Weekend Reflections – Arkansas River

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is my year for Teen Fiction I guess. I found the ones I’ve read so far to be good reads. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the first book in a science fiction trilogy set in a not distant authoritarian future. The country of Panema is ruled by a city called the Capitol. At some point in the past the rest of the country rebelled against the Capitol and lost. As part retribution the various districts comprising the country have to select two random people called tributes to go the Capitol and and fight to the death in a televised series of games. There are eight districts, so 16 tributes.

Katniss is one of the tributes and the book follows her as he fights in the games. I’m not going to give the book away just to tell you that the book is very compelling and a very good read. The only problem is, and it is not really a problem, is that I can’t wait to read the other two books.

This book is four stars out of five. Get it, read it before your teenager can steal it from you. Or, what they hey, steal their copy.

The Hunger Games Trilogy web site has all sorts of cool stuff, author interviews and such. Check it out.

Rooftop Sunset

From a rooftop in downtown Tulsa.

Skywatch

Mayo Motor Inn

I just love experimenting around with my Takashi Digital Lomo Camera.

It has some interesting distortions up close.

Among other modes, it can do black and white, or

negative. I haven’t figured out what triggers the distortions though.

Strangely enough all these except the last are straight out of the camera. All I did on the last photo was crop it.

Paying extra for bad photographs. What a concept.

Signs, Signs

Watery Wednesday Run

Last Wednesday I ran after work along the Arkansas River here in Tulsa. I noticed a couple of new water features at a play park. That might have been there for years but they were new to me!

Something about water resonates with us. Maybe because we are so dependent on it.

Watery Wednesday

Damn the Torpedos….. Fort Morgan, Alabama

During our recent vacation to Alabama we went to Fort Morgan State Historic Site which guards the entrance to Mobile Bay.

There has been a fort there since before the War of 1812. There is a small information packed information packed museum on site that tells the story. Wikipedia also has information on Fort Morgan. The fort consists of over 40 million bricks most set with slave labor.

The Fort was important in the War of 1812 and the Civil War, and the Spanish American War, and was manned during both World Wars. I. During all that time the the fortifications were added to and modified so it is quite an extensive area.

There are lots of underground chambers that are pretty spooky. If only they could talk.

It was here during the Civil War during the Battle of Mobile Bay that Union Admiral Farragut uttered, “Damn the torpedoes, ull speed ahead!” Torpedoes back then were actually remotely actuated mines. Anyway, it is unclear whether he actually said it or not. But it makes a heck of a story.

Where the Battle of Mobile Bay raged exists now the huge Mobile Bay Gas Field. It, Fort Morgan, and the surrounding area seem to coexist rather well.

Our World

Pawnee Prairie Park Deer

I was in Wichita, Kansas a few weeks ago and spent an afternoon at their beautiful Pawnee Prairie Park.

It has miles of trails and is very secluded. It has lots of white-tailed deer and they were out and about.

They seem to have a good home there, lots of grass, water, and cover and not many people to bother them.

Camera Critters

22 Years, 23 Miles, 10 Happy Toes, Drinks, Dinner, and a Fire

ieFriday was the 22nd Anniversary for Sweetie and I. Also, it was my day off. So we dropped SuperPizzaBoy off at school and then had breakfast together. Then we went on our annual Anniversary Bike Ride.

We rode a little over 23 miles, not bad huh? I’m not sure we could have got to 24.

As a special treat Sweetie booked his and her pedicures. I had been kidding her before about getting one so she did it.

Above is the “before” picture. Not too bad huh? “Hah!”

Man what a chair, it kneads and vibrates and all sorts of stuff.

Here’s Lee, my nail technician. A very nice lady with a great sense of humor. It took almost an hour. She nipped, tucked, used a cheese grater, gigantic emery boards, and various instruments of torture to get the crap that has been hiding behind the nails for years. I had some strange calluses that seemed to befuddle her but she kept on at it.

Here’s the after. These toes have never been so pretty, or so happy, my feet felt great. I’m scheduling Lee on the afternoon after the Tulsa Run in October. My only regret is that I didn’t get color. I could have got a reddish orange to match the colors on my sandals. What do you think? Or what do you think about a Dallas Cowboys Star? Sweetie now knows that she created a monster. Do you think that I’m going to let her get a pedicure by herself from now on?

So we picked up SPB from school and later dropped him off at Nana’s. The world’s greatest MIL. Then it was downtown for drinks at the elegant Mayo Hotel.

We went to their Penthouse Bar. They have seating out on the roof. It was great.

The drinks. This is a great place for people watching. My favorite sport next to eavesdropping on other’s conversations.

There’s the gas company!

Updating Facebook Status.

Skyping with the kid in Tokyo.

A beautiful sunset from the roof.

Dinner at the Palace Cafe. Our favorite place. They had just reopened after a major remodel so it wasn’t the quiet experience we were hoping for. The food was fabulous though.