Shadow Shot Sunday – Bike Ride

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I went bicycling through a blighted neighborhood in west Tulsa just south of one of the refineries. You would think I was in a rural area instead of five miles from downtown Tulsa.  Note the storm building up to the east. We have lots of storms in Oklahoma. Everybody is a meteorologist. And we have lots of earthquakes now so we are now all seismologists. We feel one and it is like, that’s a 3.8, others go no, no way that high, more like 3.5. Thanks to twitter we get confirmation of our guesses within minutes. Practice makes perfect!

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I went across a pedestrian bridge earlier Note the faint shadows from the chain link fence.

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On the same ride later on a trail that used to be a railroad, through Tulsa’s swanky Maple Ridge subdivision. This is a great place to go walk, run, or ride during the heat of the summer.

I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

Skywatch Friday – Fitter and Fatter in 2018 Edition

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This is part of the Liberty trail, paralleling the Creek Turnpike for miles and miles.

It has been hot and humid here lately. Since I quit running I’ve been trying to replace the calories I spent in running with other things like bicycling. I love biking but it burns a fraction of the calories that running does for a given amount of time. I’ve been also taking stand up paddleboard classes and weight lifting classes. So far it is not working too well. Oh I am getting stronger alright and more fit but fatter as well by a slow an inexorable amount. I am thinking that I might have to start the most  effective exercise of all.

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We are getting rain and lots of sun, so everything is still lush.

Pushaways, you know where you push away from the table and eat less. Eating less is the most effective weight loss tool there is. Running only burns about 150 calories per mile or the calories in one slice of cheese or one beer. I’m trying to prove the first doctor I went to see wrong. She said, you know, for you, weight loss is an option. I’ve seen a million of you guys. You get injured, you quit running, and then get really fat, and can’t do anything. Believe or not, I loved it. I didn’t love it so much that I went back for more abuse (that I paid her for). I  got another doctor. He told me my “tread was think.” So I just quit running. I walk, bike, elliptical machines, weight lifting classes, and walk a lot.

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I rode by this freshly mowed pasture, where often I see horses and I got a bad allergy attack. Everything was hurting especially my eyes. So I turned around and went back home. Everything turned out okay. Strange.

Biking has turned into my first love though. I love exploring and going different places and taking pictures.

How about you? What is going on with you?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

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.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Shadow Shot Sunday – Shelter from the Sun

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It’s getting hot here in Oklahoma and so shade is at a premium.

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My favorite pedestrian bridge has a quarter mile of shade across the Arkansas River.

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And how about a shadow selfie of me riding my bike?

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At work we have a fancy ramada that provides partial shade. Partial shade doesn’t cut it when it is really hot. I used the hyperspektiv app to give it a glitchy look. I love glitchy.

I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters – The Chickens on Turkey Mountain

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I went on a bike ride on Tulsa’s River Parks trails and everything was going great in my slow plodding kind of way when I saw some chickens on the trail where it passes the base of Turkey Mountain. So I had to stop and check them out. There were only two of them and the lighting is kind of dim. I had read facebook posts the past few weeks where people had discussed seeing chickens and there was lots of speculation on where they come from and what is to become of them.

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They remind me of the chickens that you see everywhere in the rural parts of Hawaii. I guess they can thrive there I don’t know about chickens on their own in Oklahoma. We have lots of coyotes and I wonder what they will do when the weather gets cold. I’ll be interested in how they do.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters

Skywatch Friday – Alabama Edition

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We are back from our vacation to the gulf coast of Alabama (aka the “Redneck Riviera”). We had a great time as a family and will have lots of memories.

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Son always has a good time. He also carries a book with him wherever he goes. That’s a good habit to have.

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We cooked a couple shrimp dinners while we were there using fresh caught shrimp. We dined out on our balcony.

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For the first time we explored Gulf State Park on bike. It is a sprawling park with beaches, lakes ponds, miles of trails, and multiple access points from the surrounding community.

We had a lot of fun and got to do some active relaxing.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

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.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Hipstamatic Journal – Forgotten Treasures of Tulsa

One of my favorite photo apps is Hipstamatic. It is a photography app with a huge amount of filters, fashioned as different “lenses” and “film.” I love the all the technology that goes into dumbing down the excellent iphone camera into photos that look like cheap film cameras from my childhood. I love that look. I don’t think that anybody else does either. My Hipstamatic tagged photos score the lowest likes of any of my Instagram photos. That interests me but doesn’t bother me.

So today at lunch I went for a walk and came across a few sites.

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Pretty close to the office is the once grand “Plaza of the Americas.”  It used to be nicer with fountains and a bust of Simon Bolivar donated by Citgo before they moved their headquarters to Houston. Now the bust is at the Gilcrease Museum and the plaza is a favored place for housing challenged people to hang out.

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I walked a little further to Civic Center Plaza. Burning hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter it is pretty useless except don’t tell the midcentury modern fans of architecture. They swoon all over the place. I like this sculpture though. As you can see it used to be part of a fountain. The fountains leaked and were too expensive to repair. So no more fountain.

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I turned around and a reflecting pool that doesn’t reflect much any more.

I don’t mean to diss Tulsa. I love Tulsa but I am fascinated how fast new ideas and memorials fade and are replaced by new ones but the ghosts of the past never quite seem to go away. It seems like we get amnesia about every five to ten years and we want something new.

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On the lighter side, near the fountains was a food truck. I love how people are ambivalent to some lines. You can see that people are wondering where else they can eat besides the food truck. I also like seeing how people regard their personal space. I confess I do little experiments in elevators such as if there three of us in an elevator and somebody gets off, the other two respace themselves. I often don’t do that  and I can tell that increases the tension of the other person. I love little things like that about people. People watching is my favorite sport.

Have a great week folks!

Skywatch Friday – Vacation 2018 Update

We are towards the end of our vacation this year on the Alabama gulf coast. The highlight so far was Heather riding a paddleboard in the open water. She teaches a pool based paddleboard class but had never ridden a paddleboard before this trip. Logan and I went kayaking during this outing.

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I have been taking lots of photos. The water and surrounding area are always a rich source of images for me.

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Here is a shot of Heather just starting out on the paddleboard. I am in my kayak so I guess this is a “kayakcam.”

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We have been out on the beach a lot. Both sitting on it, in the water, and walking the beach.

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I have fair skin so stay covered up but my feet really got burned on this trip.

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We went on our first ever family bike ride. Logan has never learned to ride a bike so we rented him a three wheeled version. He did quite well. Heather and I tried it and agreed that it was a lot harder to ride than the two wheeled variety. Steering in particular was hard. The bike had a mind of its own.

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We passed this sign. Lots of alligator habitat in Gulf State Park where we were. It inhibited by geocaching quite a bit.

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We cooked a shrimp dinner one night. We have our shrimp place, so we boil them, and Heather prepares the sides.

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And the skies. The skies have been magnificent.

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I am linking with Skywatch Friday