Last week I posted about an special art exhibition at Philbrook Museum of Art here in Tulsa. My last line was that I was going to the gardens. The gardens at Philbrook are every bit as special as the art inside the building.

The signature feature of the gardens is the tempietto overlooking the reflecting pond. Philbrook started out life as a mansion for a rich oilman back in the day. The reflecting pool was the swimming pool and the change rooms were underneath the tempietto.

I love all the views and reflections that are possible in the pond.

This is a highly edited (can you tell?) photo of the main building at Philbrook (Villa Philbrook) from the steps of the tempietto. Sorry I couldn’t resist.

There is always something blooming in the gardens.

I revived my glass sphere and brought along a point and shoot camera that has a macro setting. I got this thing years ago and used it a lot and it ended up in the back end of my Subaru. I saved it. I still love the photos that one can get out of it. It took me a while to figure out how to do that. I also learned how to hold it. If you hold it in your hand in bright sunlight it’ll burn a hole in your hand. It acts like a magnifying glass. So I hold it off to the side or from the top. Technically I think this is refraction and not reflection.

This is a shot of some of the pumpkins on display. The sphere gives you an upside down view of the scene so I feel free to cheat and turn the whole photo upside down if I have to.

Blooms in the water.

I always feel chill after just a little time in the gardens.

I am linking with My Corner of the World.