Went on a hike on Turkey Mountain this week. (Like almost all weeks)
Checked out the new trail construction going on at the “String of Pearls.” Three ponds that used to be inaccessible because of thick shrubs and thorns.
Checked out the panoramic view at “The Hub” – the highest point on Turkey Mountain and has several trails going in and several going out including two wicked bicycle downhill runs.
We had a decent sunrise the house the other day.
I went to Philbrook Museum’s gardens and checked out the tulips.
And a perfectly formed maple tree.
Made a photo of tulips, a redbud tree, the Tempietto, and the sky.
I told my wife Heather all about it.
So I came back with her the very next day.
The tulips and everything else and more was still there.
Son Logan came with us and we checked out the Cabin.
And had some ice cream at a nearby place. A good time was had by all.
And yet another Lego critter, this time a zebra from our earlier trip to the Tulsa Botanic Garden.
I headed up to Tulsa’s Wooward Park to see if the Daffodils were blooming.
And oh, man!! They sure were blooming. The blooms were fresh and people hadn’t picked them, yet.
They were beautiful. There were a couple of young women sitting in amongst them (they were carefully making sure they were not trampling photos) and taking selfies. Usually I take photos of all people doing selfies but I left them alone to enjoy the flowers. They were probably taking photos of me and posting about the creepy old guy lurking about.
They also had lots of hyacinths.
And tulips
They had forsythia shrubs blooming
And rebuds. I’ve always loved that stone staircase.
The big trees don’t have their leaves yet.
And they still have remnants of trees knocked down on during our Father’s Day Windstorm in 2023.
Several days ago I was on Turkey Mountain checking out the Monarch Waystation. I water it when needed but it hasn’t needed a drink in weeks with all the rain and cool weather we have been having. I sowed some native prairie seeds a couple months ago and I was trying to see if any of them were coming up.
I don’t know a thing about wildflowers, and it looked like a bunch of weeds coming up to me. I guess that may be what some people call wildflowers. It may take a few more weeks and somebody who knows what they are looking to see if we are successful or not.
And then I ventured down the paved path and hung a right on the dirt road to the redbud grove. It is beautiful a whole hillside covered with redbuds. There are lots of the trees around town but I don’t know of any that are all together like this.
And then I ventured on the new Lo Chi trail. The old one was cool but kind of frustrating because it was an out and back along the base of the east side of the Mountain. I hate out and backs so I would do what other people did, climb up the side of the mountain to another trail. I’m too old for that foolishsness now.
And there is no need, the trail builders have made a loop out of with all sorts of cool switchbacks and other features to make it fun. You can enter and exit at different spots from the paved trail. Loops are fun, out and backs are boring.
So back on the paved trail I took a shot of the railroad tracks on the base of Turkey Mountain, next to the Arkansas River. They have only one customer now, a big Kimberly Clark Plant. So every once in a while, you can see a freight trail lumbering slowly along these rails. I am not a railroad expert at all but I would not think that these sketchy rails, ties, and roadbed could handle much of a load.
And then fast forward to Tulsa’s Woodward Park. The flowering is disappointing this year for whatever reason but one could find nice groupings here and there.
So it was worth going to but I wouldn’t travel far to see it.
The tulips looked nice in the overcast late day. I think they are almost at the end.
Tuesday we had dramatic skies in Tulsa so I made this low key photo.
Monday I rode my back on the RiverParks trails. My north turnaround was the Route 66 Sign Park. I took photos and then used the circular app on my iphone to twist them on top of themselves. I love this kind of stuff.
I did another one and it looked like a hot air balloon.
And I have been doing more jigsaw puzzles on my ipad. I love it. So these are not my photos.
I loved this one but it was booger bear. I worked from the inside out. I started at the steering wheel and moved outward. I put on the edge pieces as I found them but I didn’t stress about it.
I loved this one. It was a lot easier with the brightly colored sail and the stratified colors. On this one I started with the sails and the bright green sea.l
So that is it this week for Skywatch for me. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.
Earlier this week I went biking on Tulsa’s Riverparks trails along both sides of the river for about 14 miles total.
I saw my first rowers of the season. They have been absent for a while because their boathouse burned down. They are back in business now. I love watching them. It looks very hard work. Here they are making great progress on against the water flow of the river.
I stopped near some white bud trees at the base of Turkey Mountain.
And at what I call the Bear Fountain at the southern end of my ride. Notice the flowing water effect? I use a new photo app called Spectre to get that. It can do that while hand held, no tripod needed although that would be helpful. Note how the rest of the photo is a little fuzzy? I have dozens of photo apps. I have so many I forget about them. How about you, what are your favorites. I use Snapseed the most.
It was sunset by the time I got back to my car. Wait a minute you are saying, the post title says something about flowers! Sorry, I get distracted. Here are some flowers.
Tulips at Tulsa’s Woodward Park. I love them.
I used my macro lens. It takes great pics of flowers, and squirrels, but no squirrel pics today, sorry.
And this is a little overexposed and then I “fixed” it and then I went back to the original image. It’s good to share our trials and tribulations, right?
And I used my LensBall to get this shot of the ”Appeal to the Great Spirit” sculpture at Woodward Park. I know I may use my conjuring ball too much but I love it. Sorry
And that is it for this week. I had to finish up my post on my iPad and it worked fairly well. I am linking this to Skywatch Friday, which I moderate. Come check us out!
A blue sky with fluffy clouds over the children’s garden. I think that is the scariest feature I’ve even seen in a children’s garden. It looks like it eats children!!
We are having some typical Oklahoma Spring Weather this year. Freezing one minute, roasting the next, bone dry, and then soaking. After a few nice days it has turned cold. I did get a chance to get to the Tulsa Botanic Garden during some sunny yet windy weather. It was so windy it was making the tulips bob one way and me and my camera the other way.
From the sky to the ground. There were thousands of tulips blooming. It almost made for retina burn there were so many.
And so many colors. With the bright sun it made the petals translucent. I love that look.
How about you,? Do you have anything blooming where you live?
I took my “good camera” to work Tuesday just do I could check out Tulsa’s Woodward Park at lunch. The tulips and azaleas and other plants are blooming right now and the old park was putting on a show.
There were hardly any people there and I had the place pretty much to myself. I ended up taking 72 photos. Makes me glad for digital photography. I love film and have several film cameras but it is an expensive habit to get into.
I have been incognito lately on the good ole interwebs and I am sorry about that. I hadn’t return visited any commenters or checked on my friends or any of that good stuff.
Our internet service went on the blink for a few days. I finally got it going again Sunday. It took lots of magical incantations from our tech lady and muttering and such for about an hour but by gum she got it fixed.
Plus Logan is fixing to graduate and has a lot going on plus we are doing a little house updating. I wish magical incantations would update the house. So far it is taking cash, the cold hard kind.
So anyway, I don’t know if anybody missed me or not but I’m back for now.
Plus Logan has a small role in a musical that his school is doing. They are doing Footloose and I’m looking forward to seeing it. Of course I’m also signed up to hush the kids back stage one night and I get to usher the adults one night, and tell them to hush also.
And so anyway I did a get a few hours free Saturday to go to the Tulsa Botanic Garden and take some pictures of their tulips. They were all over the place. I know all the technical names for the tulips. For example the those above are yellow tulips and down below we have purple and red tulips. Pretty impressive huh?
They are beautiful and just kind of speak for themselves I think.
There were not that many people there. The garden is located out in the middle of nowhere way out of town and they are new but they are growing and filling in and it will get more and more popular.
It is a must see for those who live in or visit Tulsa. Check their website for directions and hours.
