Yesterday, Heather and I checked out the Tulsa Audubon Society’s annual garden tour. It featured several residential gardens. It was a cool. The emphasis is not on bermuda grass or standard flowers. There were lots of wildflowers and the grasses were prairie grasses.
In addition to the plantings, the homes had an emphasis on shady areas for people to rest outside. In the summertime in Tulsa, you need great shade.
I love a Chiminea!
One home had a very nice water feature.
It was a great tour. With nominal cost.
And a bonus feature.
I finished this shadowy jigsaw puzzle recently. I though it would be easy but the decking about ate much lunch.
I went on a bike ride the other day along the Tulsa’s Riverparks trails along the Arkansas River. The first time in a while. The sun was shining and the wind wasn’t too bad and I took my superzoom camera with me. I stopped at the Zink Dam to rest a bit and take a few photos. Things were busy there.
In a pool just downstream of the dam, the great blue herons were fishing.
A pod of American Black Tipped Swans had the area downstream of the herons to themselves.
Segregation, A station of great blue herons in the pool, pelicans downstream. I love collective nouns.
A pelican on a rock with a goose.
Naptime!!
A great blue heron standing siege.
And a fellow human fishing. I think see this guy a lot.
And in other matters. Here is 41 second video of birds I liked on the birdcam in the backyard this week.
I went on a bike ride during a sunny, cool morning this week. It was glorious. I stopped here at the Arkansas River as it goes through Tulsa. That bridge going across the river is Williams Crossing, named for the corporation that donated about one gazillion dollars to build it. I saw some people gliding, almost flying across the bridge.
This is them. They stopped at the western end. Two roller skaters and a scooter. No wonder they were so smooth looking going across.
This past week, I broke out the old drone and launched it from the backyard to get some skywatch shots.
Here you can see a front coming through.
I put this photo through a filter to get some color.
One day storm clouds were building up. I launched the drone but it started barking at me at about 15 meters warning of high winds. So this is a low level shot of the clouds. You can see that the drone is just a little above roof peak level and below the power lines. When the drone barks I listen to it. I don’t need it flying away in the wind. It almost got away from it once and I went through the recall procedure and it came back.
Back in early April, Philbrook Museum of Art, here in Tulsa had their annual fund raiser “Art in Bloom” where they invite floral designers from all over eastern Oklahoma to put together floral arrangements for a three day special event called Art in Bloom.
I have been wanting to see the event for years but it eluded us. Too many other things to do.
So this was the year and so we went.
And it was better than my expectations, and my expectations were high.
So I will shut up now, just enjoy the photos.
Below was the star of the show.
Heather and I
So that’s a wrap. Lots of people there, lots of smiles. We’ll be back next year!!
That’s me, on a step ladder, the day before Mother’s Day. Working on a project.
Putting up a light string for some mood lighting for our back patio.
Project turned out nice. I’ll go ahead and say the other part. We bought these lights years ago for this. Better late than never is what I say in response.
A male northern cardinal captured on the camera feeder in the backyard. I used a hipstamatic filter on the image.
Big Foot on the loose on Turkey Mountain.
Another male Northern Cardinal in teh backyard
I love the House Finches when they come to call.
I leave a few peanuts on the feeder. The blue jays and cardinals appreciate it and sometimes squirrels. I use jalapeno flavored birdseed and saffron seeds in the feeder. Birds love them but squirrels don’t like it.
These images are from late March and early April. I have fallen way behind on my posting. I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.
I’m still way behind on my posting. This is about a hike I took on Turkey Mountain on the last Sunday of March.
Turkey Mountain is ultra popular now days especially on the weekends. So on the weekends I generally head to the northwest side of Turkey Mountain. The YMCA has the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA there. They have paved parking, flush toilets and their trails interconnect with Turkey Mountains. Plus I am a Y member, so I go there and check in. So I stopped at the lodge and checked in and on the way out one of their people told me that they had a barbecue lunch going on and I was welcome, and I didn’t have to pay. Oh, free food. Sign me up.
Smoked brisket, smoked sausage, corn pudding, potato salad, and a peanut butter cookie.
So I went in and got me a plate and it was delicious. I’m not totally into free food plus I love the Y. My wife teaches classes at two other Y’s in town and I use the Y’s also. Plus the Y on Turkey Mountain holds a special place in my heart. They hosted the first trail race I ran in (and a bunch more besides.) They provided a venue for the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition to host Leave No Trace when they came to Tulsa. Anyway the Herman and Kate Kaiser Y is a special place and they had QR cards around there where one could make a donation so I donated a modest sum. Talk about an unexpected meal, it was great.
So, fortified off I went.
I saw butterflies,
Birds like this robin
And more butterflies
and more, except this might be a moth.
And yet another butterfly. And a bonus wasp hovering over.
Some decent trails
Wildflowers
More Trails.
And a turtle at Pepsi Lake.
So almost four miles
Plus my Merlin App picked up: Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, and Tufted Titmice on my outing.
What a special day. Thank you to the nice people at the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA for making the day special.
