Tag Archives: Philbrook Gardens

Shadow Shot Sunday – The Sun is What Makes Shadows

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Last week I had to use photos from my archives for my Shadow Shot Sunday post. Why is that? It was because I wasn’t getting outside very much in this heat. Usually when I am outside, walking, hiking, in the backyard, etc I take pictures of almost everything and almost everything outside, during the day, casts a shadow. If nothing else, I cast my own shadow. Now as I write this, it occurs to me that this is the lamest Eureka moment ever. I’m almost embarrassed for myself. But that is alright. I embarrass everyone I know my mere presence, its okay if I embarrass myself every once in a while.

Garden Shadows

So with my newfound comprehension I went in the backyard and took a photo of this spinner casting a shadow on our fence. I kind of like the light on the spinner also.

Philbrook Decorative Railing Sculpture

A few days later I was at Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum looking at an exhibition and afterwards decided to go on a spin around their gardens even since it was a little early and the heat had not showed up. First thing out the door is this shadow of a decorative feature on the cast iron rails.

Philbrook Gardens Tree Tunnel

And then I turned left and went down this long “tree tunnel” with its shade along the whole length.

Philbrook Shadows

And out into the gardens and first thing is this shadow cast by a planting.

Shadowy Garden Chairs at Philbrook Gardens

And some restful chairs in the shade of the a large tree. I think it would be cool to take a book and read there once it gets a little cooler.

Philbrook's Tandy Pavillion

Philbrook recently opened their Tandy Pavillion out in the garden. It is mainly an event space but I love how much shade is on three sides of the building. Plus the air conditioning is heavenly and they have restrooms. When you are in your 70’s it’s nice to have handy restrooms instead of trudging back up the hill to the main building. They also have a small exhibit of bird photographs on display.

Shadowy Art at Philbrook Gardens, Talisman by Oded Halahmy

They have all sorts of art on display in the gardens. I’ve always loved this. It is called Talisman by Oded Halahmy

Philbrook Veranda

I’ve always loved this structure in the gardens. It has a fountain to the left and it is always shady and restful.

Shadows at Philbrook Gardens

And headed back into the main building I found this shadow on a bit of a patio. I love the contrasting pattern of the shadow and the pavers.

So anyway I have resolved to spend more time out of doors during the day even though my dermatologist tells me that the sun is trying to kill me. Sunscreen and wide brimmed hats are my friends!

And to be clear, many of my fellow photobloggers make great shadow photos indoors. I’ve done a bunch myself.

I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters – Butterflies and Flowers

I visited the Philbrook Gardens here in Tulsa and found a couple of butterflies. I love it when I can capture them feeding from flowers.

A Gulf Fritillary butterfly feeding from a zinnia flower at the Philbrook Gardens.

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A Buckeye Butterfly feeding on globe amaranth at the Philbrook Gardens.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters

The Colors, Reflections and Refractions of Autumn at Philbrook Gardens

Last week I posted about an special art exhibition at Philbrook Museum of Art here in Tulsa. My last line was that I was going to the gardens. The gardens at Philbrook are every bit as special as the art inside the building.

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The signature feature of the gardens is the tempietto overlooking the reflecting pond. Philbrook started out life as a mansion for a rich oilman back in the day. The reflecting pool was the swimming pool and the change rooms were underneath the tempietto.

Philbrook Museum Gardens

I love all the views and reflections that are possible in the pond.

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This is a highly edited (can you tell?) photo of the main building at Philbrook (Villa Philbrook) from the steps of the tempietto. Sorry I couldn’t resist.

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There is always something blooming in the gardens.

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I revived my glass sphere and brought along a point and shoot camera that has a macro setting. I got this thing years ago and used it a lot and it ended up in the back end of my Subaru. I saved it. I still love the photos that one can get out of it. It took me a while to figure out how to do that. I also learned how to hold it. If you hold it in your hand in bright sunlight it’ll burn a hole in your hand. It acts like a magnifying glass. So I hold it off to the side or from the top. Technically I think this is refraction and not reflection.

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This is a shot of some of the pumpkins on display. The sphere gives you an upside down view of the scene so I feel free to cheat and turn the whole photo upside down if I have to.

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Blooms in the water.

I always feel chill after just a little time in the gardens.

I am linking with My Corner of the World.

Philbrook Gardens – Shadows and the secret location of the only Philbrook Geocache ever

Sharp Shadows from a bench on a sunny day.

Complex Patters on a swing

Sculptures of Sheep grazing contentedly on the lawn.

Leaves casting a shadow on a sidewalk

And now a reveal. This is the site of Philbrook’s only geocache from years ago. It has been disabled for years. It was a complicated multicache that would take a lot of time but lazy old me thought it out. Most museums are very protective of their gardens and don’t want nasty deet smelling geocachers tramping through their exhibits, dismantling light fixtures, and climbing trellises, fences, and art work so I thought of two places where the fusty but fun museum staff would deem safe enough for geocaching. And I was right! I found it 13 years ago, read all about it here. Oh, don’t bother looking for it if you visit Philbrook, it is long gone.

The Week in Critters

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On a guided hike on Turkey Mountain, I was lagging behind the group (I like to lag) and found this butterfly. Google lens tells me that it is a Red Spotted Purple butterfly. Other resources say Red Spotted Purple Admiral. I don’t know, I just thought it was different.

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An overhead view of the same butterfly.

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I visited Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum and took a walk around the gardens. I saw this little pollinator working away, doing its thing.

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And then a wasp looking critter working on these blooms.

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And yet another pollinator, pollinating.

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And a duck on the museum grounds. Do you suppose he snuck in without paying?

And they had sheep. I loved these sheep. They were on a secluded part of the grounds up until 2014 and then disappeared. They are back now in a more visible part of the grounds. There were lots of teenagers visiting the museum the day I was there and the sheep were a hit. Up to six or seven kids were sitting on them at a time. I just bided my time until they left to get this shot.

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And then shift to our backyard. I was sitting on a bench reading and this downy woodpecker landed on a nearby branch and stayed for a little bit.

Lizzy sticking her tongue out at us

And going inside the house, Lizzie the cat spent a big part of a recent day with her tongue sticking out. Silly cat!!

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And here’s the Kodi the Pomeranian puppy showing a little bit attitude during a training session.

And here he is at puppy school doing everything my wife asks of him. He’s a rock star at puppy school. When it is not his turn to do something he watches the other dogs and people closely. He’s taking it all in. I’m learning what it is like to have a dog smarter than I am.

And that’s a wrap this week for critters. I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.

Philbrook Reflections

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I was at Tulsa Philbrook Museum Gardens checking out the fall foliage when I noticed some crystal balls hanging in one of the trees. So I went to check them out.l

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They had hung all these balls in the lower branches. I loved them. I think they are for the Christmas holidays.

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I had my lensball with me so I made a crystal photo of a crystal. I love garden decorations.

I’m linking with Weekend Reflections. Come check it out!

Our World – Philbrook Flowers and Reflections

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The tempietto at Philbrook has to be the most photographed thing in town. I’ve taken a bunch myself. Back when the Waite Phillips family lived here way back when, the pond was a swimming pool and supposedly there was a changing room underneath the tempietto.

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The pond makes for some nice reflections.

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I love all the flowers at Philbrook.

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On another water body, Crow Creek, which winds through the property, there are lots of turtles.

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And another flowers.

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An invitation to look for a stone flower.

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There it is!!

Stumbled upon the secret garden. The restaurant at Philbrook uses it for growing herbs and such.

It was too early to catch the change of color in the trees. Almost as good is this installation. “Oklahoma Autumn” by Eric Baker. It’s my favorite sculpture in the garden. There are two other pieces of this off to the right.

They got a lot of stuff in the 25 acres of gardens. Over 1200 trees and fifteen sculptures. I wonder if somebody is in charge of the tree count?

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday. Give it a try!