Tag Archives: Through My Lens

Through My Lens – Santa Fe’s Canyon Road Summer Walk

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On our recent vacation to Santa Fe and other places, my wife Heather and I decided that by gosh we were going to check out the Canyon Road Art Galleries. So in the evening one day we ventured over there and we stumbled into the Canyon Road Summer Art Walk. It happens the first Wednesday of every month in the summer. The event even has its own web site.

The first thing we saw were these two women and a guy drumming their heart out in some sort of warrior pose. What a great introduction.

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The streets were closed to cars so we just followed everyone else. It went on for about a mile.

Canyon Road Summer Walk

Art galleries and people everywhere you look. We didn’t go into any of the galleries. There was plenty to see outside.

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And everywhere people were talking with each other. Heather said it was like everyone knew each other.

Canyon Road Art

So we walked a mile out to the end of the event and walked back.

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It’s the best way to see Canyon Road in my opinion. I say that and I had never been there before.

Untitled Canyon Road Canyon Road

It was a blast. It is the first Wednesday of each month from 5 to 8 pm.

Checking Out the Museums of Santa Fe

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After driving all day the day before, we had no desire to drive anywhere so walked on down to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum downtown and checked that out again.

Untitled (City Nigth), ca. 1970

A painting she did in 1970 well after she moved to New Mexico. Showing she still was interested in urban scenes.

Cross with Red Heart 1932

Another painting she did outside of New Mexico. This one was done in Quebec.

Mountain Flowers No. 1, 1940

And this one was a favorite, based in flowers she saw in the desert of New Mexico. She didn’t find a luxurious flower plot like this. She took common flowers and bunched them together.l

Georgia O'Keefe Quote

This is a quote from her written on the museum wall. Obviously flowers had an economic advantage over using live model.

Then we wandered over to the nearby Institute of American Indian Arts We had never been there before and it was very interesting. The art was great and a lot of it was about recovering Native Identity and rejecting attempts by outsiders of describing who Native Americans are. I’m sure I’m butchering the intention and I apologize for that.

What Have We Become? Basic Assumptions, 2017

Much of it was text based. I loved the pair of works above and below named: “What Have We Become? Basic Assumptions” where face is carved out of an Anthropology journal.

What Have We Become? Basic Assumptions, 2017 
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Canoe, 2003

The canoe above suspended from the ceiling was built out of paper. The young man underneath the canoe is my son.

These are just two museums. Santa Fe has many many more, plus the art galleries.

I am linking this with Through My Lens.

The Cathedral of Saint Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico

The first thing we looked at in Santa Fe during our recent vacation was the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi right adjacent to our hotel.

Saint Francis Cathedral

Franciscan Friars and settlers came to the area in 1598 and in 1610 the city of Santa Fe was established and the first church was built. The church was destroyed in 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt. The Spanish returned in1693 and by 1714-1717 a new church in honor of Saint Francis was established. In 1853 the Diocese of Santa Fe was established and construction started on the Cathedral in 1869. It was dedicated in 1887. Complete except the spires were not funded and never built.

Almost all the buildings in downtown Santa Fe are adobe or faux adobe. The Cathedral is of Neo-Romanesque design with round arches and Corinthian columns. It’s quite beautiful inside and out.

Kateri Tekakwitha - First Female Native American Saint

On the grounds of the Cathedral is statue of Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680). The first Indigenous American Saint. Canonized in 2012, she is known as the Patron Saint of Ecology. She had a Mohawk father and a Christianized Algonquin mother You can read more about her here.

The grounds have a Station of the Cross installation that is very powerful.

On Cathedral Square is this sculpture honoring the priests and settlers who came and claimed the area for Spain.

"Saint Francis of Assisi"

Saint Francis of Assisi himself.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

And a ceramic installation of the Virgin of Guadaloupe.

The inside of the church is gorgeous. It is a very active church with many different activities for members and non-members and is welcoming to all. Check out their website for more information.

The sanctuary is very peaceful and there were a lot of people praying during out visit.

I love all the stained glass windows. They are beautiful.

I am linking with Through My Lens

Through My Lens – A Trip to the Plant Nursery

Back in May the weather turned warm, the sun came out, and off Heather and I went to the nursery. We went to a gigantic place way out in the boonies.

Sanders Nursery - Heather

There’s my bride Heather going full speed in the nursery. She is a certified Oklahoma State University Master Gardener and she is reinvigorated this spring to get some plants. I went along to pull the cart and take photos. I don’t necessarily take photos of what she is buying.

Sanders Nursery

Pink Impatiens

Sanders Nursery - Coleus

Colea

Sanders Nursery - French Marigolds

French Marigolds

Sanders Nursery - French Marigolds

More French Marigolds

Sanders Nursery - Plum Cockatoo Petunia

Plum Cockatoo Petunias

Sanders Nursery

Even more French Marigolds

Sanders Nursery - Dayglo Yellow Dahlia

Dayglo Yellow Dahlia

Sanders Nursery - flowers
Sanders Nursery - Black Mamba Petunia

Black Mamba Petunias – my favorite plant name for the day

Sanders Nursery - Orange Marigolds

Orange Marigolds

Sanders Nursery - Callie Pink with Eye Syngenta Flowers

Callie Pink with Eye Syngenta Flowers

Sanders Nursery

And a large Garden Ornament on the way out.

A good time was had by all. Heather got lots of plants, I got lots of photos.

I am linking with Through My Lens

Through My Lens – Exploring the Tulsa Botanic Garden

We love Tulsa Botanic Garden in Tulsa. We have a membership so we go when we can. We went there in early May this year and this is some of what we saw.

Tulsa Botanic Garden

Bachelor Buttons

Tulsa Botanic Garden

Louisiana Iris in a pond

Tulsa Botanic Garden

A closeup of the Louisiana Iris bloom.

Tulsa Botanic Garden - Pink Evening Primrose

Pink Evening Primrose

Tulsa Botanic Garden - Salvia

Salvia

Tulsa Botanic Garden - Mexican Honeysuckle

Mexican Honeysuckle

Tulsa Botanic Garden - Blue Sea Holly

Blue Sea Holly

I am linking with Through My Lens

Ray Harral Nature Center – My “Go To” Hike in the Rain

So I am so behind in my posting. This Spring we had some very wet weather, which is fine except I like to go hiking in wet weather, even when it is muddy.

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The aftermath of a trail race I competed in north of Tulsa a few years. What a slog.

The problem is that the more I learn about “Leave No Trace” principles the more I learn that it is not ethical to go hiking in the mud. Even if the land managers don’t restrict it. My preferred place to hike is the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area here in Tulsa and they actually close the trails when they are muddy.

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The aftermath of a trail race on Turkey Mountain a few years ago. If you finish a trail race and you have no blood and mud on you, were you even there?

The problem is that the more I learn about “Leave No Trace” principles the more I learn that it is not ethical to go hiking in the mud. Even if the land managers don’t restrict it.

And the route of a trail race a few years ago at a State Park here in Tulsa.

My preferred place to hike is the Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area here in Tulsa and they actually close the trails when they are muddy. I could go to other places that don’t ban hiking but I don’t really feel right about it. The alternative is go somewhere that has hard surfaces and the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow has Ray Harral Nature Center with resilient gravel and asphalt surfaces to walk on.

Harral’s trail bridge is a landmark.

The trails are pretty good after a good rain.

I was testing out a new camera for me. A Canon EOS R100 mirrorless unit. It’s an entry level mirrorless camera. I found it so light that I got a hand strap instead of a neck strap. I like it so far. Such a change from My Nikon that I had for years and loved. But hey, as old as I am, I can learn new things. One thing that I liked is that it stays in constant communication with my iphone. In fact it gets gps information from the phone to tag the photos. Anyway, back to business.

Harral packs a lot of woods and plants into a compact place.

A lot of different things to see.

And some history. The metal roof you see was once part of a spring house. There were cold springs and in the springhouse you could store your perishables.

Another view of the springhouse. You can’t really get down because it is right on a creek and terrifically muddy all the time.

So this was my route. I’ve got a way of looping out and back where I can get almost three miles without too much duplication.

If you want to learn more about Leave No Trace, hit this LNT Link. Lots of good information there.

I am linking with Through My Lens. Go check it out, lots of great bloggers post there.

Through My Lens – Sapulpa, Oklahoma

A couple months ago I stopped in the Tulsa suburb of Sapulpa to check things out.

Close to the downtown of the city I saw this large church. It was very imposing but I thought it looked a little awkward looking with that steeple that seems to need to be attached to a much larger building.

It is Prase Fellowship Church. I don’t know much about it but I liked the design on their sign showing clasped dark and light hands. I guess I am woke but I like the imagery. We need more woke stuff in my opinion.

The core downtown of Sapulpa has all sorts of trendy stores, restaurants, and a brewery. I liked this “umbrella alley” I’ll call it. I know lots of other places have similar installations but this is the first one I have seen. I love the different colors. The thing about Oklahoma is that the wind blows a lot here and the these umbrellas were dancing around pretty good. It looks like there are a few gaps where maybe a few umbrellas just flew off.

This is a mural on the city’s performance playhouse. I love murals and I think this fits.

And this is interesting. At first I thought it was a bar for surveyors or geocachers. Nope, its an outdoor event space.

Route 66 runs right through Sapulpa and there a lot of Route 66 themed stores and restaurants in town. This was on the outskirts. It is a barbecue restaurant. It wasn’t open when I was there.

So after seeing the sights I headed back home to Tulsa. I am linking to Through My Lens.

Through My Lens: New Rock Creek Bridge Attraction on Route 66

Here in the USA, a big deal this year is that it is the 100th Anniversary or Route 66. The cross country highway between Chicago, Illinois, and Santa Monica, California. Made famous in the book, “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck telling of the migration of people from the Midwest to California during the depression. It has since become a destination in itself of people wanting to make the trek. All up and down the length of the road, individuals, cities, and states are sprucing up their attractions along US 66 for this year.

Rock Creek Bridge 1_HDR

Oklahoma is full of Route 66 attractions and I have been to almost all of them. The Tulsa area has its share, including Rock Creek Bridge near the suburb of Sapulpa. The above photo was taken in 2021 when one could still drive across it.

Below is two years ago when it was blocked off because of safety concerns. You could still walk across it with no problems.

What has happened since then is that plans were made and money was spent and a grand opening was held this past April making this bridge a destination.

They have parking areas, picnic tables, lights.

And walkways so you could legally get an angle to get better photos of the bridge. Before you might have to venture out to some pretty thorny, snaky areas, to get a shot but now you can do it safely. They still have that big ugly power pole to deal with but it’s authentic.

You still can’t drive on it. But that is okay. This is the view from east to west. I think the bricks are mainly original.

And this is from west to east. Yep, I used a filter on the photo because the sky was white and not too pretty.

And a sign and sitting area, just waiting for people to make selfies.

And an old vintage truck is installed.

And an old decorated, still in service, oil tank as a background.

It’s nice to see things spruced up.

Here is a link to an article by the National Park Service on the Bridge, and here is a link by a local television station that covered the grand opening festivities.

I am linking with Through My Lens

Through My Lens – Brunch and a Hike on Turkey Mountain

I’m still way behind on my posting. This is about a hike I took on Turkey Mountain on the last Sunday of March.

Turkey Mountain is ultra popular now days especially on the weekends. So on the weekends I generally head to the northwest side of Turkey Mountain. The YMCA has the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA there. They have paved parking, flush toilets and their trails interconnect with Turkey Mountains. Plus I am a Y member, so I go there and check in. So I stopped at the lodge and checked in and on the way out one of their people told me that they had a barbecue lunch going on and I was welcome, and I didn’t have to pay. Oh, free food. Sign me up.

Smoked brisket, smoked sausage, corn pudding, potato salad, and a peanut butter cookie.

So I went in and got me a plate and it was delicious. I’m not totally into free food plus I love the Y. My wife teaches classes at two other Y’s in town and I use the Y’s also. Plus the Y on Turkey Mountain holds a special place in my heart. They hosted the first trail race I ran in (and a bunch more besides.) They provided a venue for the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition to host Leave No Trace when they came to Tulsa. Anyway the Herman and Kate Kaiser Y is a special place and they had QR cards around there where one could make a donation so I donated a modest sum. Talk about an unexpected meal, it was great.

So, fortified off I went.

I saw butterflies,

Birds like this robin

Question Mark Butterfly

And more butterflies

and more, except this might be a moth.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

And yet another butterfly. And a bonus wasp hovering over.

Some decent trails

Wildflowers

More Trails.

And a turtle at Pepsi Lake.

So almost four miles

Plus my Merlin App picked up: Northern Cardinals, Carolina Wrens, and Tufted Titmice on my outing.

What a special day. Thank you to the nice people at the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA for making the day special.

I am linking to Through My Lens

Gordon Parks’ Photographs at Philbrook

One of the many things I like about museums is that I learn stuff that I didn’t know before. I mean I learn things that I had no clue about. A recent trip to Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum taught me something. It was about a photographer named Gordon Parks. I had never heard of him before, but it turns out he was a major talent. You can read more about the exhibition here.

He was born in Fort Scott, Kansas in 1912 and had a rough life. (Check out his Wikipedia page.) He bought his first camera when he was 28 years old and taught himself how to take photographs. He went to work as a fashion photographer at a woman’s clothing store. He eventually opened his own portrait studio

He specialized in portraits of society women. He also photographed the life of African Americans in Chicago. He eventually worked for the government in various capacities. After World War II, he became a freelance fashion photographer for Vogue Magazine. Then later for Life Magazine.

Parks also directed films. He wrote and directed Shaft, a detective film and several others. He had a very productive life and died in 2006.

The thing about photographers is that they have that “eye” for things. They can take great photos regardless of the equipment they are using. I used to work with a woman who had that eye. She would win the company’s photography awards using just her phone for a camera.

That eye is everything. The exhibition at Philbrook lasts until early June.