On a dog walk the other day I noticed the shadows were long because the sun was low.
The same spot using my hipstamatic app with a lens that tripled everything. Three times the fun?
Different tree, different hipstamatic lens.
Yet again.
I love Hipstamatic, nobody else I know seems to though. Oh well.
Some geese seen near Zink Dam on the Arkansas River as it runs through Tulsa.
A scoop of American White Pelicans near the geese.
Our rescue terrier, Sadie loves playing fetch, and playing fetch, and playing fetch some more.
I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters
This is a park just off downtown Tulsa. It used to be known as Centennial Park but is now known as Veterans Park. It’s a very nice retreat. Lots of landscaping and it has a trail that goes around and a big pond and some other water features.
Back when I worked this was part of one of my downtown running routes.
The building in the background is now home to Tulsa City Parks. I just happened to have a meeting over there and so I got there intentionally early so I would have time for a brief walk around the pond.
So whatever they call it, it’s a nice park.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.
Last Friday I loaded up my bike and took it to Tulsa’s RiverParks trails. The light wind was out of the north so I started on the south end at 71st street so I would have the wind at my back on the return leg of my ride.
I had my action camera attached to the handlebars set to take a photo every three seconds and off I went. I was feeling strong so I went across the 71st bridge to take the long uphill ride to Turkey Mountain. It’s a gradual slope but still I had been putting it off. It went well though, me and my knee felt strong even though pretty slow.
I went by the lower parking lot at Turkey Mountain. We’ve had a couple of serious crimes lately at Turkey Mountain. A stabbing and a rape so everybody is on edge. The RiverParks Authority was having extra cameras installed as I went by.
It was amazing the number of people I encountered on the trail. Strange for a week day except is Friday really a weekday any longer? Above is a fraction of the bicyclists I encountered.
Walkers and Runners galore. I love the lady with the cane. After my surgery I did lots of walking with my walker and later my cane. I should have attached an action to cam to it!!
I was astounded by the number of people talking their babies for a stroll. Tons of baby strolling moms and pops trail warriors.
I pulled one photo out of the collage. Here are four strollers in a row.
And dog walkers everywhere.
And people standing in the trail yakking. Move off to the side folks, you are messing up my Strava segment times.
And people off by themselves, just pondering the view, taking photos, talking on the phone.
I crossed the river four times on my ride. Once on the 71st bridge to start, the bridge above, which call the 11th street bridge, and the Williams Crossings pedestrian bridge twice.
Several people fishing.
The construction crews keeping the trails in good shape while bicyclists whiz past them.
A couple kayakers were out that morning. I’ve kayaked once on the river last year. I’ll be doing it again in the next several weeks.
All in all a good ride!! Pretty slow but hey I had a good time.
I am linking with My Corner of the World
I went bicycling Saturday morning with my action camera on the handlebars. Here some shadows I encountered.
I point the camera down and I got a shadow selfie action shot.
I got passed on a fully enclosed pedestrian bridge.
And here is the elk I promised you.
This is a ShadowShot Sunday Post. Check it out.
Last Sunday morning I grabbed my camera, bug spray, and sunblock and headed to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to see what I could see.
Right at the visitor center entrance I found this bush quivering with all sorts of butterflies. Can’t really see all of them in the photo so check out the short video below.
It was a good start to my outing.
I went a little ways into the trails and found this guy, a red spotted purple butterfly from what google lens tells me.
And later on I found a great blue heron looking for their lunch. A bonus turtle is in the background.
And a female cardinal with her lunch in her beak already.
Another view of the same bird.
And a very fuzzy view of an indigo bunting. Those little guys are active flitting here and then there. I am still learning how to spot the little ones and take photos of them. Sometimes I just have to be happy with spotting a glimpse of them.
So I heard a lot more birds than I got photos of them. It is nice hearing them and the Merlin app is wonderful deciphering what kind of birds there are.
Sometimes I see a lot of deer at Oxley. The Oxley staff says they are overpopulated with deer. There is lots of food for them now, not so much in the winter. Below is a short video of the fawn.
I looked all over for their mom and didn’t see it. They are generally protective of their babies.
So I wibble wobbled around the preserve for a little less than three miles and enjoyed myself thoroughly. And to part, a poem from the former Artist in Residence at Oxley, Sasha. I thought it was pretty cool. And short, I love short poems.
Thank you for visiting. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.
The thing about a beach vacation is the beach and the water. Here is a scene from our condo balcony on the fifth floor with the gentle morning waves of the Gulf of Mexico rolling up on the beach. So we’d watch the Gulf from our condo with our morning coffee, breakfast, and newspapers. Then later we’d go hang out on the beach and then we would do a walk on the beach. Then we would go out and about town and return to beach in the late afternoon and then when it got dark we were back out on the balcony watching the Gulf some more. It was heaven.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday
This past couple of weeks, I have been hanging out at the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama. We love it there. I spent a lot of time sitting there letting the sun do its best to kill me with its death rays, while wondering about all the people that are part of the beach. The Beach Warriors. It’s a whole army of people.
Early in the morning, the fishing dads come down from their condos. Other dad’s bring out coolers, chairs, and shelters, set them up and the families don’t show up for hours.
The guys and gals that set the beach service up are out early as well. Talk about a job from hell, drag all that stuff out, set it up and sell only about 30% of the setups max. You can take photos for free though.
Most people bring their own chairs and such.
And you have the energetic beach runners. I used to do that some years ago when I still ran. Beach running is hard except for young people who just seem to glide along.
And the energetic youngsters running around like kids have done for thousands of years at the beach.
And then photo’s at the beach. This was a family directed event. The professional photographers work fast. Time is money you know. I loved this family they took all the different arrangements of people you can image. Youngsters, oldsters, moms and dads. They took their time.
And the beach kayakers. Lots of fun but the amount of energy spent per unit of fun was high. This guy was actually surfing his kayak in.
Stand up paddleboarding has a chill vibe. Lots lower energy per unit of fun. You have to have good balance!! With both kayaking and paddleboards you have the problem of hauling your watercraft across the beach to the water.
There was an Amish presence on the beach this year. During the day they all sit together and talk and visit. Nobody taking instagram selfies or anything like that. This evening they all turned their chairs around and watched the men play a version of baseball. Fun for everyone!
A catamaran came by at least once daily. Part of a dolphin tour just offshore. We’ve seen lots of dolphins go from west to east about ten in the morning and back late in the late afternoon. It’s one of those things where it is a lot more fun to watch with your eyes instead of trying to photograph or video.
The Alabama Highway Patrol cruised by once or twice checking everything out.
The beach patrol came by also checking to make sure we are safe, nobody is using glass, and your shelters are behind the designated line. Also, they have a final cleanup on the beach about 10 or 11. If you leave chairs or anything behind, they confiscate and dispose of them.
This is just a sampling of the Beach Warriors you come across on a beach.
Not a beach, the walkway to the beach shaded by palm trees, from our condo building on our recent vacation in Orange Beach, Alabama, right on the Gulf of Mexico.
Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday
We’ve been gone for a couple weeks on a family vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. We love it there. We sit on the beach a lot and typically do a daily walk of two or three miles. I saw lots of shore birds there many of which I found hard to ID. Here’s some examples:
Your garden variety laughing seagull. Please correct any ID that you think is wrong.
A small colony of seagulls. (I love collective nouns for animals of all different types.)
A bigger colony of seagulls and other various types of shore birds.
More laughing seagull? Maybe.
A brown pelican lording over other birds.
A protected sea turtle egg nest. They have always had them in Orange Beach but we saw lots more than years previously. I guess that could mean more sea turtles are nesting or that they are identifying nesting sites that were missed earlier. I don’t know.
A crab playing possum on the beach. I thought it was dead but when I got too close it took off.
Pelicans on patrol, flying low!
Another patrol!
Google lens says a Ruddy Turnstone, doesn’t sound right to me.
Google lens says Sanderlings??? I kind of doubt it.
Linking with Saturday’s Critters