Postcard from Mike - Des Moines

Mike has sent me a couple postcards - I cropped off the note he wrote. Something about the way he wrote Des Moines made me wonder what Des Moines means. It surprised me that I have been here since 1969 when I ran away from St. Paul to go to Drake...and this is the first time I have wondered what Des Moines means.

According the the Internet:
The city is on and named after the Des Moines River, which likely was adapted from the French colonial name, Rivière des Moines, meaning "River of the Monks."

Ironic that a person (me) who dreams of a monk-like (the scribe part) existence lives in a town named *of the Monks.*

Also, I need to alert the well known scribe, Louie Lemoines, that his last name is le Monk.
He is retired from Disney - where he spent many years doing lettering and signage for all the Disney theme parks - and maybe more. You can find him on IG. He came to Des Moines to teach and stayed at my studio. It was a memorable visit. 

Here is a link to his website where you may see some of his work.

http://www.louislemoine.com/

Seems odd that we had a river of the monks. I bet there is something lost in translation. It might have been a river full of carp or catfish....makes as much sense as me being named after denim trouser fabric.