I love the reflection of the sun off the tile of the old Y. This is a three year old photo. The building is now all boarded up awaiting its fate.
Skywatch Friday – Boston Avenue Moon
Signs – Mickey Mantle’s
One of the most famous Yankees is Mickey Mantle who grew up in Oklahoma. The Bricktown area of Oklahoma honors his memory with a restaurant and a sculpture near the AAA Bricktown Ballpark
Ruby Tuesday at the Airport
I snapped this shot at the Tulsa International Airport while returning on my last trip.
I know that some of you are going to want to know what kind of car it is and the only that I can tell you is that it is an old red car because I forgot to note what the make and model is. There is a good chance that one of my really smart and knowledgeable readers will know and let the rest of know.
All I knew was that it is red, and I like red cars.
Scavenger Hunt Sunday from Lace to Bling and more
Time again for Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sunday. This week’s hunt was especially challenging.
1.Lace
Lace, lace, I’m not much of a lace photographer. I didn’t quite know what to do. I briefly considered going to my favorite sporting goods store, Victoria’s Secret, with my camera but I wasn’t really in the mood to get escorted out of the store even in the performance of my journalistic duty as a blogger.
The above is a sugar mask from the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. You may not know it but Oklahoma is big in the sugar art world.The masks are made from sugar and are so delicate that one observer’s bumping the table with their motorized wheelchair destroyed many of the masks.
2.Bling
Son and I went on a road trip to Oklahoma City and one of the things we did was tour the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Center where we found these belts in the gift store.
3.Wood
Let me tell you about the relationship between me and wood. For a time our family lived in the small town of Eagar, Arizona up in the White Mountains. We heated the house with the fireplace so my brother and I got a lot of experience in hauling wood to the house, sawing it into fireplace length with a bow saw (see the photo, no chain saws for us), splitting the logs, stacking them, and then hauling a days worth from the wood stack to the front porch every day after school during heating season. So to make a long story short I am very happy with our natural gas fireplace. I don’t find the sight of real wood fires to be romantic at all!- Yes, that’s me in the photo above, probably about 1968 or so.
4.Fuzzy
Bison are pretty fuzzy, we have lots of them in Oklahoma but I found this guy I found in Wyoming’s Grand Teton Nationa Park last summer.
5.Fabric
My Father-in-law was a great guy and a small town pharmacist who passed away way before his time. He had quite a Christmas necktie collection. Nana, the world’s greatest MIL, had his ties made into quilt with the Grinch as a centerpiece. Charles was no Grinch, he was one of the most generous men I ever knew, but he enjoyed poking stuffed shirts when they needed it. For example he displayed a prominent quote from Charles Darwin in his office^. Let me clue you in: people in rural Oklahoma do not like Charles Darwin. Charles didn’t mean any disrespect, he just thought that Darwin had some good thoughts about responding to change.
Here is Charles with son in the pharmacy when son, SuperPizzaBoy, was just a baby. I’ll tell you that no Grandfather loved their Grandson as much as Charles loved SuperPizzaBoy. Anyway, we have the quilt hanging in our front room and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.
^Darwin’s quote that Charles had on display: ““It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.””
Silver Linings Playbook with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper
(Imdb.com)
Friday was my day off and Sweetie and I went to see “Silver Linings Playbook.” I don’t know what kind of movie to call it. It is not quite a romantic comedy although that seems what the posters and websites seem to be angling for. Maybe it is its own movie. Does everything have to be in a category? Can’t anything just be its ownself? I have a friend who likes to tell me, “Yogi, you are just like _____.” I don’t appreciate it. I am not much but I like to think that maybe I have a little uniqueness no matter how boring. What do you think? Are you your ownself or are you just like ole ______?”
(imdb.com)
Sorry, I’m digressing. Bradley Cooper (does he really go by Bradley??? Jeez I hope not, It is bad enough having a last name for a first name without humanizing it a little. I bet his family calls him Brad. Brad is a first name, Bradley is a last name. Sorry you generation Xers and Yers, the truth hurts I know but you’ll be thanking me later, believe me. You guys don’t know everything you know, yes that truth hurts especially.) Wow, I’m really off my meds today. Anyway Brad(ley) Cooper plays Pat who as the movie starts is sprung out of a mental hospital by his mother after eight months. He was in the hospital because he came upon his wife having sex in the shower with one of Pat’s coworkers and beats the the crap out of the guy.
Turns out that Pat had undiagnosed bipolar and other issues and he avoided prison by going to the mental hospital. I love how Brad(ley) plays Pat. His Pat is out there, he is edgy, nervous, unpredictable and just barely under control. In other words the opposite of me. But he wants to work hard, lose weight and become a better person. (Again, just the opposite of me.)
Anywhoo, he gets back home and we meet Pat’s dad, Pat, Senior played by Robert De Niro. Pat, Sr. is a mess. He has lost his pension because of the economic turn down and is bookmaking to make money. Pat Sr is also a fanatic Philedelphia Eagles fan and his best friend is a an avid Dallas Cowboys fan. And as a Dallas Cowboys fan I love the give and take between them.
Anyway, Pat meets the luscious Tiffany played by Jennifer Lawrence (who had the starring role in The Hunger Games). Pat wants to reunite with his wife Nikki but she has a restraining order against him but you can tell he is really lusting after Tiffany. Tiffany turns out to have lots of problems of her own. Her policeman husband was killed in a car accident and she turned into a sex addict and lost her job. So she is edgy and unpredictable in her own way.
(http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2012/12/silver-linings-playbook-my-review.html)
I’m not going to replay the whole movie for you. Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of it. I’m just going to say that I love the dynamics between Pat and his dysfunctional family and between Pat and Tiffany. There are many hilarious scenes in the movie and I think it may end up being a classic. I think it shows Jennifer Lawrence as a serious actress.
I give this movie five stars out of five. Saturday night is date night, take your wife or your husband or if your wife or husband can’t or don’t want to go take your girlfriend or boyfriend. The language is a little rough. The one sex scene doesn’t show any more body parts than what you’ll see at the beach next summer.
Warning Spoiler Alert!!!!
Plus this movie is the only thing in the world that could make me be glad that the Philedelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys.
Weekend Reflections – Tulsa’s Cesar Pelli’s Duct Tape
Reflections off Tulsa’s BOK Center featuring a 600 foot long and 103 foot tall glass panel tilted at 5 degrees that wraps partway around the building. It’s always good for reflections.
The building was designed by Cesar Pelli and of course he used all sorts of local influences such Tulsa’s Native American and art deco heritage. He won’t admit but I think he was thinking about tornadoes that frequent tornado alley. Personally I love the building even though it reminds some of my fellow Tulsans of a roll of duct tape coming undone or maybe even a big old hubcap. Speaking of tornadoes, I hope that one never hits that glass panel. We’ll have glass all over Tulsa when that happens.
Skywatch Friday – Orangey Purpley Pink
A recent view of the western sky from office here in Tulsa. I can figure out if I like the deep blue or the orangey purply pink the most. Maybe I like both in the same photograph.
reflections of the orangey purply pink sky in the Arkansas River.
Signs, Signs, – Pipeline Crossroads
Cushing, Oklahoma is a major hub for many crude oil pipelines that criss-cross North America. It is also the benchmark price location for crude worldwide. When you hear about “West Texas Intermediate” crude oil prices it is the price posted in Cushing, Oklahoma for that grade of oil.
ABC Wednesday – B is for …
It’s cold and windy this time of year and the B’s that come to mind are:
Ballerinas, this young dancer gets pretty chilly this time of year. The Ballet is pretty cool although I wouldn’t dare say anything about until this time of year when the season is almost over. Don’t want to give anybody any ideas if you know what I mean. Ballet season tickets are somebody’s version of heaven and somebody elses idea of “H, E, Double Hockeysticks” simultaneously. Sure I like the idea of going to the ballet, the reality is not quite that entertaining, just saying.
Ah, the Beach, we had a great urban vacation last year but wore ourselves ragged, I think it is back to the beach this summer. I’m more into beaches than ballerinas I have to admit. For one thing I get to dress more comfortably at the beach than at the ballet.
And Boats! I had a boat once, the two happiest days of my life are the day I bought it and the day I sold it. I like going to the boat show though. SuperPizzaBoy found one he likes. He likes boats that have nice couches. That’s important I’ll admit although I like boats that have big coolers. Mainly I like other people’s boats. I could tell you stories about me and my boat. The only thing worse than a boat is the boat trailer.