To the Oklahoma City Zoo and Beyond

A perfect storm on Friday, SuperPizzaBoy is on Fall Break, Sweetie needed a break so all of went on a road trip down the Turner Turnpike to see the Oklahoma City Zoo.

My favorite, a ruddy black rhino getting a mud treatment.

What a sweet little kitty.

I forgot to note what kind of bird this is, but I thought him handsome. I guess that it is a him.

Does he look nervous to you. I think he is worried about his relatives this time of year.

All sorts of wild critters, big and small.

An ostrich took a liking to SPB and followed us around.

I love pumpkins.

After a few hours at the zoo we refreshed ourselves at Belle Isle Brewery at 50 Penn Place.

And walked on down to Full Circle Bookstore. We bought more than we should but it is the best bookstore in the state.

SPB settled into his favorite chair.

The store has everything, a bunch of Shakespeare above (I don’t ever buy Shakespeare but they kind of set the tone.)

And then we went home.

I love Road Trips, Zoos, Brew Pubs, and Independent Bookstores. Don’t you?

Camera Critters

Irma Voth by Miriam Toews

“Irma Voth” is a “coming of age story” about a teenage girl with that name. Her family are Mennonites who lived in Canada but then went to Mexico in their continuing search of land where they will be left alone by the government. She has been shunned by her family for marrying a Mexican and then her husband leaves her. Women don’t do well in her family so she ends leaving her family with a younger teenage sister and an infant sister that her Mother gives to her.

The book is about her adventures as she finds her way in the world and encounters with others. Besides that the book is about escaping an old life and finding a new life and what that costs her and in a twist what her quest for independence cost others. It is about deep secrets and the costs of those secrets. I found the book amazing. It is 250 pages and I’m not a particularly fast reader but I zipped through in about three hours. It’s one of those rare books where the story is so compelling and the writing is so smooth that one loses the sensation of reading.

Besides being a great story the book presents Mennonites as three dimensional real people and not idealized concepts as portrayed so many times in movies and television.

I give the book five stars out of five. I got my copy at the library. I recommend that you do the same.

I’m going to be reading more of Miriam Toews (pronounced tâves). She is Canadian of Mennonite descent. She may be the best author that I had never heard of. She also starred in a Mexican movie, “Silent Light.” Must be nice to be talented.

Office Skywatch

We’ve had very mild autumn weather so far. Earlier this week we had front come through from the west right at quitting time.

Check out Skywatch for other views of our sky from all over the world.

Nintendo Pix

SuperPizzaBoy bought himself a new Nintendo 3DS a while back. He sold me his old DS. Looking at it I saw that he was quite active taking pictures with it. It has a cool hacking features. So I have yet another low def camera to play with.

These you can blame on SPB. Top left is his cousin Mr. Beans, a very cool guy who SPB made even cooler. I just love Cheap Sunglasses. Then me with the scrunched up face and then some lower left is SPB with some self love and then with the Hello Kitty look (I guess).

Do you have your own Nintendo DS yet? Or do you bother your kids for theirs?

A Home for Little People

My favorite cache from the geocaching campout we attended this past weekend.

Keystone Caching Caper – Fall Fest 2011

The Tulsa Area Geocacher’s had their annual Fall Fest geocaching event at Keystone State Park in northeast Oklahoma. This year it was called “The Keystone Caching Caper.”

SuperPizzaBoy and I attended this year. The guys and gals that organize it do a great job. It is always lots of fun.

Sweetie couldn’t go. I’m sure that she felt bad, sleeping in her own bed rather than sharing our tent.

Home sweet home. Not bad for overnight. Tell you what though. There is a railroad track adjacent to the park. The sound of the big trains thundering through the woods at high speed is awesome. I don’t mind the sound of trains and these trains sounded like they were headed right at me.

SPB always looks forward to the smores. He is quite the accomplished smore chef.

The fun at at geocaching campground is finding the caches. They have tons of temporary caches that are fun to find.

Should I be worried about SPB? He loved dancing with this skeleton.

Should you be worried about me? I love lifting skirts, especially leopard print skirts out in the woods.

This one was called “greased pig” or something like that. What a mess to find. But unique!

And a geocaching event is kind of like a running event. The event is fun, but you had better get the T Shirt.

See ya next year!

Our World

Lomographic Oops!!

As some of you know I have been experimenting with a Diana Mini 35 mm camera. I’ve had a lot of fun with it but sometimes I struggle.

(I’m sorry I love my boys smile.)

Sometimes I screw up. A roll of film takes about 24 photographs in the standard mode. The last roll of film I put in seemed to be taking lots and lots of pics. Apparently the film wasn’t in the sprockets quite right so it kind of “slid” along. The negative strip looks like a continuous exposure.

(I love pumpkins and all things Orange in the Fall, no I’m not an OSU fan.)

When I picked up the photo cd from Walgreens and looked at the index print it seemed like I had about 60 photos on the the roll. They were all jammed up together and partially double exposed. Most of the result didn’t look too good (although the Lomography folks love mistakes. The encourage the practice of double exposure where you take pictures with a roll of film and then give it to somebody else to take another set of pictures with the same roll and then see what you got.)

As I looked at them though I thought there were a few that were not half bad. Like the top pair of photos of SuperPizzaBoy on a fishing trip. The next pair are of a pumpkin town near our house. I liked the one above. I cropped it because the edges didn’t fit the sun on the river.

The above is a mash up of SuperPizzaBoy swinging. I intended to do multi-exposure but on three different pictures so I have about six images superimposed on the one frame. Full confession, the frame was so overexposed I used Picnick.com to increase the contrast. I think the Lomo police are going to come take my camera, do any of you care?

I’m going to continue experimenting. I love the old timey feel of the photos. I know it doesn’t make any sense.

Do you ever do anything that doesn’t make any sense?

Lomography: A world of film and plastic cameras (framework.latimes.com)

Skywatch – Hot Air Balloon

I was hanging out in the backyard enjoying the mild weather when a hot air balloon showed up.

I have no idea why it was there. I think Curves is a fitness gym for women.

I think hot air balloons may be the prettiest man made things in the sky.

Anyway, the Curves balloon drifted away as quietly as it came in.

I hope it comes back.

Skywatch

Tulsa Hub: No Parking or No Free Parking?

I’m not even sure I would pay to park here.

Tulsa Hub doesn’t seem to have too much of a web presence right now. I think they are or were a nonprofit that takes old bicycles, fixes them up, and gives them away.

Signs, Signs

No Fare at the Tulsa State Fair

Last Friday was my day off. As we do every other Friday, we took SuperPizzaBoy to school, slowed down a bit and rolled him out. See Ya Son!! I really need to show a video of his tuck and roll, that boy learns quick. Sweetie and I went to breakfast and then it was off to the Tulsa State Fair.

We rolled first into the arts and crafts building. Lots of good stuff there including lots of Legos, and screaming kids.

How about some duct tape roses? So romantic, and practical!

And some amazing pumpkins. I loved this strawberry pumpkin.

And the world’s ugliest pumpkin. Really people.

And a pheasant pumpkin.

And a Pistol Pete Pumpkin. For you non-Okies Pistol Pete is the mascot for Okahoma State University. That’s where all the Ag Majors and Engineers in Oklahoma go. ( I went to the University of New Mexico, aka Harvard on the Rio Grande or MIT on the Mesa) Unfortunately, the football players in Oklahoma go to the University of Oklahoma . They don’t make pumpkins at OU, they make national championships. That’s why Pistol Pete is frowning. He knows a lost cause when he sees it. Sorry, I usually gig OU pretty hard so I’m giving OSU some Yogi love.

And, look geocaches on display at the State Fair. Wow, we now have the same status as pumpkins, wow?

I love the livestock barns, Sweetie not so much. So I only got a few pics. These young people spend a lot of time working with their animals. I think it’s very cool. The only thing is…… well, don’t spend too much time worrying about the future of this animal. Especially while enjoying a steak.

I like the old farm machinery. They got those old machines all polished up.

The butterfly exhibit is a big hit. You pay a little extra to get in but it is very cool. Just don’t…. yeah just don’t start wondering what happens to the butterflies after the exhibit. And if you do wonder, don’t ask the people who work there what is going to happen to them. Lets just say, I applaud them for telling the truth. I’ll also say that if they have the money to go to Asia and Central America to get these critters then they got enough money to take the little dudes home. Last year the Tulsa Zoo came out and got them. They don’t do that every year.

What about the Fair Food!!! Well what about it, anybody who knows me knows that I love to eat and that I’ve missed very few meals. Fair food though? Yuck. Does the booth below look like it has anything appetizing?