Last week Sweetie and I dropped SuperPizzaBoy off at his friend Nick’s house and drove down to the city of Antlers in southeast Oklahoma to help MIL Nana with some personal business. We helped her remove personal items from a building she is leasing to somebody else. She and her late husband Charles operated a pharmacy in the building for years and years. Somebody else bought out the pharmacy and leased the building.
This is the back entrance.
Being a small town I think just as many people used the back entrance as the front. It always kind of tickled me. The new owners of the pharmacy aren’t quite as inviting. So its kind of like “Welcome, now go around to the front entrance.”
I’m a real fan of alleys. I think they are cool. The street front is what the building owner wants you to see, the alley is how they really are. Plus the back alley is how stuff is brought in to sell out the front. The back alley has the utility connections. I love utility connections, they show how we are all connected to each other technologically.
It looks like originally there were three windows and a cargo door with very nice arches over them.Now everything is all bricked up. Except oddly one window that was boarded up. Security over style. And look at that tangled web of wiring, both electricity and phone, what a mess. You know, if you have phone, you can connect yourself to the occupants of the building from almost anywhere on the globe. I think that’s cool.
For lunch we ate with some friends at the nearby pizza joint. High Street Pizza, on High Street!
Here is Sweetie humoring her blogger husband.
I love this photo, even if it is a bit blurry. I’m not really into flashes unless absolutely necessary. So things get a little fuzzy now and then.
During a lull, Sweetie and I checked out the Wildlife Heritage Center that her Dad was instrumental in creating. There is a stone bench there in his honor.
It took years for Charles to get the facility built. He had lots of help but he was the driving force. The feature that he liked best was the live deer. He and Nana fed them almost every day. We view the deer as a living memorial to Charles.
So if you are ever in Antlers Oklahoma check out the Wildlife Heritage Center.
As a bonus SuperPizzaBoy and I have a geocache at the Center. You’ll have to ask for it. It is called “Deer Capital“.
The wildlife refuge looks like a wonderful place. How nice to have such a special legacy!
I don’t believe we’ve ever been to Antlers. Back alley brick walls have a beauty all their own. The wildlife center looks like a wonderful place to visit.
I love old buildings that leave evidence of what they once looked like, like the bricked in windows at the back of the pharmacy.
Love your photos! And what a beautiful wife you have! I do agree with you that you can tell a lot about the business owners that put all their efforts in the “front” of their business, but that you can tell more about them by looking at their alley view. Looks like a really neat little town. Thanks for tour as always! Have a great day!
Sylvia
That’s a delightful post of “homey” America. Thank you.
I agree, you’ve got a beautiful wife and she never seems to take a bad photograph, fuzzy or not.
I enjoyed all your photos, and I like the blurry ones of Sweety. I have a few of those also because I don’t like to use flash most times either.
Lovely post to read.
An English Girl Rambles
I enjoyed your post. I’ve never even heard of Antlers, OK. so I learned something new.
I love the pic of Heather with her glasses on her nose!
Great captures of sweetie – she is definitely long-suffering! I like your back alley tour. The Wildlife Center is a wonderful tribute to the tenacity of your wife’s father.
That first picture makes a great Ruby Tuesday so two blogs for the price of one 🙂
Having deer walking around in your memory is a wonderful thing. Much better than tangled telephone and electric wires!
I like the fuzzy pics of Sweetie.
Oh, you got really close to those deer. Great pics.
Sweetie is adorable!