kirkwood | Remember when most holiday shopping was completed downtown, and there was a department store there named Famous-Barr—then Macy’s? If not, you may at least have heard of the elaborate track layout of model trains chugging along every year in the display windows at Famous during the holidays. Well, like most shopping over the years, the model trains have gone west—to the National Museum of Transportation in southwest Kirkwood, no less. In December, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on three Wonderful Wednesdays—Dec. 3, 10 and 17—the iconic and restored Famous-Barr window display will be up and running both for nostalgia and to create new holiday memories for younger folks. What kid (or former kid) doesn’t have a soft spot for little trains? Anyone age 62 and older on those three Wednesdays will receive a special discounted entry fee of $5 for groups of 20 or more if they make reservations two weeks in advance at tnmot.org. You and your church group or fellow bridge aficionados could certainly forego whatever y’all have planned on one Wednesday night for this sort of blast from the past, right? Maybe you can create a new holiday tradition with the grandkids at this wonderful open-air museum preserving antique planes, trains and automobiles for future generations at 2933 Barrett Station Road. Though most of the unique museum’s collection is outdoors, the Famous-Barr model-train layout is indoors, of course. It’s no doubt warmer in there, unlike it usually was on the outside looking in from the sidewalk in front of the original store.
st. charles
The weekend of Nov. 15 and 16 will feature all types of outdoor gear, from tents to kayaks and mountain bikes to a climbing wall, filling up the St. Charles Convention Center for the Gateway Outdoor Expo. More than 165 exhibitors are expected, along with hands-on activities, live music and presentations in the Basecamp area on the show floor. This year, the eighth for the expo, features the inaugural Expo Shakeout run/walk, a 10K on Saturday the 15th along the Katy Trail where participants are encouraged to go as long or short as they like. It is free, starts at 9 a.m. and will be followed by a free breakfast before the doors to the expo open at 10 a.m. No registration, no timing, no swag—just good vibes, friendly faces and a morning on the former railroad bed that’s been converted into a bicycle and walking trail that heads into the hinterlands. For the Basecamp, you can hear from community experts in seminars on topics ranging from backcountry trekking to land stewardship to accessibility and equity in the outdoors. More than 6,000 outdoors enthusiasts are expected to attend. The event showcases the best in gear, resources and organizations working to strengthen the Midwest’s vibrant outdoor ecosystem. Trek on over to gatewayoutdoorexpo.com for more details, as well as the skinny about the Summit on Nov. 14, intensive sessions designed for industry stakeholders to learn how to better do what they’re so passionate about year-round.
ladue
Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate, appears at the Clark Family Branch of our county library (in Ladue, directly across Lindbergh Boulevard from Plaza Frontenac) on Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. to present Dog Show, his poem collection celebrating man’s best friend. Tickets are available at eventbrite.com. But what if you think you don’t like poetry? Collins writes in a relaxed, almost spoken style that feels like a personal reflection or casual chat. This makes his poems approachable even for readers who don’t typically read poetry. For more than 40 years, Collins has used a deft eye and ear to move, encourage and amuse readers. In the 25 poems that comprise this collection, Collins distills the many ways dogs warm our hearts, from the happiness we experience as we watch a dog run—unencumbered by our burdens—to the strategic goofiness of cradling a canine in our arms as we step on the scale together. Turning loose his inimitable senses on the complexities of dog behavior, Collins ponders all that these lovable critters give us (sorry, feline fans) and what we learn from them about ourselves. Collins will be in conversation with Erin Quick, executive director of the St. Louis Poetry Center.
notable neighbors
st. albans
Irene Hannon and her husband had lived in Des Peres for the 36 years since they were newlyweds, then in May moved west into the hilly, beautiful community of St. Albans. Hannon, an accomplished novelist, and Tom Gottlieb, her spouse, wanted some relative peace and quiet. “Some days, I’ll see more deer, foxes and turkeys than I do people,” Hannon says. And that’s just fine with her, to escape the ever-increasing bustle of the metro and have a spot where she can write without undue interruption for 40 hours a week or more. Speaking of peace and quiet, her latest novel, Out of Time, is set in Old Mines, Missouri, an actual town about 60 miles southwest of the metro that was itself isolated from the rest of a rapidly growing region for 200 years or so, until civilization encroached about a century ago. It is known for its French Creole culture and Paw Paw French, a dialect that was spoken, not written. While on sabbatical, our heroine, an assistant professor at SEMO and a historical anthropologist, entices an elderly woman to translate journals written phonetically in the dialect at her isolated estate near Old Mines. In the months the two women labor on the old journals, mischief is afoot. The sheriff becomes involved, the nefarious activity turns deadly—meanwhile, romance is in the humid air. Although Hannon has won many awards as a romance novelist, there’s nothing racy in this book, as is her intent. “I prefer to call them love stories,” she says of her impressive output, which includes several series—this novel is the last installment in the Undaunted Courage sequence. “In every book, there is a thread, but this one, like the rest, can be read as a standalone story,” Hannon points out. That’s not to say that this reporter doesn’t want to find out more about our heroine, Cara Tucker, along with her equally resourceful siblings Jack and Bri. But if I or my wife get hooked on Hannon, we’ll have our work cut out for us: her 70th book comes out next April! Which begs the question: How does one become a successful novelist? “Writing it and publishing it are two different things,” Hannon says. “And the publishing world is as competitive as show business.” Hannon is fortunate to be under contract to a traditional publisher, Revell. Her writing career took off while she was working in corporate communications for Anheuser-Busch. She loved the job but found herself at a crossroads. “A villain in one of my books would have killed for that job!” she exclaims. She wasn’t writing bestsellers from her first line of type. “My first eight novels are out of print, for good reason,” she says, with a wry smile. Others she has revisited in ‘Encore’ editions. Hannon, who has an undergraduate degree in psychology from SLU and a master’s from Mizzou’s J-school, credits a nun who taught English at Rosati-Kain with starting her off on the right foot. Now, as a business owner, there’s lots to keep track of. International editions, for one: Many of her works have been translated into different languages. And they’re available for listening, as well. “I can’t believe how popular audiobooks have become!” To read more about Hannon before plunging into her body of work, visit irenehannon.com.