Wordless Wednesday - Doors to Mid-Continent Tower

The main entrance to the Mid-Continent Tower at 401 South Boston Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Built originally as the 16 story Cosden Building in 1918, in 1984 a new 20-story tower was cantilevered over it.  The entire project was designed to resemble the style of the Cosden Building as closely as possible, giving the impression of a unified whole even though the two sections of the building were constructed 66 years apart.

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Sepia Scenes - Alleyways and Fire Escapes

A shot down an alleyway full of fire escapes has an abstract look that I like.  And in Tulsa even the alleys are clean and attractive.


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Spring Comes to Downtown Tulsa

Tulsa's streets are dotted with ornamental trees, some of which are already in bloom.


On Friday I spent the whole afternoon touring Tulsa's historic Art Deco buildings with Karen Smith of Karen's Tours.  You may know that I do another blog on Historic Tulsa.  Over the past year or so I have posted photographs and text on 100 of Tulsa's historic places.

Modern Tulsa was created with the Land Run of 1889. In 1905 oil was discovered in Glenpool,  just south of Tulsa. In the years following, the oil industry grew very rapidly and with it came great wealth for the early oil men. These pioneers created the oil companies whose names are still familiar to us, Phillips, Sinclair, Skelly, Getty, Champlin, Marland, and many others.  The wealth brought to these men was used to build elaborate office buildings and homes, each one seeking to outdo the others.  Many of those buildings remain in Tulsa as handsome treasures.


Some of the most interesting architecture is in the downtown office buildings built in the period between 1910 and the early 1930's.  These great buildings are missing from Historic Tulsa.   I have not featured them because I wanted to wait until I had the opportunity to photograph the inside as well as the exterior.  In one long busy afternoon I was able to cover many of the more interesting buildings.  I will start posting most of those to my Historic Tulsa blog.  Some which stand on their own as interesting photographs I will post here.  Stay tuned.

Sunday Jigsaw Puzzle - The Band Played On

A Brass Band plays in the Abbey Courtyard on top of Mont Saint-Michel.

When I visited in June of 2000 there was a festival of being held with many families wearing the traditional clothing of their region.  There was much celebration, even a fine brass band at the top, playing in the courtyard.  We picked a good day to attend.

Monochrome Weekend - View from Mont Saint-Michel

The view from the abbey atop Mont Saint-Michel is breath-taking. 

Mont Saint-Michel is a small island just off the coast of Normandy.  It has been a monastic establishment since the 8th century.  The great abbey and church at the peak were constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries.  The tides around the island  can vary as much as 45 feet (14 meters) with the result that it is an island at high tide and is surrounded by salt flats at low tide.  It is reached by a natural land bridge which was fortified into a true causeway in 1889.

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Skywatch Friday -Tulsa Skies

Tulsa's skyline can be seen from all directions. Here it is from the near Southeast.

Pink Tulip Trees

These lovely pink Tulip Trees are some of the earliest bloomers providing that they don't get bitten by a late freeze. Although we had a blanket of snow last weekend the temperature did not drop much below freezing and no damage was done. These are just about perfect.

Wordless Wednesday - Trinity Doors

Trinity Episcopal Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma

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OK, Back to Spring

The snow has all melted away, the sun is shining,

and my outside thermometer reads 69*F (20.5*C). It seems that every year we suffer a late snow just as everything is bursting into bloom.  Here is a nice early blooming shrub.  It is a type of Magnolia but I can't tell you what kind..  It lives at the church which hosts my noon meeting.

Snow on the First Day of Spring!

Last week Tulsa was enjoying lovely spring-like weather.  I shared a photo of my Daffodils and the yellow Forsythia was blooming.  With the official advent of Spring, they are all buried under a thick layer of snow.  Have I mentioned before that Oklahoma's weather is unpredictable?  Now here it is Monday and the forecast is back to 60*F (16*C) and tomorrow will be 72*F (22*C).  The birds at my bird feeders look very confused.

Sunday Jigsaw Puzzle - Mont Saint-Michel

When I visited Mont Saint-Michel in June of 2000 there was a festival in progress with many families in traditional costume. These gentlemen were playing a lively tune for us.

Monochrome Weekend - Mont Saint-Michel

Mont Saint-Michel is a small island just off the coast of Normandy.  It has been a monastic establishment since the 8th century.  The great abbey and church at the peak were constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries.  The tides around the island  can vary as much as 45 feet (14 meters) with the result that it is an island at high tide and is surrounded by salt flats at low tide.  It is reached by a natural land bridge which was fortified into a true causeway in 1889.

When I visited in June of 2000 there was a festival of being held with many families wearing the traditional clothing of their region.  There was much celebration, even a fine brass band at the top, playing in the courtyard.  We picked a good day to attend.

Our tour guide advised us that there were many restaurants through the village that wound up the road to the abbey.  She said that the two specialties here were omelets and lamb.  The well-flavored meat that results from the diet of the sheep in the area makes salt meadow lamb a local specialty.  I walked up to the abbey and stopped at a small restaurant that served me the best omelette au fromage (cheese omelet) of my life.  Later several of the younger girls in the group boasted that they had found a place that served Hamburgers!  What a waste.

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Tulsa Riverpark at 31st Street

A view of the Tulsa Riverpark looking south from 31st Street to the Pedestrian Bridge over the Arkansas River.  Recently repaved and lighted running and bicycle trails run the length of the east side of the river from 11th to 101st Streets.

Tulsa Community College - Downtown Campus

Tulsa Community College was founded in 1970 as Tulsa Junior College to serve Tulsa and the surrounding community. It is the largest two-year college in Oklahoma and serves approximately 30,000 students per semester in credit and continuing education classes.

TCC consists of four campuses and a conference center situated throughout the Tulsa metropolitan area with an annual budget of approximately $84 million. The College employs about 2,712 people, including 275 full-time faculty and 843 adjunct faculty. For the sixth consecutive year, TCC is ranked in the top three percent of more than 1,150 community colleges nationally in the number of associate degrees awarded in all disciplines.

The building on the left was originally the shop building for old Central High School, when it was in downtown Tulsa.  The building on the right was extensively remodeled and expanded in the late 1990s and is handsome inside and out.  I have taken some language classes here (Spanish) and taught several corporate seminars for TCC after I retired in 1997.  The best thing I did with TCC was to go on a school sponsored trip to England and France in 2000. 

Wordless Wednesday - Tulsa's Living Arts Doors

Clueless in Boston posts a photo of interesting doors every Wednesday, a practice that I enjoy and admire.  Beginning today I plan to post doors on Wednesday. Watch this spot.

I like these doors because they are colorful and make an art piece themselves.  Although it is rather too small to see in this photograph, the middle window contains the days and hours the gallery is open, the small white strip advises the reader to "Please Use Other Door". 

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Ruby Tuesday - Susan and her Friend

Saturday at Gavin's birthday Party we all sat out in the back yard of Mikes parents house.  The forecast was for mild sunny weather so we neglected to bring warm coats.  Of course it was cloudy and a sharp wind came up but all the activity was planned for outside, so what could we do?  We made do with borrowed coats and a few small blankets.  Mike's mother Carla has a miniature Doberman that is a very sweet little dog but is not designed for cold weather. In particular her feet were cold so she keep looking for a nice warm lap to sit on.  Fortunately Susan had both a warm lap and a warm heart so the little pooch was sheltered from the cold.  As the afternoon went on they became well acquainted

Gavin is Three

Gavin is the son of my foster son Mike and his wife Amber. That makes Gavin my foster grandson. Gavin celebrated his 3rd birthday Saturday afternoon and it was quite a party. Most of Mike and Amber's family was there, parents, siblings, and lots of kids. There was a rented Jupiter Jump, a Pinata, Lots of food and a birthday cake. There were lots of presents but the biggie was a shiny black "Power Wheel" modeled after a Ford Pickup Truck.


it was kept hidden until just the right moment when it was brought out and presented to Gavin. To say that he liked it would be a big understatement. It came with big blue Sully from Monsters Inc. as a copilot.


Everyone gathered around as Gavin got his first driving lesson. It has an accelerator and brake pedals, steering wheel, lights, and horn. It is powered by a rechargeable battery and has a top speed of 2 1/2 mph, or 4 kph. The doors and hood open and the tailgate lets down just like a real truck


After a few low impact bumps he got the idea and was able to drive around the back yard with only a few mishaps. This was a BIG hit. Happy Birthday Gavin. Thanks Mike and Amber, this was a great party.

Sunday Jigsaw Puzzle - St. Malo Beach

The Beach at St. Malo, Brittany, France

Monochrome Weekend - St. Malo

The Walled city of St. Malo ln Brittany on the Northwest coast of France.


Saint-Malo has one of the highest concentration of sea food restaurants in Europe. It is famous for its local oysters from the nearby village of Cancale. What was a fort in the middle ages, St. Malo is now a popular tourist destination and is known as a desirable place to retire.

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Skywatch Friday - University of Tulsa

The University of Tulsa Campus Looking west on 6th Street.