Category Archives: Our World Tuesday

Our World – The Deer at Oxley Nature Center

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It has been hot lately but Sunday it cooled down quite a bit and we had overcast skies. Heather went to have some girl time with her friends and Logan went to his job, so I loaded up my camera and an extra lens and went north the Oxley Nature Center on the north side of Tulsa next to the airport. I don’t know what it was but the deer were out big time. I saw scads of them. I am going to spare you photos of all of them but I will show you this guy. He was a little slow on the uptake but once he noticed me he sure gave me the hawkeye.

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And he gave a high pitched snort and took off.

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He might have lost a little face. The ladies never moved. We had a face off for a while and then I ducked back into the woods so they could resume their salad munching and visiting.

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And I came upon this deer. I was walking along the trail one way, a woman with a camera was coming my way, and this jumped out about 15 feet away but didn’t run very far. We had another  stare off, until I let him win and walked away.

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I eventually made my way to the boardwalk and went across. I bet have a hundred photos of this. I just love boardwalks.

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I came across these two. I don’t know a thing about birds but I am going to  guess the dark one is a great blue heron, and the white one is a white heron. Please correct the ID if I am wrong. I just want to get it right.

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And I resumed my trek on the trails. I walked about four miles according to my step counter. Slow miles but I was on my feet so it counts right?

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Just toward the end I came across this fawn. I hung with me for quite a while but then he bolted.

So it was time to get back to the car to make an instagram post (If you don’t instagram an activity then it didn’t happen, right?), and then fetch the kid from work. I was worn out and happy.

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Our World – An Afternoon at Philbrook Museum of Art

Sunday morning the family got up and Logan had breakfast and we dropped him off at his job at the Neighborhood Walmart and Heather and I went to have breakfast. Afterward we headed out to Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art to check out their newest exhibit “Innovative Expressions” which turned out to be very academic but interesting. It showcased the printmaking  art of Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro.  I learned some things that I didn’t know before. I didn’t take any photos though. Check it out if you are in town. It is open until September 9.

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After the exhibit we toured the three levels of galleries. It doesn’t take us long as we have been there many times before so seeing the art is like meeting old friends. Philbrook does a good job of swapping things out and so we always see things we hadn’t seen before. I love Thomas Moran’s “Grand Canyon” (above).

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And this one is a favorite of mine. I am from New Mexico and too me nothing beats snow on adobe like this, “Tesuque (Dark Houses)” by Theordore Van Soelen. It is also special because when I was born my family was living the Tesuque Ranger Station.

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This is one that I don’t remember seeing but Heather told me that it has been on display before. So meet my new friend, “Bridge over the Stour” by Childe Hassam. I love it.

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Next we went to the gardens of the museum. It had been raining earlier but then settled into a very light sprinkle. The tempietto in the background may be the most photographed item in Tulsa. I think it is beautiful. I’m always trying to think of something new so here I focused on the flowers which caused the tempietto to soften. You can tell there is a person on the other side of the pond who is way out of focus.

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It is my lovely wife, Heather. The gardens at Philbrook are especially lush this time of year. Their gardening staff really works hard keeping things tidy and green.

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I spotted a purple coneflower.

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Another area of the gardens that I liked.

We had a great leisurely couple of hours at Philbrook. It is a great place to get away from it all for a short time. If you plan on visiting check their web site for all sorts of information for days and hours of operation, special exhibits, events and all sorts of other information.

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Our World – Bellingrath Gardens and Home

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The entire property is lush and provides lots of opportunities for photographs. I loved the greenhouse.

Our family recently took a detour on our vacation to visit the Bellingrath Gardens and Home, located on the Fowl River near Mobile, Alabama. The 65-acre property, which was the home of an early Coca-Cola entrepreneur and his wife, is now maintained by a foundation. The property was beautifully landscaped and we were glad we took the time to visit. If you’re looking to keep your own garden clean and tidy, consider hiring a professional landscaping company in Adrian, MI who are well versed in this field.

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I love reflections.

This is one of those places that I have heard about for quite a while and I had high expectations and they were surpassed. The grounds are immaculate and the landscaping design is superb, especially for those of us with a camera. The gardens are just packed with great visuals wherever you go.

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We stayed several hours and still did not see it all. I took over 130 photographs.s

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The place has been maintained well and one can tell from our conversations with the staff and guides that their’s is a labor of love.

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What a great courtyard with a the wrought iron fence on the balconty, big huge windows that open, a little fountain, and archways. And I love the brick.

We paid for a tour of the Bellingrath home and it is exquisite. It was built in the 1920’s and had several features that seemed ahead of its time. They didn’t have electricity at first, but the family anticipating it coming had the house prewired and included features you don’t see today such as automatic lights that come on when you open a closet.

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A shady area with comfortable chairs.

It really looks like a place where one could relax. Lots of quiet shady spots and courtyards.

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I am a sucker for flags and gas lights. REAL gas lights.

And as in the gardens, the house is surrounded by plants.

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The guide showed us where the Bellingrath’s cooks kept the cookies.

The kitchen was superb. They have kept it as it was when it was lived in. Two big ovens and ranges, two big dishwashers, a couple of giant refrigerators. We loved the light airy feeling of the place.

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This was my favorite room. Not the main dining room but another one. Again, big tall windows with great light.

If you want to visit, check out Bellingrath’s web site. Lots of great info on planning and what to see. Being a garden, they always have something going on.

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Our World Tuesday – Tulsa Tough Bicycle Races 2018

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Tulsa has a big street party every year on a hill near the River Parks called “Crybaby Hill.”

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In amongst (amongst is a word in Oklahoma by the way) the party a bike race breaks out. It is Tulsa Tough. A three days series of bike rides and races for everybody from Sunday cruisers like me to top professionals around the world.

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They have it in early June every year and it is generally sweltering. Tulsa Tough is sponsored by Saint Francis Hospital, a local Catholic Hospital Medical System.

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The last day of the race is the most popular. The races all criterium style which means that they go round and around the same short course multiple times. The last day’s though is brutal. You start by the river and climb up a very steep hill then you come down off the hill and at the bottom you have to make a very sharp 120 degree turn and most of these guys/gals don’t appear to use their brakes at all so there are some spectacular bike crashes.

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So down on the river is where the races start, and the top is where the party is. It appears to get a little bigger and a little wilder every year. Couple that with no parking, very few sidewalks and the crowd and the races get very close to each other. They have painted the race lanes in bright colors and there is an army of volunteers who are constantly yelling, “mind the gap.” The race lane area.

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So I went out and made a lap of the course with my camera, walking and with the heat it about killed me. I cannot imagine riding the course up to nine times or so.

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I love the contrast, the party with people getting drunk, and laughing and having a good time, and a high stakes race in the brutal heat and humidity.

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Previous Year’s Tulsa Tough Posts

2017

2016

2015

Our World Tuesday – Flower and Wildflowers

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This is one of Heather’s day lilies in front of our house on Sunday morning after a night’s rainfall. I just love rain drops on flowers.

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Saturday I went hiking on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain and found some color. Or some color besides green. The mountain is covered in bright green and I love it but I also love other colors also

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And here is some yellow flowers. I have no idea about flowers so I call these yellow flowers.

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And here is one of the trails I ran. You see what I mean about bright green?

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And here is a purple wildflower.

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After years using a Toshiba I finally got a new computer. The Toshiba was still working but the pentium chip just wasn’t up to the demands of Lightroom and Photoshop and other photo software I use. so I got a brand spanking new Dell with a fast processor. I also have a solid state hard drive that is about half the size of the one I had but I don’t keep much data on machine. I got it at Staples and had them move the data and programs from the old machine to the new and you know something they did a great job and the cost was very reasonable.

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J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve

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Sunday, son Logan and I ventured off into deep eastern Oklahoma to the JT Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve northeast of  the town of Tahlequah.

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It is a 17,000 acre former cattle ranch that the Nature Conservancy took over in 2000 and it is now the largest privately protected block of land in the Ozarks. It is almost a complete ecosystem of its own.

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The Conservancy has reintroduced fire and is replacing the former bermuda meadows with tallgrass prairie to try and reestablish what the landscape looked like long ago. From the six mile drive across the property it looks like they are succeeding. The open meadows are very lush. The burned landscape really opens up the woods.

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They reintroduced elk in the area in 2005. We got a glimpse of one through the trees but I did not get a decent photo of it. We also saw white tailed deer on our hike.

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The only thing I wish is that they had more trails. We hiked two out of the three available and it was 2.3 miles. They packed a lot into that short distance with a variety of sights from ridge tops to creek bottoms, woods to savannas.

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It was a good outing. We were the only ones there. The headquarters was closed but they had a great display on the area, the trails, where the trails were and how to get to them. The trails were spotless. No litter or vandalism or anything. Of course you really have to want to go there to get there. We drove across six miles of very bumpy and rocky road to get there.

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Logan really liked the peacefulness of the site.

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Check the link if you want to visit. They provide directions and all sorts of other information.

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Our World Tuesday – 2018 Tulsa Auto Show

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Friday afternoon, I hooked up with one of my friends and we made our way to the Tulsa Auto Show at Expo Square.  The show features lots of new cars and has quite a few older cars. This year the hit of the show was the 1939 GM Futurliner that I posted about a couple days ago. Hit the link to go to that post if you wish. I am of two minds about cars. I love the technology, safety features, and durability of new cars but I love the styling of the old cars. Having said that, old cars of any type are a pain in the rear to own without major upgrades.  Changing spark plugs, condenser, and coil the time, checking the timing was a major pain. Flooding out whenever you splashed through water was terrible. I hate older cars. I love the newer cars. Except they all look alike.

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So we looked at all the cars but I took photos mainly of the older cars. Especially the Ford Thunderbirds. I don’t think there are that many more beautiful cars than the mid 1950’s Thunderbirds. They styling, the colors!!

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But like I said before. I don’t want to own one. Hey, you have one and want to loan it to me for a day on a nice sunny day. Sure, I will take you up on it. But I will return it and drive back home in my old Kia Soul. (All is Well, With My Soul, as the hymn goes.)

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Not just the tbirds, most of the cars had nice streamline, swoopy styling and many unique paint jobs.

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And some had chrome everywhere. I love a lot of chrome.

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So I admit, I took photos of almost all the old cars and hardly any of the new cars. The new cars all look like Toyotas anyway.

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I love this two tone paint.

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Here is an oldster.

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Here is an ugly older car. it looks like an upside down bathtub.

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Here is something unique. It looks like a gangster car. You can tell I am not a real car guy. My friend was and knew what all the cars were and he told me but I am an old guy and it was in one ear and out the other. If the cars have window tags I generally take photos of those for later reference. No window tags though. So you are on your own identifying these.

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Now this, this is a Pierce Arrow. Love, love, love this car. I highly recommend that you buy one, and let me borrow it from time to time.

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It has got one of the prettiest hood ornaments ever. The Tulsa Route 66 Marathon passes out replicas for their race models. I am a proud owner of one of them.

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How about one of these. What child of the late 50’s and 60’s didn’t get hauled around in a station wagon.  Nine or ten kids would fit in these, some laying down in the back. It is a wonder we didn’t all die.

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Here is a new car I found. The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. It has a 707 horsepower engine and brakes to match. Its kind of sad. When it first come out a few years ago and was on display it was mobbed by guys looking at it. Of course, their were young women in short skirts and high heels answering questions. Now, you got guys with clipboards wanting to answer your questions, at least when they look up from their cell phones and happen to notice you. I felt like asking them where the women with high heels were but didn’t want to get all swarmed up in the me too movement.

So that’s a wrap on this years Tulsa Auto Show!!

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Our World -The Prairie Schooners of Tulsa

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We have something new in downtown Tulsa. Stickwork artist Patrick Dougherty, with a lot of help, installed “Prairie Schooners” at Tulsa’s least used park, Chapman Centennial Green on the south edge of downtown. The project was sponsored by the Urban Core Art Project.

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It is made up of branches and sticks from trail cleanup and tree trimming projects here in Tulsa. They are in there very good. The day I took these photos there was a gale blowing downtown and the structures were not going anywhere. The tops were waving about fairly well. I don’t know how they rooted the structures in but they in good.

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Prairie Schooners is what the covered wagons that the pioneers used to go west and steal land from the Native Americans. I can see the resemblance to that. It also looks like sailboats out ocean.

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The structures bend and wave in the strong wind and seem almost alive, they way they move. They look ghostly.

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An example of the complex and very strong weaving of the natural materials used to make the structures.

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They are very complex and make little rooms and there are no “Do not touch” signs anywhere. The place invites touching. It’s a very happy place.

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It is due to be installed for a year, until March 2019, so you got some time to check it out yourself.

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Our World – Spring Break at Big Cedar Lodge

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A week or so ago we had the perfect storm appear of the kid getting a break from school, and a few days off from his job at Walmart and me having some time so we dashed off to Southwest Missouri to Big Cedar Lodge, near Ridgedale to spend a couple nights.

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I really didn’t know what to expect. Big Cedar is owned by the same company who owns Bass Pro and if you have been to a Bass Pro store you know they push the time share condos and Big Cedar hard. (They also the founders of the now non-profit Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, that I discussed in my previous post.) So anyway we got to Big Cedar and it was very nice and very low key. The staff at the hotel act like they like there jobs and are very engaging and spend time with you to make sure that everything is good. What little problems did occur were set right quickly with very little fuss.

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The property is huge and has lots of amenities, most of which are at no extra charge such as the nice mini golf set up that they had or the paddle boats. This is not a resort where they nickle and dime you to death.

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They had a nice chapel on the property available for weddings.

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Lots and lots of flowers. I like it when owners take pride in their properties. There really is not a rate of return to flowers.

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There were lots of people there on the property but it is so spread out and has so many activity centers that it did not seem crowded at all.

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This is the marina where you can check out the paddle boats, kayaks, and other equipment.

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I had never seen so many mounted heads of deer and other wildlife in my life. Whole herds must have been wiped out to furnish the place. (I am being sarcastic folks). These were in the fully equipped fitness center.

Anyway we had a fun, relaxing time. I know this sounds like a puff piece for Big Cedar and I assure you that we paid full price for stay there and were happy to do so and will probably be back. I think it is a great place for our family for a long weekend. The accommodations were nice despite very thin walls. The food and drink in the restaurants was good and reasonably priced and the staff was friendly. What else do you want?

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Flowing Water – Our World

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Hey after all these years I figured out how to do make a photo with the smooth flowing water look.

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It takes a tripod to hold the camera steady, a long focal length, a long exposure time.  I am going to go crazy.

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I am about to finish my first photography class. I have been taking pictures for years and little did I know that there is a whole world out there. We have a final assignment where we put 15 pictures out of 21 subjects on a poster board. Wow, actually printing out physical photos. Imagine. Walgreens to the rescue!! One option was photographing “purple” I found a purple truck. I am not claiming any artistic breakthrough but it is purple. Notice that I hid the license plate. I like taking pictures of cars and posting them. I have had car owners tell me that license plate numbers are private information and it is illegal to publish photos of them.  I tell them that I won’t tell anybody that they are the owners of the cars so its okay. They just look at me.

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And a large sculpture. In Tulsa where else but the praying hands (what the world calls it) or healing hands (what the alumni prefer to call it). I like the sideways aspect instead of the full on look. It almost looks like one hand and its reflection in a mirror.

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So here is my board to present Monday night. You’ve seen some of them.Others are new. I am signing up for the second class. Portraits, journalism, any takers for free portraits. Wife and son have already told me NO WAY.  Oh well.

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