Wordless Wednesday (Almost) – Air Travel

Amusing myself with the Harris Effect App on my Ipod Touch at the Idaho Falls Airport

More amusement – sometimes I wonder who I amuse.

You can tell the people from Idaho.

Waiting in the jet way for the gate checked luggage. People always seem a little tired and worn waiting for their gate checked luggage. I am always happy that I didn’t have to manhandle it into an overhead bin nor pay $40 bucks to have it checked through. You play your cards right they will check it through from the podium for free.

The pause that refreshes. The New Belgium Cafe at the Denver airport has a most excellent Cocoa Mole Porter on tap.

Our World – Off to Idaho

I have been off to Idaho to visit my Dad for a long weekend.

Here is me and my Dad in his very first every selfie!

This is in the Tulsa Airport using the Harris Effect App on my Ipod Touch. I love people watching. I flew to Denver and changed planes. United and their partners in crime Skywest fly the most uncomfortable cramped planes I have ever been in. Other than that, everything was great. Anyways I got in kind of late and needed a bite to eat. So we went an Idaho outlet of a good old Oklahoma company, Sonic.When I got home I saw that Dad had properly stocked his refrigerator. We can’t get Fat Tire beer in Oklahoma because our messed up liquor laws. Looking for a car? Dad’s neighbor has a low rider for sale. Let me know if you are interested. I went on a couple walks. Idaho, like Oklahoma is kind of rural. On a geocaching search I came across this old park. It is not maintained any longer for some reason but somebody put up a brand new net on the basketball goal. I took a walk along the Snake River and looked at the Falls that has given Idaho Falls its name.

And downstream a replica of one of the original bridges way back when.

Anyways, I head back home Monday, I’ve had a great weekend visiting with my father.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Inspired Sunday – Fall Color in Idaho

I am up in Idaho for a few days visiting my dad and helping him get his house ready for winter. Idaho is a few weeks ahead of Oklahoma in Fall color. We were passing this LDS church coming back from dinner and I turned around and parked a took a few pics. I love the colors of Autumn. It is the best time of the year for me. Warm days, cool, nights, sign me up!

Linking with Inspired Sunday

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is a fictionalized account of the courtship and marriage of Ernest Hemingway to his first wife (of four), Hadley Richardson. It is told from the viewpoint of Hadley and is a very good read. There is lots of post WWI Paris ambiance, drinking and smoking in cafe’s and bars, vacations to the Mediterranean. Lots and lots of drinking of every kind of alcohol you can think of. Ms. Hemingway suffered for her husband’s art is the message I got. She kept everything together while he wrote and moped and antagonized their friends and spent time with other women until she had enough.

So I am intrigued about Hemingway again and I am putting on my reading list, “A Moveable Feast,” his fictionalized account of his marriage with Hadley.

I give this book two thumbs up.

I read the Kindle version. I watch my Wish List pretty closely every now and then Amazon will drop the price of a book drastically for just a short while and I snagged it on such a sale. I’m so cheap!!

Skywatch Friday – Downtown Sunset

It is getting to be that time of year when we start getting great sunsets and sunrises. I got this the other day in downtown Tulsa. A nice light show.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Digital Art Meme – Fair Food

I am continuing on the Tulsa State Fair from my visit Sunday. I love the colorful food trailers at the fair. I am not a big fan of fair food but I do love the sights. Has anybody ever tried the world famous, as seen on the Food Network, original Minneapple Pie? If you have tell us about it.

I used Topaz Impressions on this. I have now joined the Photoshop world. Son is taking a computer graphics class at school so I figure he can teach me how to use it. I’m really interested in learning about layers and using textures and such. I’ll keep you posted.

Today I’m linking with Digital Art Meme.

2015 Grand National Wedding Cake Competition – Grand Prize Winner

This is the Grand Prize winner at the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition held at the Tulsa State Fair this past weekend. It is titled “Ornate Opulence” and was baked by Lori Cossou of of Welch, Oklahoma. She got $44,000 in cash and $28,350 in prizes for her entry. Ms. Cossou is a three time winner of the event. The theme this year is “Fashion Week.”

This is the First Runner Up cake named “Ink and Lace Autumn Affair” by Angela Negron of Austin, Texas. I got dozens of pics of cakes, cookies, and various other sugar arts. These two examples set the tone for the cakes. This is the third year I have attended the show and I just love it. Check out the Tulsa World article on the show.

They also had a cookie division. I really liked these fish cookies set in an aquarium.

They had a shoe competition this year. This is a collage of some high heels. My favorite were Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers in the lower left corner.

And you know what, I am not sure what the category is but this is all sugar art also.

There used to be a Mask Division that I liked but for some reason they ended that. Here is a cake with a Mask that I liked.

Tulsa Frontier Article on the show

Our World – 2015 Tulsa State Fair

Sunday morning I headed out to the Tulsa State Fair. I got there late in the morning and not too many people were there. Which is fine with me.

All the rides were getting ready for the day. I am not much of a ride guy.

They have an incredible variety of food there. I generally eat only one thing. A couple years ago it was grasshopper pizza. Today I had a pretty good Indian Taco.

I was mainly there for the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. It is supposed to be the top show in the US for such things. I will post more examples later in the week but this is an example. It is kind of an inverted layer cake with lots of lace decorations.

The detail is amazing. All the external components must be food grade. No real flowers, or non food decorations allowed.

They had a category shoes as well. I had never seen edible shoes before.

Next I moseyed over to the FFA displays. I always enjoy seeing what they put together.

They had a great display of pumpkins.

And of course, being a State Fair you gotta have critters. Like cows.

and horses.

I did take one ride. The skyride that bisects the fair east and west. There is a coliseum on the fair grounds and Disney on Ice was putting on there show. There were little girls in the Frozen costumes all over the fair going to the show with their mothers. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I’m a guy, I can’t say it is precious, even if is precious.

So anyway, it was a pretty cheap outing. I took the shuttle bus from a satellite location so parking was free, $10 for admission, a nice Optimator draft beer at the beer garden and an Indian Taco cost another $16, the Skyride cost me $4. So, all in all, it was a cheap outing.

LInking with Our World Tuesday

Scavenger Hunt Sunday – Thomas the Tank Engine Edition

1. Cooking Utensils

Hey cooking utensils, cooking utensils, sorry we have lots of utensils but the only one I have ever tagged on my photos is the cookie cutter. And no I don’t use it for cutting out cookies, I use them for cutting holes out of bread to make “Ace in the Hole.” Or it has several other names.

You cut the bread and put it in a skillet and drop an egg in it and fry it in place.

Pretty darn good even if I do say so myself.

2. Stairs

Stairs, I don’t have any pictures of stairs, none that I have tagged anyway. How about steps? Will that work for you. Here are some steps at Tulsa’s beautiful Woodward Park. I used my pinhole camera to take the photo. I love my Holga 35mm pinhole even though it is a pain in the you know what sometimes. It doesn’t have a lens. It has a very small pinhole and it has no focus. It has literally a f/70 fstop which means that everything you see is in focus but is kind of fuzzy. Fuzzy focused you could say. And you have to use a tripod because the shutter is totally manual and the exposure time is at least one second and sometimes more. (I use an Ipod App that senses the light and tells me what the exposure time is but by now I can pretty get pretty close just guessing.) Still it is fun. I happen to like this photo so don’t be hurting my feelings. I know there is lots of things wrong with it.

3. Weather

You know what is terrible? The weather apps on phones are what is terrible. I went to Turkey Mountain after work one day this past summer and even though the clouds were thick and dark my Accuweather App said that I had an hour and half before the rain started. So defying all the information that mother nature was given me that I could see with my own eyes I said I can run about five miles or so. just before the turnaround on the Yellow Trail came a downpour. You can see above there were big huge rain drops. At least it wasn’t hail.

You know, it wasn’t too bad though especially since there wasn’t any lightning. I just soaked and my shoes were caked with an inch of mud. I was careful not to wear them in the house though!!

4. New

The left camera above is my new Nikon D5300. It is a really good camera but very complex. I’m finally starting to venture into the realm of Aperture and Manual modes. Lots of fun so far.

5. Part of

Hey that is Logan a long time ago. He is playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine trains and tracks. Talk about parts, there are lots of parts.

And yep, somebody else likes to play with Thomas the Tank Engine also. I wonder where all that stuff went. I might have to dig it out and see if .. well if Logan, yeah Logan wants to play with it some more.

Linking with Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Friday Night Lights – Oklahoma High School Football & Homecoming

Friday we all loaded up to go watch the Metro Christian Academy vs Poteau High School Football Game. Logan is in the Metro Choir and they were singing the Star Spangled Banner before the game.

The booster club was grilling food for sale. Is talking on the phone while grilling lawful?

The Zebras were keeping to themselves. Nobody has any love for these guys.

The latest fashions were on display. No joke, the young guys at the office were checking out web pages trying to buy pants similar to these.

The Choir gathered out on the field to get instructions and warm up. I think here they are playing the game of “Everybody look all different directions.” Or so it seems to me.

The photographer was out doing his thing while I was doing my thing and we got each other.

The cheerleaders were warming up. A big difference between cheerleaders today and way back about 40 some years ago is the athleticism of the cheerleaders. They were doing front flips and back flips and hoisting each other in the air. They are athletes themselves. The cheerleaders way back when were just as pretty but not as athletic. Or you know, maybe they were and just didn’t display it for everybody. These girls were amazing.

Metro’s team got in their big inflatable helmet. I don’t blame them, that is where the cheerleaders were. And then the coin toss and shaking hands and all that. The Metro team captains ran back to the ~~cheerleaders~~ helmet and then the gun sounded and they all ran out.

Poteau is a small town in eastern Oklahoma. I think they suited everybody in town up for the game.

The Choir sang the National Anthem, and a prayer was said. (Don’t worry, totally legal. Metro is a private Christian school and the game was on their property.) As far as I know, nobody from Poteau minded.

And then the game started. It was a good game. Both teams are very good and you could tell they are well coached. The modern game with its spread offense, quick release passing, and no huddles is really exciting but very demanding of the players.

One difference between then and now is the how the plays are transmitted to the players. The plays are signaled in from the sidelines. The three players and coach in the foreground send an elaborate set of signals. And everybody on the team watches. Poteau had a little bit different system involving three posters with colors, symbols, and numbers.

At halftime the Metro band got out on the field. They didn’t get to do much marching. Their function that night was to provide music for the presentation of the homecoming king and queen and attendants. The presentation was pretty cool; they introduced the kids and gave a little bit of information about them including where they went to church, their school activities and such. Their parents accompanied them out on the field and I thought that was a great idea. The parents should receive as much recognition a their children. I noticed that the mothers of both the boys and the girls were beaming and proud. The dad’s well, I’m sure they were proud to but they just wanted to get it over with.

And then the Pride of Poteau Marching Band came out and gave quite a show. That is another difference between way back when and now. The marching routines are much more complex. The Metro crowd was very appreciative of the show.

So, all in all it was a great evening. I have to confess though. We left after halftime. It was kind of cold there. Poteau ended up winning in double overtime 42-41.

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