Last Sunday morning, I attended Church of the Trees at Oxley Nature Center.
I saw the light right after I started. I loved the sun in the forest and I love the poem that a former “Artist in Residence” at Oxley wrote.
I love short poems. I really like the title of this one, “Sunfall.” There is a reason we need to have poets. They know what to call things, and how to describe them.
Found me a new favorite tree.
And instead of stained glass we had the light filtering through these leaves.
I loved the light on the trees bordering a water pipeline right of way in the park.
Last week I attended the funeral of former coworker. I was sad for him and his family but I also got to see a bunch of other coworkers who came to the services as well. Afterwards I felt like checking out some of the new attractions on Tulsa’s portion of the Route 66, aka, The Mother Road, or the America’s Main Street. Turns out America’s Main Street is on Eleventh Street in Tulsa.
For some reason a half mile stretch of Eleventh Street has been taken over by “Muffler Men.” Supersize fiberglass sculptures. I love them, they are so oversized and colorful, how can you not like them.
As you can read on the mural behind him, this is “Meadow Gold Mack.”
I don’t know what this gal’s name is but I like her. Quite fetching don’t you think.
I love all sorts of Route 66 attractions. You know what my favorite is? A very little known sign where Paul McCartney stopped in the 2000’s while driving Route 66. He stopped and knocked on the door of a farmhouse and asked for directions. Can you imagine Paul McCartney knocking on your door? He was driving a 1989 Ford Bronco so he had no GPS in his car. I found this sign as I was looking for a geocache.
It’s the hundredth anniversary of the Mother Road next year and Tulsa is at its epicenter. National Geographic has some great information.
Our Pomeranian, Kodi. A tiny little dog with big feelings!
Lizzy the cat, the matriarch of our pets. We have another dog, Sadie who never sits still. Lizzy is Sadie’s favorite squeaky toy.
A pig chef on Route 66 in Tulsa. I love the silliness of route 66 attractions.
And a retired carousel horse getting new life on Route 66. It’s ready to ride. I also love the metal cactus to the left. The 100th anniversary of Route 66 is next year I think. It’s going to be epic in Tulsa.
I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. All sorts of talented photobloggers participate.
Saturday we went to a local shopping center that was having an “Artist on the Square” event with a ton of artists distributing their wares including a family friend. It was hot but there was space was shady so it was tolerable.
From our vacation last month. A distant rain shower moving across the Gulf of Mexico.
And in the neighborhood here in Tulsa a colorful sunset.
And not photo, not my copyright, although somebody holds it. A jigsaw puzzle I finished earlier this week. The sky was a bugger on this one. I’m working on a sea turtle puzzle now. It’s really hard.
Over a week ago, several dozen trail lovers and various politicos gathered on Turkey Mountain to dedicate a new area. The Sanctuary with 88 acres (some sources say 90) and six miles of trails. The contractor has been working on the area since last fall and it is now fully opened up. It is on Turkey Mountain but across the street from the main area of the park.
The trails were built on land already owned by Tulsa RiverParks through a $2 million grant from the Daryl and Julie Christner Foundation. Above is a family representative talking about how his dad loved being outdoors. I saw him later leading a group of mountain bikers on the trails.
I was standing right next to Oklahoma’s Lieutenant Governer, Mike Pinell. Rather than take point blank photo, I took a picture of his cowboy boots. So I am on oil and gas twitter (or X if you must) and one of the ongoing things there, tongue in cheek, is that round toed boots are lame and square toed boots are cool. You can see he is wearing round toes. I elected not to call him out on that. (True confession, I have two pairs of square toe boots and one of round toes.) His big mission as lieutenant governor is publicizing and pushing Oklahoma and he does a good job of it.
He talked about how everybody is always welcome at Turkey Mountain. He also said that Tulsa is the most philanthropic city in America and how many public private partnerships go on here. He mentioned that Oklahoma has 34 sovereign nations within our borders (talking about the Native American tribes) and twelve ecosystems.
So the speeches were limited, and then everyone was invited to hike a quarter mile to treehouse for refreshments.
So off we went. I had a peanut butter cookie and chatted with a few people I knew.
That’s the heaviest duty treehouse I have ever seen.
I studied on the posted map a little bit and decided I was going to go on a hike.
I love the trails. They are all single track and some of them are pretty rocky. So you have to kind of pick your way carefully, especially if you are an old codger.
It was a bright sunny day, and there are lots of trees so there were lots of shadows.
I head lots of birds but they wouldn’t come out and sit still for a photo.
At one of the trail hubs I found this headboard. I was thinking. I have seen that before!!
I saw it in 2014 when this was all privately owned and some outlaw trail builders built their own trails on the property. Take a look to the left and behind the headboard.
It’s an oil well! A relic of Turkey Mountain’s past. It looked familiar as well.
So here is my wife and son at the same well eleven years ago.
So we were pioneers of the Sanctuary. Somebody got hurt crossing the road back to the main part of Turkey Mountain and the owners of the property posted it and so exploration of the property came to an end.
Enough of past history. I finished my hike and went through the moongate at the main entrance. I just love moon gates.
So a little over two miles. A friend and I hiked about three miles on a different route a few days later.
At least one Tulsa News Station had a crew there. Channel 6 news. Check the link for several videos.
It’s hot and humid in Oklahoma, USA these days. Yes, well it is July and that is what we get.
I don’t really mind it. We have air conditioning in our homes and cars and you just have to adjust your outdoor time accordingly and use precautions. Take water, use sunscreen, dress appropriately, (I wear a lot of tech fiber clothing that wicks perspiration away.) And try to do outdoors activities in the morning and very late afternoons.
And look out for your pets, they need lots of water and rest also.
So just get out and enjoy yourself and take lots of photos.
Last Sunday, Heather, Logan and loaded up and went down to the Tulsa State Fair and checked out the Route 66 Roadfest going on there. A celebration of all things concerning Route 66. This is the third year I have attended it and I love it.
1971 Pontiac GTO
Cars are a big part of Route 66. After all it is a highway and cars are best way to travel it.
Auburn Cord 810
Ford Model T
A core part of the show are five or so sections that take the Route 66 by decades and talk about what was happening with the road and what was happening with the country.
1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie Convertible.
There was a section of vintage travel trailers. These two ladies had this trailer and a bunch of associated things plus what I loved was they wore matching dresses color coordinated with the trailer. I hardly ever ask people if I can take their photo but I asked them and they seemed delighted to do so.
Our family of five in the 60’s also had a small travel trailer. We used a lot and I am sure that we saved lots of money but we were also very cramped. It was not too bad if the weather was good as you could always go outside. In bad weather though it led to lots of family togetherness. Much of it good, and some of it not so great.
Hey had metal glasses like those and a metal water pitcher. The iced water in such pitchers just seemed a lot colder than that in plastic water containers.
Everybody had these small phonographs. So nostalgic but I’ll take my Ipod with almost 6500 music tracks on it.
I love this two story travel trailer. Reportedly it has two bedrooms upstairs. What a spectacle that would be. What a nightmare pulling the thing in a strong crosswind.
1953 Buick Super Convertible Model 56C
My dad loved Buicks and I don’t know how many times he told me that you could tell how fancy the model was by the number holes in fender. So this was a three holer in his parlance, kind of like the Buick LeSabre. The Electra had four. We had a LeSabre when I was a kid. The first new car my parents ever bought. Dad saved money by getting it without air conditioning and then he salvaged parts from numerous cars in junkyards and built his own. It worked well but it took him months and it was kind of a complicated thing.
1936 Auburn 852 Boattail Speedster.
1955 Chevrolet Bel Air
There were a ton of mid 1950’s Chevrolet Bel Air’s at the show. I always thought they looked cool
1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1
There were loads and loads of Ford Mustangs as well.
1957 Ford Thunderbird
The 1950’s Ford Thunderbirds, in my opinion, were some of the most beautiful cars ever built. I especially like the unique colors.
Land Rover Defender
I love the Land Rovers, especially the vintage models.
Volkswagen Karman Ghia
This was the prettiest car at the show. The Volkswagen Karman Ghia.
Next year is the centennial of Route 66. There are going to be big events all over the place including the Routefest in Tulsa.
It has been raining a lot in Tulsa lately. It makes the trails muddy and I don’t want to damage them so I go places with more sustainable trails. Fortunately Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow has asphalt paved trails so that is one of my go to’s when I get the yen to go hiking when things are muddy.
I found this male northern cardinal. I brought my good camera and he was nice enough to sit still while I got his photo. I saw glimpses of other birds but didn’t get their photos.
Found this young squirrel playing coy with me.
I used the Merlin App to track who else was around. I got a glimpse of a red-eyed vireo. The Fish Crow called loudly as did the Carolina Wren.
I spotted this painted rock in one of the pollinator gardens at the center. I put it in my pocket and carried it around during my hike and then put it in a different pollinator plot not very far from where I found it. I used to love making painted rocks and hiding them. I am going to get some paint and sealer and try again. I’m not much of an artist and I settled on a yellow sunburst on a blue background. A friend of mine mocked me saying that Walmart was going to sue me for infringing on their logo.
When I first started I hid them way too well and nobody was finding them. I guess from my geocaching background. So I started putting them in more visible places and that worked out better.
A bunny wandered into range in my backyard trailcam.
And a brown thrasher.
Yesterday we got a reprieve from the rain so son and I mowed the yard. I mowed the front as he caught up on his beauty sleep. I trimmed the front and backyards. My 35 year old cord electric trimmer finally quit a couple weeks ago and I got a nice battery powered model to replace it. Much more powerful and convenient than dragging a cord around all over the place.
So son mowed the backyard. He likes to be creative in his patterns. Used to drive me crazy cuz of all the mohawks he left but now he is still creative yet no more mohawks. (Mohawks are unmowed strips of grass that look kind of like a Mowhawk haircut.) I think he got tired of mowing the yard twice.
It got hot, yesterday, here I am all cleaned up doing my zombie walk in the 105F heat. (I don’t think it got to 105 but it was still hot.)
Don’t forget to cheer for the Oklahoma Thunder Sunday evening when they battle the Indiana Pacers in the final game of the NBA Championship!
I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of talented photographers participate.
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