My mother-in-law had a birthday recently. She went on a trip years ago to Mexico and fell in love with Mariachi Music and has said she wants such a band at her funeral. Her housekeeper, who is from Mexico, said that my MIL should have a Mariachi band while alive so the housekeeper arranged a surprise visit by a band she knew recently.
A few friends and family were visiting and then the doorbell rang and in came the band singing.
They sang for an hour. It was marvelous. My MIL was very happy. The group has been together for years and they only do private events all over northeast Oklahoma.
What a great birthday gift!! None of us there will ever forget it.
Last Friday I went downtown to see the 2023 Tulsa Veterans Day Parade. I see whenever I can. Tulsa has one of the largest such parades in the country.
This year, son Logan joined me. The first time I have ever watched the parade with anybody!
A World War II vintage DC-3 Transport aircraft started flying over downtown Tulsa well before the parade and kept flying circles throughout.
A Tulsa Police Department motorcycle squad opened the parade.
Their were High School marching bands representing their schools.
TPD had some of the officers who are veterans in the parade with one of their armored vehicles.
Some veterans organizations showed up.
Including the Veterans Administration.
Logan liked all the military vehicles that were in the parade.
Several Junior ROTC squads showed up and marched.
Miss Oklahoma showed up with a big smile. I googled her and her name is Sunny Day. What a name,!! I think it fits here. When I lived in Dallas years ago I knew somebody named Happy Holidays.
And more military vehicles. This looks foreign to me but still cool.
My former coworkers from the company I retired from showed up in force.
And it still wasn’t over. I didn’t stay long enough this time but after the parade is over, veterans from all over town show up and march. Some in full uniform some with just a cap. Lots of young people and lots of elderly folks showing their pride.
I’ve missed the parade a few times over the years but I’ll keep going for as long as I can.
Last Saturday afternoon I ventured to downtown Tulsa to Living Arts Tulsa which was putting on their annual Dia de los Muertos Art Festival. I missed all the performances that happened the night before but they still had the altars to loved ones that community members built.
Dia de los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead. Is a Mexican holiday where families welcome back the souls of loved ones for a few days of visiting and feasting. It is usually celebrated October 31 to November 2.
As part of the holiday altars (or ofrendas) are built to honor family members. There are conventions for the altars (check here) but it seems more and more the ofrendas are departing from the “rules” and the emphasis is showing the departed, their interests and passions.
One sees lots of marigolds in these ofrendas. Some believe that orange is the only color that departed souls can see. Many ofrendas create a path of marigold flowers from the floor to the altar and then to the top of the altar. Those are to help guide souls to the altar and then on to heaven.
The brightly colored tissue paper with patterns cut into it is known as Papel Picado. It symbolizes the union between life and death.
Sometimes favorite clothing and beverages are on display.
You see lots of pastries and candles.
Photographs, favorite drinks are displayed as well.
Somebody constructed an ofrenda in honor of the recently deceased singer Jimmy Buffett. A guitar, music, and sandals were some of the objects on display.
I didn’t build an ofrenda but I did use a snapchat filter to celebrate.
On our vacation to the Gulf Coast in September we found out that the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola Naval Air Station had reopened to the public. It had been closed since December 6, 2019 after a terrorist attack by a Saudi Arabian directed by al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula killed three people and wounded eight others.
We had been to the museum years ago and were looking forward to a return visit. When we got there a free tour was starting so we jumped into that and were glad we did.
The guide was a retired naval aviator and he had lots of a knowledge about the various aircraft on display.
We don’t generally take the tours but we were glad we did on this one because the number and variety of airplanes to look was overwhelming.
He was able to talk about technological advances over time from the first naval aircraft to the present day and further how tactics and strategy of naval aviation has changed.
He spent a lot of time on World War II in the pacfic and in particular the pivotal Battle of Midway made such a huge difference in how the war went.
The tour was interesting but by the end my brain was full and overflowing.
So if you are in the Pensacola area and have some time I recommend checking the museum out. It is on the grounds of the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
The installation is the home base for the Navy’s Blue Angels. We saw them practicing as we drove to the museum. What they were doing in the air was incredible.
I had some time so I went to check out the “The Herd” at Tulsa’s Lafortune Park. The county parks department commissioned an installation of a herd of bison at Lafortune Park. They had been there forever but wrapped up in plastic so I noticed that the plastic had been taken off so I went to check it out.
Here’s the little red dog or calf.
Here’s the dad. A huge old bull.
And the mom. As with all species the hardest working family member of all. I didn’t get very good photos. Taking photos of bronzes in full sun is some thing I need to work on.
So I sneaked off from the Herd and around the side of the little league ball parks.
And found a geocache. This is unique because it was actually 3D printed from a computer app. That takes geocaching up a notch from the recycled Bismati Rice plastic jars that I like to use.
And then I went by this pond on my wat back to the car. I can’t go by a fountain or pond without taking a photo. This one has a bit of a rainbow on the left side.
The Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow had a Chalk Art Festival this past weekend so me and Heather went and checked it out. The formal name is “Chalk it Up 2023 Art Festival” Check out the link for the official website. They have the event every year.
I think they had thirty two or so entries and I picked out my top five for this post.
They had categories for students and adults.
For some reason I love chalk art. Part of the attraction is the transience of it. Once the festival is over, they take up the barricades and the traffic flows and it degrades quickly. So no, you cannot buy it, take it home, and then make your kids and grandkids wonder what to do with it when you are gone. Because the art is gone also.
There is always one. This person chalked her piece to face the other way from what all the other contestants did. Good for them is what I say!!
This is the piece that won. I love it. I loved it before I found out it won. Kind of a sense of awe and wonder.
This jellyfish is a favorite of mine also.
The festival had a lot more going on than the chalk art. Lots and lots of booths with people selling little homemade trinkets, sculptures, paintings, jewelry, etc. We are kind of in the downsizing right now so we are not in the market for more stuff. The event was well attended and people seemed to be enjoying themselves.
This is not chalk art but it is a mural I really love in downtown Broken Arrow.
This isn’t chalk art either. After the event my bride, Heather, and I ventured over to the nearby Broken Arrow Brewery and discussed the event over a nice IPA.
While in South Dakota in early August for a family reunion another place I sneaked off to was Falls Park near downtown Sioux Falls. I love it there. A huge park with lots to see and great photo opportunities. The Big Sioux River runs through the park and makes a bunch of beautiful cascaded water falls.
They are very beautiful.
For a time in the early part of the 20th century the energy of the falls was harnessed to generate electricity. Those days are gone but the old power house has been repurposed to a cafe. I will say it again, I love it when buildings are repurposed espcially when they are as beautiful as this one.
The falls are loud and are mesmerizing.
I climbed the nearby observation tower and took a photo of the one area of the park. Silly me didn’t take a photo of the observation tower.
And I found several geocaches while I was there. (Geocaching is an online treasure seeking game. Check this link to learn more.) I love geocaching.
There was a sculpture called The Farmer there. Farmers do lots of sitting and thinking of course if they want to be successful and of course they got to get up and do things as well.
Me, I’m not much of a farmer. I’m a retired natural gas guy. I just take lots of photos. I have 89,006 on flickr so far. Five or six of them are pretty decent. Not sure about the rest.
Back in August I ventured up to southeast South Dakota for a family reunion. While there the family attended services at Sioux Valley Baptist Church on land donated by my great great grandfather back in the 1800’s. So this reunion Sunday a family member Lutheran pastor led the service. So that was kind of cool. My uncle Glenn, 90+ years old, tells me that the interior furnishings and decorations are the same as they were back when he was just a boy.
So this is me, my cousin Robert, and our uncle Glenn at the site of what my mother called the “Damn Dam” in Flandreau, South Dakota. Glenn, my dad, and another brother and a friend of theirs jointly bought a canoe and used both upstream and downstream of the dam for years. So every year they all had to go visit the dam and take their wives who teased them about it the Damn Dam. So now Glenn takes me and my cousin to it and we tease him a little about but we all know it’s a fond memory of his.
Another place we visit in Flandreau is the Japanese Gardens. An old time dance hall from a long time ago. My grandmother used to talk about seeing Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Lawrence Welk and others back in the day when they were touring the Midwest. I don’t know why they called the Japanese Gardens but I did find out that it temporarily named something else during World War II and then returned the original name a few years later.
I’ve seen it a lot but I’ve never seen it in use. So I was glad to see that a local developer had a cut a deal with the city to restore it and use it as an event space again. There was a large poster inside that laid out a lot of the performers over the years and I wish I had photographed it because it talked about rock and roll groups during the 50’s and 60’s that performed there. I couldn’t find any such information online. I just love it when old buildings are restored and repurposed.
Later on we went to the town of Dell Rapids. Glenn talked about swimming as a kid in the Big Sioux River as it ran by the city park.
Remnants of the old bath house still stand. Nobody goes swimming in the river any longer.
One thing that startled me is we stopped at a gas station and I saw these pumps where you could get either 70% ethanol or 55% for your specially equipped car. Egads!! I thought. I have never seen anything like this. The stuff is pretty potent liquorwise, 70% would be 140 proof alcohol and 55% would be 110 proof. I wouldn’t drink it though as the other component is gasoline.
Last week I posted about Cadillac Ranch on the west side of Amarillo. Once ou get through Amarillo, headed east, you come to a giant cross near, the town of Groom. Naturally, since I was by myself, I pulled off I-40 to check it out.
The cross is 190 feet tall. It was installed in 1995. In addition to the big cross their are other artworks on the site depicting the stations of the cross, the last supper, an empty tomb, a gift shop and other things. The name of the site is “The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Ministries.” Hit the link to go to their web site. The cross and other attractions are free and there is plenty of parking.
The site was built by Texas oilman Steve Thomas and his wife Bobby. The story is that he always wanted to be a missionary but liked staying home so he built this because of its proximity to Interstate 40 and Route 66. So people come to him in a sense.
The Last Supper installation with the replica Calvary Hill behind it.
St. Michael the Archangel defeating Samson.
It’s a nice, restful stop, (complete with restrooms) and is nicely done. And if you are into such things there is a geocache on the property (yes I found it.)
As an aside, Steve Thomas built the site on land owned by another man, Ralph Britten. Mr. Britten is the owner of another attraction in Groom, the leaning water tower. The tower was built this way to publicize the Britten Truck Stop which is long gone. The water tower still stands today and is a long time Route 66 attraction.
