Saturday I ran on Turkey Mountain for the first time since I messed my knee up there back on Labor Day. You can bet I was watching where I was putting my feet this time! It was a cold, breezy day in Tulsa and so running up on the mountain is better than plodding it out on the trail fighting the wind.
Anyways, I didn’t set any speed records. But I had a great time, and then drove back to pick up the kid.
How was your Saturday?
I love a good puddle reflection
Well it was kind of a snowy day last Saturday. I dropped the kid off at his Improv Comedy class and then went over to the river to plod a few miles. It had snowed a little earlier that morning but had quit. Just the kind of snow I like.
I used Topaz Glow – Whisker Wires effect on this photo – true confessions
So I did my thing, stopping and taking pictures every now and then.
This sculpture is “Crossing the Prairie” by Glenna Goodacre. I happen to love this work. More true confessions I used Topaz on this photo also.
I don’t like cold weather that much but I don’t mind it when I’m running. I have the right kind of clothes for running in cold wet weather and my movement keeps me warm. I’m just hoping that we don’t get any ice. I hate ice. Except in my scotch, I like it a lot there.
No filter, no software, no nothing, right out of the camera.
The weather was perfect for my Wednesday night run on the river: temperature in the mid 40’s and no wind. It felt almost warm. I got to the Arkansas River just as the sun was going down. My Nikon AW110 point and shoot has a night landscape mode so I tried it out and it wasn’t too bad. This was from the east side of the river.
When I went across to the west side of the river, the sun was long gone but I took a shot east across the river to downtown Tulsa. I cropped the photo and it has a little fuzzy wuzzy about it but not too bad. Mainly I like the reflection of the buildings in the river.
I am still in recovery from my injury in September and I have my good days and my not so good days. Wednesday night was one of the not so good runs. Both legs were aching and I decided to cut things short at three miles instead of my planned five but at about the 1.5 mile point things started coming together and feeling better and I finished my shortened run strong.
I assure you that our buildings in Tulsa do not lean to the left.
I’m one of those guys who has to get outside for at least a little bit every day regardless of the weather. So many of my coworkers over the years just stay inside, and surf the net or work or whatever. I couldn’t stand that. I have to get out. Over the course of a month or so I tramp all over downtown. I always take my camera.
The old Sun Pipeline Building.
I’m not satisfied with just one photo of something and then I’m done. Nope, there always different sides to things. The weather is different. The surroundings are different. I’m always amazed how much things change.
I like to visit old sights. These windows for instance. If I wont the lottery, which I won’t because I won’t spend the money on a ticket, but if I did. I would have bought this former AT&T building and put in a room with big comfy couches right under these windows. I don’t have to worry about it now. A church bought the building. I hope that these windows are put to good use. I’ll keep you posted;.
Here is a recurring mystery. This little lookout has been here for years. What is it for? Guarding and empty parking lot? Perhaps. I’d like to have a little look out, especially with air conditiooning. Wouldn’t you?
And old vintage gas station now an Avis dealer. I love old buildings put to good use.
I find remnants of Tulsa being the “Oil Capital of the World” such as this divider of some sort made out of oil well casing pipe.
And I found where somebody has started up a lending library of sorts in the East Village area.
What about you? Do you like to explore, tell me about it.
We visited some friends last week and I took some pics of their horses. This one was at the fence and then backed off when I approached. He is not used to me.
I stayed and talked to him and didn’t anything wild and he eventually came back. Horses are such curious creatures. I love them and I’ll freely admit that I know next to nothing about them.
How about you? Do you like horses?
A Spartan Aviation C-2-60 Monoplane. A two seater with a three cylinder 60 horsepower engine built by Tulsa’s Spartan Aviation in 1930. Spartan was trying to deal with the reduction in market by building a cheaper lighter plane but only sixteen were ever built. I think it is sleek and beautiful. This one is on display at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. Spartan is still in business as an aviation school.
I used Topaz Lab’s Glow software with the “Squiggly Lines” backed off about 50 percent. I like how the background colors faded to monochrome bringing the aircraft out of a very busy background.
Linking with Digital Art Meme
My new cell phone has a “cut in” feature where it puts a selfie in the pic. I love it and almost nobody else does. I love the goofy look on my face.
My first race of 2016 was the Commitment Day 5K in the Tulsa suburb of Bixby at Lifetime Fitness. It was a fun race for several reasons. First it started at 10 am instead of the crack of dawn which made it more doable for us old farts party animals who like to sleep in stay up late with our wild and crazy friends. Second we had a Zumba warmup. That was unexpected! My beautiful wife became a Zumba instructor and I have been wanting to crash one of her classes and video a couple of her routines. Something about the way she looks at me when I talk about it makes me think that she is not near as excited about it as I am.
Well we had Leslie who led us in the warmup. She really did have more than a half dozen people she was leading.
See!! I’d of participated but I was doing my blogging journalistic duty of documenting the event. Really. Actually I did try a few moves. I think i have lots of potential. In the engineering sense in that a rock at the base of a mountain has a lot of potential energy to gain by somehow getting to the top, not that it has any chance of getting there.
Enough of the dancing, this is racing. We moved over to the start line. I did my usual start at the very back. Sure I have to weave through walkers and baby strollers but I like passing people from start to finish and it is not like there is anything on the line anyway.
This is the finish. I love seeing young people kicking hard at the end. And see the group of three ladies behind him? Lots of people just jog along a chat with their friends. Usually that breeze pass me like I’m standing still.
We had the gym to relax in after the race. Lots better than huddling behind cars and trailers like most winter races. The facilities were first rate.
The race was an out and back type arrangement with hills and dips near the turnaround.
I finished fourth in my age group. I don’t know how many were in my age group but I suspect the answer is approximately four.
It was a fun, family, oriented race and I’ll probably be back next year.
There is a striking sculpture in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow. A bronze sculpture named “Binding Contract” by Bradford J. Williams is in the middle of downtown and it kind of tugs at the heart a little bit. Two cowboys are shaking hands across a fence and you can tell that they are neighbors but more importantly you can tell that for both of them, their word is their bond. For those of us in the business end of things, our word is very important and so is the word of your counterparty. Contracts are very important and not to be neglected but all they are is a statement in writing of both party’s intentions. From the day a contract is signed the business relationship is tested all the time with situations that were not foreseen and one depends on the other person’s word that the relationship will continue.
I love the sculpture and the principal it represents.
I’m linking with Good Fences today.
And a Happy New Year to You!
True Confessions – I used Topaz Glow
A shot to the southeast off my front porch a week or so ago. Sometimes you don’t need to drive a long ways to get a photograph.
I hope that everybody had a good Christmas. I know I did. I’ve been very lazy, read some books, watched a few movies, stayed up late, slept in late, getting really fat.
So now we have New Years. Everybody have a good time and stay safe. I wish everybody a great and prosperous New Year!
I dropped the kid off at school the other morning and being a day off I spent a few minutes walking on the River. It was the start of a glorious day. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, the air was clear and cold with a stiff breeze. It doesn’t get better than that.