Category Archives: Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Bicycling and Michael Buble

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Last Friday Heather and I went bicycling on Tulsa’s Riverparks Trails. It was very nice. Not too many people and not much wind, not much hills and a lot of fun. Kind of tricky navigating around the kids on the E scooters near the Gathering Place. Anybody besides me think that electric scooters and bikes should be banned from pedestrian and bicycle trails?

We finished up with a nice sunset, sorry for the blurry image.

Monday at lunchtime I noticed a bunch of Rock Star busses lined up at the Mayo Hotel. Except I don’t think it was a rock star, I am guessing that they were for Michael Buble.

That evening Heather and I went to the Penthouse Bar at the Mayo for a pre-concert drink. The concert itself was great. He is a consummate singer and really has a sense of humor. I have never seen an entertainer connect with their audience like he does. This is the third time that we have seen him and we will be back for me.

I hope that you are having a good week. I am linking with Skywatch Friday. Come join us!!

Still Hiking Skywatch

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This is kind of an “add on” to my last post about hiking on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain last Sunday morning. Don’t tell me that I am the only blogger that milks all the posts he or she can out of an experience.

Turkey Mountain Pond Topaz

What are called ponds everywhere else are called lakes on Turkey Mountain. Don’t ask me why, its just the way it is. Whatever you call them, they are full which is unheard of this late in the summer. Want to know something else? (I am going to tell you anyway, so say yes, okay) I didn’t activate our lawn sprinkler system until this past weekend. It has rained so much we have not watered our yard once.

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The ponds are overflowing and the vegetation is lush. I was soaking in DEET so I didn’t get any tick or chigger hitchhikers thank goodness but I was kind of dumb and didn’t take any water which was a mistake even in just a three mile hike.

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It always lifts my spirits being out in nature. I didn’t really see anybody else. I love getting back home after my outings and checking instagram for Turkey Mountain. There were at least 25 other people claiming they were all by themselves. It is a testament on how big the area is that we can all be there and not get in each others way.

Do you have a place you can go to get away from it all? I hope so.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – 4th of July Edition 2019

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July 4, 2019 Tulsa Fireworks Display

It is July 4 Season where we celebrate the Declaration of Independence gaining our freedom from Great Britain. A day of fireworks and eating way too much. Our family will be going to Tulsa’s Veteran’s Park to watch the fireworks show, and eat too much.

Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum has a certified copy of the Declarations of Independence and for the first time in several years they brought it out of the vaults and put it on display to the public and so I went and checked it out. It was awe inspiring to see it and astonishing to see how faded it was. They were allowing photographs and I did not take one because it would not have been a good photo. Still, being able to view such an ancient, important, and foundational document was uplifting.

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After I viewed the Declaration of Independence I wandered outside and found some flowers.

Gilcrease Lensball fabric installation

I also found a fabric art installation by Rachel Hayes. I used by Lensball to take a photo of it.

Gilcrease Pioneer Woman

And I ventured further into their grounds (which are not gated and are free!!!) to the far end to see the Frontier Woman Statue. That lady has been churning butter and looking to see something for about twenty years now. Probably waiting on her husband to come home.

Gilcrease Cabin

And their is this cabin nearby. The door is always open and I always close it because there is nothing worth looking at inside and it takes a better photo with the door shut. Otherwise I get this big dark spot right in the middle of the photo.

Gilcrease Deer Sculpture

And I stopped by on the way back to the parking lot I stopped to say hello to the Twins. That is the name of this sculpture by Jay O’Meilia. I love it.

July 4, 2019 Tulsa, Oklahoma

Thanks for staying with me on this meandering SWF post, that doesn’t show much sky.

Skywatch Friday

High Plains Skywatch

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This past week we ventured to Colorado Springs from Tulsa for our great nephew’s high school graduation. We had quite the adventure going up, wind, rain, snow. Yep snow in May!!

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Yep, snow, luckily it was very slushy and not icy and Heather’s new car has all wheel drive with a “snow mode.” I love snow mode but not snow.

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Heather found this cool little Casita for us to stay in an older part of Colorado Springs. Ultra cool and snug in the freezing May weather. It was adobe and I love the look of snow and adobe.

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We went to my sister Ellen’s place out in the plains east of town. Here is son Logan out in the pasture.

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Ellen is an artist and she showed off her new “She Shed” where she does her painting.

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And we got to see her horses.

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And I found my BIL Irvin’s geocache out in front of their house.

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The trip home had some great skies that looked threatening but we didn’t have the rain and snow that we had going out. While we were gone Tulsa had some pretty bad flooding that is continuing. Our home is high and dry I can report.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Arkansas River Views

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Since daylight savings time I am bicycling along the Arkansas River Trails here in Tulsa so I get to see lots of sunsets and other views of the river.

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I love the old Railroad Bridge converted to a cool pedestrian bridge. It is blocked off and is going to be replaced soon.

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How romantic is this, a golden sunset at the tank farm of one of our local refineries. Ah, the sweet smell of sour crude.

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The redbuds have lost their blooms by now but hey, I am showing you a photo anyway.

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And some purplish tones from another sunset.

Check out other Sky posts at Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Springtime Skies

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Wow, we had some storms Tuesday night and tornadoes all over green country. We were fine and everybody I know is fine but one unfortunate person died when their car got swept off a freeway interchange. The car was found a mile with the person’s body in it. Please don’t drive into high water folks, especially if it is moving quickly.

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We are used to rain here. Tulsa gets an average of 43 inches per year and things dry out quickly. I found out in my research that the US average is 39 inches so we are not as drenched as I thought we were.

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A final shot from my office window. I love the clouds. That is the Arkansas River off in the distance toward the left center of the photo.

I hope everybody is having a great and safe week!

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – My New Lensball

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One of my favorite bloggers, Hootin-Anni, from south Texas posted recently about her Lensball, a sphere of optical quality glass that you use to take photographs of the refracted image.

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So, being the copycat that I am I had to go one of my own and I am still experimenting with it and checking out instagram feeds and such. One thing I have learned is that if you are not careful in full sun you might get burned as it is somewhat of a light magnifier.

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Also, the image comes out upside down so you you have to turn the photo upside down sometimes. So far I like it. It does require a little more manipulation in that you have both hands occupied so I have used it with my Nikon point and and shoot rather than my “good” camera.

So anyway, I guess that I’ll keep it.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday – Yule Edition

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We had a full moon just before Christmas. Usually known as the Cold Moon. I found a new name that I like, “Moon Before Yule.” It was bright, silvery, and beautiful here in Oklahoma.

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Also just before Christmas we had dinner with some friends and then went to Tulsa’s superb Gathering Place to check out the Christmas lights. We missed the lights but just walking through the place is great. Aboveis the Williams Lodge. 

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I’m continuing my geocaching trying to get to 2000 before year end 2019. I am finding myself in very out of the way places like the remote cemetery above where my only company was a few deer. We had a standoff for literally a minute or two with them and standing motionless until, I was like, okay you win and waved my arms and off they ran.

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My brother drove over from Tennessee for Christmas and we are having a good visit and sharing Christmas with him. Its always nice to have family and consider ourselves blessed that we can be together. 

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Autumn Skies

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I love Autumn, what can I say. I took this photo at Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa.  I love this kind of stuff. 

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I was at Gilcrease to see their latest exhibition “Albert Bierstadt – Witness to a Changing West.” If you are a fan of western art then you need to come see this show. The above painting is my favorite of the show, “The Buffalo Trail.” 

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And this was a backdrop showing the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska. So a rare selfie for you. Not that I did you a favor did I.

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I feel bad so this is a photograph of the Tallgrass Prairie that I took myself years ago.

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And with the resumption of standard time, I am starting to take photos of the sky from the office building where I work. I’ve taken lots and lots of pics from here looking off to the northwest. That is the Arkansas River in the distance. Sorry for all the reflections.

I am linking with Skywach Friday