a more menacing-looking spiked stone.

To give you perspective, these shoes are size 12.

This stone cracked in half when it hit the surface.  Note the layers (like a jawbreaker),  resulting from the stone being thrown up and down in the storm until it fell.

Another look at the layers of a large hailstone.

This little guy also has some layers to show off!

 Great dissected view of a large hailstone.

Comparing the size of some of the largest hailstones that fell nearby to the size of my hand.  Thank God everyone is safe, and no major damage to cars - just some small dents!

Old Courthouse Rotunda

A vertical view of the Old Courthouse rotunda.

Columns supporting the courthouse rotunda.