Tulsa has a very nice and attractive downtown area. But just try and find somebody at night.
The Ladies of Utica Square
I had some time to kill waiting for a prescription at a Utica Square shopping center.
So I took my strange looking Kodak Brownie loaded with the medium format 120 film,
and shot some old school black and white photographs. Taking old school pics is kind of fun but you know really if I had a digital camera I would have reshot all of these pics to minimize cars, strange reflections, glare and such. Old school though doesn’t give you that immediate feedback you have to turn the film in and wait. And nobody offers one hour processing on 120 film. Still, I love the pics despite the many flaws, or because of all the flaws.
(My favorite)
It was mid morning and me and these ladies had the run of the place.
The Weekend in Black and White
Skywatch Friday – Natural Sepia Sunset
Last week a storm swept through town. In its aftermath we had a natural sepia sunset. Have your ever had one of those?
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. Katniss Everdeen the teenage heroine is again at the center of the action. She is a guest of District 13 which is leading the rebellion against the Capitol of Panem. Panem is is a brutal country that rules harshly over the various districts that comprise the country. District 13 has stayed independent because they possess nuclear weapons and have also built their cities deep underground to withstand Capitol bombing.
Katniss finds out very soon that life is brutal in District 13 also. I learned a new word while researching this book: Dystopia. No it is not some sort of strange disease, it is the opposite of Utopia (and could be a good word for Words with Friends or Scrabble.) A Utopia is where life is great and everybody is fulfilled, a Dystopia is where from outward appearances everything is Utopian but where really life is repressive. So this trilogy is called Dystopian. So Katniss slowly realizes that District 13 may be no better than the Capitol in the way their citizens are treated.
The trilogy is marketed to teenagers but there is plenty of meat here for grownups. The choices that the characters make are complex and have consequences. There is lots to think about how social movements tend to be hijacked by those in control to achieve their own ends. (I’m thinking about how the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements have been hijacked by our two political parties) The first two thirds of Mockingjay is much slower paced than the other books because it has to do with Katniss becoming aware of what is really happening. The last third of the book has plenty of fighting, killing, and gore.
I’m kind of a fan of many books marketed to teenagers. I’m no prude but I like the concentration on the story and characters and the absence of cheesy sex scenes and bad language. I guess I’m turning into a little old lady.
I rate the book four stars out of five.
ABC Wednesday – Today is D
The letter for ABC Wednesday is “D”
So I’m saying D is for Dogs!
Those are good Dogs, but not what I really meant.
From left to right, meet Ginger, Abby, and Rascal being tended to by a long suffering Washington Irving. Rascal is kind of hard to see. You know how hard it is to photograph a black dog. Lets try this:
Yes, Rascal does have a face.
Our World – Nothing Like a Boat Show
SuperPizzaBoy and I went to the Tulsa Boat, Sport, and Travel Show here in Tulsa on Saturday.
There were all sorts of boats big and small on display there.
Plush and Roomy
SPB found one that he liked.
They had lots and lots of boat motors.
SPB met up with his buddy Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants. Are you familiar with the show? Do you like it? If you do, then I am worried about you.
In case you think that you are missing something here is a video.
I don’t get it either.
We found some sport personal watercraft.
And little tug a lugs to haul hay out to your cows.
SPB liked the trailers. They had the economy models like above.
We liked the luxury models with fireplaces, indoor and outdoor televisions and kitchens.
Have you been to a boat show lately?
Somebody Say AMEN!! Report on a Pie Auction
SuperPizzaBoy’s school had a trivia night Friday night as a fund raiser. And you know you can’t have a fund raiser without some sort of desert auction, right? (Somebody say amen.)
(Sorry about the blurry pics. Jim wouldn’t slow down)
Sweetie was going to make an apple pie using one of the Pioneer Woman’s recipes. That always gets my attention because Rhee Drummond can flat cook anything, and so can Sweetie. (Somebody say AMEN!!)
Sweetie’s pie got picked for a live auction as opposed to the silent auction. Kari, the bundle of dynamite that was running the desert auction, looked at me and said “Yogi, bid $75.” Anybody out there doubt I did that? (Somebody say AMEN!!) Bidding zoomed up to $95, my last bid.
Then Kari said the fateful words, “The bottom of this pie is still hot!” Did that wake the up?? Did that pull hte wallets out?? Yes it did, (Say AMEN!) You thought the pie was hot, you should have seen the bidding. The look on people’s faces. Visions of HOT APPLE PIE!!! (AMEN!!, I’ll say it myself.)
The WINNER at $165! Actually he just got to pay for it, his wife was the one with the bid.
Know something else? That pie did not make it out of the building. Plates and forks were passed out and that pie was gone in minutes!!
One of the other Dad’s paid Sweetie a compliment, I guess. He told me, “Good thing for you that I’m already married because I would have to kill you. That was the best pie I ever had.”
Somebody say AMEN
Searching for Hidden Treasures
My favorite hobby is geocaching. Finding things that people have hidden out in our world.
Geocaching has led me down many trails and paths.
I’ve come across surprising things like this elf door.
And cleverly hidden containers.
Just to find the containers, big and small.
I’ve stuck my hands into crevices where I really shouldn’t have. (I’ve been to the doctor more than once because of ill considered decisions.)
I’ve come across many creatures.
Some small and cute
Others who would eat the small and cute
Some, I’ve helped across the road.
And others that I’ve just greeted and left alone.
Just imagine how wise I’d be if I had spent a fraction of this time looking for wisdom.
“If you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures – then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God”
Proverbs 2:4-5
Geocaching 101 if you are wondering what it is.
The Addams Family – The Broadway Musical
All of the Yogi’s went downtown last week to see the Addams Family touring production at the Performing Arts Center. If you are a Baby Boomer of a certain age surely you remember the Addams Family on television.
(I loved this show.)
All the characters are in the musical: Morticia (with lots more cleavage than on television), Gomez, the dad, the lovable siblings Pugsley and Wednesday (who is not the little girl she was on television), Lurch, and Grandma.
This musical is not about the songs which are not that great, it is about the comedy. It really is funny and much of it is PG13 as is the language. SuperPizzaBoy kept leaning over alternating between, “I don’t get.” to “Did he say what I thought he said.”
Overall it was a well done show. It’s not like I’ll not be following it from town to town though. It is a three star out of five production to me.
I didn’t know it until recently but the Addams Family television show was loosely based on the New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams’ work. The show had a display of some of his cartoons. So that was interesting.
Weekend Reflections – Spotlight Theater
The Spotlight Theater is an attractive (it could use some paint) art deco building, designed by Bruce Goff, from the 1920’s situated on Riverside Drive just across the street from the River Parks. In all the years I have been running I have never seen the lights on. Not because the building is abandoned but because they are open only on the weekends. One day last Fall though people were there and the lights were on.
The theater has hosted “The Drunkard” every Saturday night since 1953. Supposedly it is the longest running play in America according to their web site.
Check out Tasha Does Tulsa for her report on the Spotlight Theater.