I have fallen behind on some of my posts. Sorry about that!! Back in March, the family decided we would like to go check out the tulips at the Tulsa Botanic Garden.
We went on a beautiful, sunny, and nearly windless day. The wind always blows in Oklahoma and take photos of Tulips as they sway in the breeze is frustrating! No such problems the day we went.
They had tulips, here, there and everywhere and I took dozens of photos. They were all the colors you can imagine and types.
So I will spare you.
Tulips are very special. They are delicate and come in delicate subtle colors.
And shapes
And some in pots.
I couldn’t figure out which were my favorite. They were all my favorite is what I thought.
In amongst all this someone was doing a photo shoot of a young woman in a beautiful gown. I’m guessing that it is a Quinceanera Dress. Whatever it is. It was beautiful.
Whew, I can breathe easier. I got my tulip post out of the way!
Last week my bride, Heather, and I celebrated our thirty-sixth wedding anniversary. That is getting up in some years. We have been through a lot together, up and down and all around. I will tell you one thing, you don’t stay married that along by accident, both people have to work it. Anyway, we celebrated here in Tulsa.
We decided to go check out the Tulsa Botanic Garden. We are members but we haven’t been there in a while and it is always fun.
They do a great job with both the plants and garden decorations. I love gardens that also decorate with non-plant items. It adds a little extra.
I love color!!
And whimsy and butterflies.
While there we checked out their CrossTimbers trail. It winds for a mile or so through woods and prairie.
It’s got some great views.
I really wanted to see it because I was part of a group of people with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition who came out in June and rerouted the trail to make it more sustainable and take it through more interesting areas. That’s an action shot of me above, back in June, with my loppers, bug spray, sun hat, and water bottle lopping away. We got a lot done in just a few hours. The garden still had some work to do after that day and they announced the new trail route was open a few weeks ago.
The Garden had a controlled burn done last year that really worked out well and knocked down the invasive species and opened the woods up.
There’s Heather, way ahead of me as usual.
I stole this photo from Heather’s facebook. She takes better portraits than I do.
So after the trip to the gardens we went home and cleaned up and went shopping for our anniversary gift. We were looking for a chiminea and we found one from a local out fit right away. A medium sized one complete with a bag of pinion, a bag of lava rocks for the fire to sit on, and a hat for the chiminea. And they delivered it to us a couple hours later.
So we went to our favorite restaurant and had a great Italian dinner and then came back home.
And fired up the Chiminea. Lots of fun and smells good with the pinon wood.
Thirty Six years in the book. I’m a blessed man, what can I say. Looking forward to Thirty Seven. Thirty seven is a prime number and I love prime numbers.
A sunrise this morning. We have a new dog, Sadie, and she gets up early, and that means we get up early with her. You dog owners know that when the dog gets up you better take it outside right away or face the consequences.
A neighborhood skyshot and reflection.
My volunteer gig with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition is kicking in. It’s Earth Day season. Here is me and my friend Marci at the local electric utilities employee Earth Day event.
And at a community event a couple days later in downtown Tulsa.
And speaking of electric utility, here is there power plant on the Arkansas River.
And the boat shed at Tulsa’s Gathering Place.
Here is my wife Heather. We attended a fund raiser for the local botanic garden. It was called “Sip and Stroll” so that we sipped and strolled, noshed appetizers and talked to people. Our first grownup date in a while and it was fun.
It had been raining in the gardens so the iris’s had raindrops on them. I love raindrops on flowers.
Here is the Full Pink Moon from just a few days ago. It’s not pink. It has not ever really been pink. Now if you insist, I have the skillz and appz to make it pink.
From the Tulsa Botanic Garden. They had ultralife size origami, only with other materials and they called it florigami. It was cool, I’m guessing this is a giant begonia. Sorry if I am wrong, I often am.
And these are some big lillies.
And these are some tulips.
My gym is part of a hospital system that I think spends more on landscaping than they do on medical stuff (I’m kidding.) So these are the tulips from my gym. Does your gym have tulips? Maybe you need a cheaper gym. Maybe I do also.
Me leaving PT earlier this week cuz I hit 120 degrees on the knee bend test. That is a critical point in knee replacement physical therapy. Hurts like you know what but things are getting better quickly. Also, this week I was able to get on the stationary bike and turn the pedals. That was also painful but I loved it just the same.
From my latest money making venture. I’ve been saving the families aluminum cans for a long time. My wife gave me the ultimatum that they needed to be gone by the time book group starts or she’ll get rid of them for me. Hey she never asks me for a thing or ever gets mean or anything so we she makes a request I’m all over it. (most of the time). So I bagged them up and weighed them. 30 pounds!!
Drove 22 miles to a metals recycling place in north Tulsa. Got in line drove through the hole into the building. They threw my bags on scales and they suddenly weighed 17 pounds. Got paid in cash and I’m still trying figure out where my missing 13 pounds of cans went. To be fair, the scales are literally big enough to drive a car onto so I am not surprised that they are not true in the entire range. I’m not sure that I cleared a profit but hey I got to see a different part of Tulsa society. I sure lead a sheltered life is all I am going to say.
Went for a walk and found these small bluish-purply blooms and thought they were pretty cool. Just so you know, in Oklahoma, bluish-purply is word.
Last Sunday our family celebrated a birthday, mine. A big milestone birthday, 70. Oops, how did that happen. I’m still here. Heather made me a great breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs, and bacon. It was great.
And then we headed to the Tulsa Botanic Garden. Their tulips were peak, in my opinion. It was a little overcast which makes the colors pop!!
All sorts of different colors and varieties.
As a bonus, they had a “florigami” exhibition going on. Florigami is like life sized origami. The works on display were incredible.
I loved this huge florigami tulip on top of the hill overlooking the gardens.
The tulips were everywhere. I have about twenty times as many photos of tulips as what will show up in this post and instagram. Oh well, I got them if I need them.
They had some beautiful wisteria also.
https://flic.kr/p/2qWghXi
And rotating florigami.
I stole this photo from Heather’s facebook page.
And then we went to Eerie Abbey Ales in downtown Tulsa and had a beer.
And then the nearby La Tertulia restaurant for some decent New Mexico style Mexican food. Green chili enchiladas.
Home for birthday cake. This one lasted three days. I love sheetcake birthday cakes.
A couple weeks ago or so we loaded up the family and headed up to the Tulsa Botanic Garden. They always have good stuff to see in the Fall.
We checked out the scarecrows and decided it was a down year for them. These were my favorites.
A stiff breeze was flying and our flag was flying proudly. It reminds me for my fellow US Citizens. Vote on November 5th, unless you have already done so.
The garden had opened up something new. An arboretum with a pergola at the top. The pergola had rocking chairs so the other two appropriated those.
The cover of the pergola was cool! All these leaves in it. Made a great pattern on the ground.
And the beams on the side, reflections, projections and shadows. I love little details like this. Costs a lot of money but hey that is what rich donors are for, right?
When the water is running I always take a short video of the water running down the terraces.
We went for hike on their trail. It is a cool trail than meanders through the woods and prairie sections.
One immediately sees that they have had a controlled burn fairly recently. I love good controlled burns. It clears out the undergrowth, kills invasive species and opens up the forests for a more natural and healthy effect.
I was sure glad to see it.
And then we went to the Childrens Garden section. I guess I am wondering if the parents threaten to feed their kids to the monster there if they don’t behave?
We went on a family outing to the Tulsa Botanic Garden. Lots of cool things to look at including this shadow featuring a handrail and other elements of steps in the garden.
For Father’s Day early this month, Heather and Logan treated me to an outing at the Tulsa Botanic Garden.
I see where taking photos at an angle is artistic, so here we are.
I loaded up my macro lens and off we went. I love taking photos of the blooms as wells as the whole plant. I know very little about flowers but I love the colors.
I loved the colorful yarrow
And all the other flowers
Daylillies were putting on a show.
I couldn’t get enough of them.
Zinnias are always a favorite.
The garden arranged for several sports cars at a local museum to be on display as well. I love the Jaguar E type. Who doesn’t love a twelve cylinder engine.
Vintage Corvette’s are the best.
And an MG-TC. A beautiful car.
I posted this photo on my of my blog entries last week. I didn’t know what the deal was. I called the Garden’s office on Wednesday and they told me that these bison are moved down to the gardens as part of their Christmas light show. So I will have to check it out later this year. Mystery solved.
On a recent trip to the Tulsa Botanic Garden they displayed a Lego Lawnmower in a Shadow!! It would be nice if it worked but it would probably shake itself into thousands of pieces.
Happy Easter to you and your family. Also, Lego Easter Bunnies!
A momma goose sitting on a nest on a sandbar in a creek flowing the through the grounds of Philbrook Museum of Art. Her mate was busy chasing people away, including us.
A little chubby squirrel snacking on the grounds of Philbrook.
Another squirrel perturbed by us sitting out on our patio.
Kodi the Pomeranian loves laying out in the sun.
A grackle getting a drink.
Kodi loves finding sticks. He exchanges them for a treat. Is that a spoiled brat looking face or what!
Lizzy the Cat gets kind of talkative every now and then. Critters are a hoot.
Another Lego critter from our trip to the Tulsa Botanic Garden. This one is a dodo bird. Which is extinct.
