The Orr Family Farm #2: The Hay Ride

The Hay Fight

Orr Family Farm #1: The Wedding Garden

Field trip day at the Orr Family Farm. These pics were taken in the Wedding Garden. 

The Overholser Dam

Are you getting tired of Lake Overholser pics?  I'm not.  Sorry.  Since I keep posting about it, I figured I'd look up some info about it.  Well it's the oldest resevoir in Oklahoma City.  And a portion of the lake is in the National Register of Historic Places.  Wow..

I've added clouds to my list of favorite things.

A River Runs Through It

This was taken at Lake Overholser.  I love the clouds.

Field Trip Day

Last Friday was field trip day at the Memorial!  I don't have any idea who these gentlemen are, but they looked liked they were having lots of fun and they wanted to pose for a picture.

BTW, today is the Memorial Marathon.  I am going to be doing the relay with my coworkers.  Wish me luck.

A Day in the Life

Ahhh Saturdays. I love Saturday's in the Springtime.  I don't know why, but they are so rejuvinating.  Even when it rains all day like last week.  There were lots of things going on today, but me and the kids chose to do soemthing for th environment, so we teamed with a crew and cleaned up the Stinchcomb Wildlife Reserve.. for regular people like me, it was just cleanin up around Lake Overholster.  I never knew the area was considered a wildlife preserve. 

The abve pic is only about 1/3 of the trash that was collected. 

 

There were also kayakers.  Anyone could have reserved a kayak and picked up debris in the acutal lake using one.  Looks fun, huh?  Maybe we'll reserve one next year. You know, after I actually figure out how to use one.

Did we find any treasure in the trash?  According to my son we did.  He's holding a bone, btw.  An animal bone.

Going Shopping This Weekend?

Sign reads: "Win a free ride in a police car all you have to do is steal something from this store! :-P Lucky winners will get their name put on the newspaper so all your friends and family can see. Won't your mother be proud! So don't steal - "   Even more amusing is that this sign was the only sign I saw in the store that was in good, properly-spelled English. (The store is owned-buy and caters to Hispanics. I think they may have specialized in dresses for Quinceaneras? They had some cool stuff in there.)

Drat. My week is at an end AGAIN. I'll miss you guys.

The Reflector Tree

 This tree is on NW 10th street as you approach Walker from the west. It glows like the dickens when the sun goes down, and is always a conversation topic when there are guests in the car. Of course the topic is this: Why is this tree covered in bicycle reflectors?

Skyline from the Field of Screams

This is the skyline looking North from the Field of Screams. ... Ok, so this is only called the Field of Screams once a year, during the Halloween parade, but I don't know what it's called the rest of the year. ...

We Come With the Dust

I found this enormous... sign? Piece of art? Historical dust bowl display? hanging over a doorway in a very cool architectural antiques store called Dead People's Stuff. In case you can't read it, it says "We come with the dust and are gone with the wind." - Woody Guthrie, Pastures of Plenty.  I think it's beautiful. I wouldn't mind owning a MUCH smaller print.

Anniversary - the Past and Present

 For a few years my city's only claim to fame was the Murrah bombing. Sad, right? Of course the bombing is sad - it was awful and scary - but I am relieved that OKC finally has a reputation for things other than a terrorist attack and a huge tornado. That being said, I could never deny that it has become part of our identity. And for all the things I learned during that time period, I suppose it is part of mine as well.

It's important to remember for every one stranger willing to set off an explosion, 

there are thousands of strangers willing to help.  

That is the most important lesson I learned through this tragic event.

So for those who don't know (I lived here, so I don't know how common this knowledge is to everyone who didn't), the chainlink security fence put up after the bombing became a shrine of sorts. Families, locals and rescuers covered it with gifts and trinkets, flowers, rosaries, whatever meant something to them, covered the entire thing, all the way around. We couldn't bear to tear it down. It was a small source of comfort, a tangible grave marker and place to leave your prayers. A part of the fence was kept as part of the memorial, and people still leave things on it today, from all over the world. The families still hang photos on it. It has to be cleared periodically. Some items are left up, and some items are cycled in and out. The above photo was taken last week.


This is the new federal building, just a block or so away. It was built to be "bomb-proof", or so we are told; one of the safest buildings in the country. I would like to think that lightning would never strike the same place twice, but I guess it has happened. I thought it might turn into a model for other federal buildings around the country, but to my knowledge this hasn't happened. You can't park near it. It's glass and concrete are blast-resistant. It's designed to absorb and disperse force. It's eco-friendly. It's peaceful and industrial and pretty. It looks like it's been there this whole time, even though I literally watched as it was built. It has a little stream leading to the back door, and star-shaped benches.

Bricktown Bridge

Untitled Art Space

This very comfy chaise lounge was part of an interior design art exhibit at Untitled Art Space a couple weeks ago. I found the below dish upstairs. I don't think it was part of the exhibit, but it's just as funky and fun. I actually took some other really cool pictures... and some of my favorites disappeared when I transferred them from my camera to my computer. What the heck? But these are still pretty good. Anyhow, I hope your weekend will be as fun as mine!

Freaky Friday

This is a pic a homeless lady clipping her toenails on the steps of the Memorial Building.

Teaze

The Blog Partner and I went to a burlesque class at Teaze Dance and Fitness. It was a pretty awesome class. I was very impressed with the teacher. This pic above was a mural on the wall.  I can't wait until we go to an actual pole dance class.

Interested in Teaze?  Then you can visit their website here and look up at their class schedule.

Wind

This is the wind sculputure at the Memorial. I work next door to the Memorial, but I don't go there very often. It's a little too sad for me. I especially don't go to the second floor, which is where I took this photo, because the second floor has the little section of land where the playground for the day care used to be.

Villa Teresa Catholic School

Villa Teresa is my son's school. it's Acually three converted mini mansions.

Here is the Pre-K building.  Beautiful, huh?

Gallery Grazioso and Clint Stone

The best thing about the Guthrie Art Walk was Gallery Grazioso.  Below is a pic of Clint Stone, the very handsome artist of the above pic. 

The Gallery also had live music performed by Dustin Prinz.

Want more info?  Check out the Gallery's facebook page located here.

I See Dead People

There were more antique shops than anything else in Downtown Guthrie. This pic and gun was in one of the display windows. Very, very morbid.

Spitting Fine

Today was a beautiful day in Oklahoma.  For a change of scenery me and my kids drove to Guthrie, Oklahoma,which is about 30 min. north of OKC, for their Second Saturday Museum Walk.

This was an actual sign outside of one of the buildings.  What say you, is it for real?

For Lease #3

So this Pioneer Pies restaurant on NW Expressway has been closed for years. I used to go here when I was younger with my parents, and I still wish they were open every September because I want to buy my dad a birthday pie. They were really delicious. It seems that all my favorite, locally-owned pie shops have closed, and I've nothing to replace them with but chain restaurant pies. To be fair, I have recently heard that there is another Pioneer Pies location still open on the south side. If you know anything about OKC, there is a big difference in travel time between the far NW and far SW side of town. They may as well be two different cities. However... I may check it out anyway when Dad's birthday comes again. They were super good. Meanwhile, I feel nostalgic every time I look at this empty parking lot and want a banana cream pie.

For Lease #2

We have a very few of these old gas station buildings left - from the days when OKC was a lot smaller and you never pumped your own gas. This is one of the two I'm aware of, for sale or lease. Because it occupies a large lot on a busy intersection and has empty for awhile, I wonder if it will survive or just get plowed over to make room for something else.

For Lease #1

This building on Broadway has been for lease for awhile. Do you see anything missing? Anything there that shouldn't be? Like, the sky? I'm amused every time I walk by it, although the amusement is growing thin now that they are actually working on it.

Devon Construction + Folks

This is also a picture of the construction site. The construction is in a deep pit on the other side of that concrete barrier. I really like this picture because it's a good shot of downtown scenery, and then you have jogging girls... and construction guys watching jogging girls... (isn't that the way it always goes?).

Ok, so really, across the street here is the Myriad Gardens, so aside from the joggers you have me and some other guy taking photos, and a family and a couple sitting on benches, eating sandwiches, staring at the construction guys... so really it's a staredown between the nosy garden loiterers and the construction guys. (Heck, maybe they WERE just watching the ladies jog...)

Devon Energy Building Construction

It's Monday - back to work!  Are you going to work as hard as these guys?

I had to look hard to find a view down into this construction pit, because it is blocked off by tall barricades almost the entire way around. This is the start of foundation construction for the new Devon Energy building. The building will be 50 stories tall. Our current tallest building is the Chase Tower at 36 stories. It will certainly be changing our city forever.  I just hope they also build a parking garage to go with it...

Flowering Dogwoods

I don't have any Easter photos... so how about some flowering dogwoods? That's nice and springy! I like the one late bloomer in the middle.

This is at Dolese Park on NW 50th and Meridian. Dolese Park used to be a Dolese cement plant (before I was born), and when Dolese left it was turned into a huge, awesome park with a long trail, baseball and soccer fields, a duck pond, a kid's playground, party pavilions, and frisbee golf. I've spent a lot of time here over the course of my life, and it's kind of an oasis. Oklahoma City has parks around, and lakes, but Dolese is *so big*. You can wander around for hours.

OU Medieval Faire

So this is where I was last Saturday - the OU Medieval Faire in Norman. Unfortunately, last Saturday was frigid and rainy. Most of the stages were empty, and some of the vendors closed early. I glimpsed one of my favorite performers, Wrapsody, joking with the audience (presumably about how she can or cannot perform fire breathing in the rain).  Were it not raining, I could have photographed them doing something cool. But alas.

Also, last weekend is a perfect example of how stuff happens in OKC whether or not others are aware of it. I hear a lot of complaining about how there is "nothing to do in Oklahoma," but I think these people are either too lazy to look for something to do or don't know where to look. Last weekend there was the OU Medieval Faire, an erotic art show/fetish ball called Biting the Apple, a Kaleidoscope dance performance, an Oklahoma City Ballet choreography showcase, and a cabaret show... on top of the things that happen all the time. And these are only the things I was aware of. For the record, I managed to attend only three of those events: I'm only human.

Today was a Good Day

This is a picture of the water fountain, which is in front of the movie theater downtown.  It was taken today.  It was a beautiful day to sit under a tree and listen to the water splash and people watch.

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