Ruby Tuesday - Japanese Flowering Quince

One of the early colorful shrubs is this Japanese Flowering Quince also known as Japonica.

This is very hardy and can grow quite large if left  untrimmed.  It sometimes bears small red fruit and protects itself with thorns.  It is a Chaenomeles and part of the same Rosaceae family as apples, strawberries and roses.  This particular variety is correctly named Chaenomeles Superba.

For other shades of red from all over check out Ruby Tuesday.

Play Ball! New Driller Stadium

If there is anything better than a baseball game it's an afternoon Baseball game on a beautiful spring day.  Susan's brother Alan and his wife Virginia are visiting us from Maryland. Sunday afternoon we took them to see the Tulsa Drillers and the San Antonio Missions play ball in the brand new ONEOK Field.  Opening night was Thursday evening which was a sellout.  It was a gorgeous day.



When you walk into the new field you are on the main concourse level with the playing field laid out below ground level.  This is where the handicapped seats are located which could not be more convenient.  This row of open seating extends all around the stadium which means that anyone can sit there.  This is much better than the old stadium.  The concession stands are on the back side of the concourse which means that food and drinks can be purchased while keeping an eye on the ballgame.

The most impressive part of the new location is that the great downtown Tulsa Skyline is visible from all over the park.  This will be even more spectacular during night games when all the lights are on downtown.  I have to admit that my first reaction to building a new baseball stadium was "what's the matter with the old one?"  Now that it is built and we see how nice everything is we are converts.  This is great!

What made it even better was that Tulsa won by a score of 9 to 6. Tulsa usually does well but it really doesn't matter that much to me who wins. I love the baseball experience. The field is beautiful, the stadium food is good, and I love baseball. There is plenty of excitement but the pace is relaxing enough to carry on a conversation with your friends while watching the game. We had a great time. And did I mention that the seats were only $10 a person? What a bargain!

Sunday Jigsaw Puzzle - Spring in Full Bloom

Driving through Tulsa's older neighborhoods is a celebration of spring color.

This lovely garden has both white and red Azaleas starting to show, a white Redbud tree (yes, they come in several colors), and in the distance a yellow Forsythia.  Later in the season that big Magnolia tree will bloom.

When the spring weather warms gradually we see flowers appear in a particular sequence. This year with some late cold weather followed by unusually warm weather everything seems to be blooming at once. As my friend Yogi said, we are having a simultaneous instead of a sequential spring this year

Monochrome Weekend - Exchange Bank Atrium, Tulsa

This is the central atrium of the Exchange Bank in downtown Tulsa.
It was originally the National Bank of Tulsa, also known simply as the 320 South Boston building.

Skywatch Friday - Tulsa Sky from River West

Beautiful blue sky over Tulsa's downtown from the River West Festival Park.  
Not a bad shot taken with my iphone.  I may be without my Canon but never without my iphone.

Everything is in Bloom

White dogwood trees spread in layers of white under tall sycamores.

Normally spring flowers bloom in a certain order over a month or so. This spring we had cold weather including some late snow and the early stuff didn't get much of a chance. Then when the snow went away it got really warm and everything exploded into bloom at about the same time. Susan and I drove around yesterday and I tried to take pictures of what was out. I have never seen all these things blooming at the same time.

Yellow Forsythia usually is an early bloomer. 

The Tulip tree is a kind of magnolia.

The purple Wisteria vine is spectacular.

Even the Azaleas are beginning to flower.

And the hardy Redbud tree grows wild in the open spaces under the tall trees.

Wordless Wednesday - Doors to Mayo Hotel

The Mayo Hotel, 115 West 5th Street, Tulsa Oklahoma

Tulsa's landmark hotel, the Mayo opened in 1925 as an 18 story 600 room hotel. It has recently undergone extensive remodeling and restoration and now offers 102 hotel rooms, 70 luxury residences, and opulent event space with a restaurant and coffee shop in the lobby.

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Ruby Tuesday - Redbuds in Bloom

The Redbud trees have burst into bloom. Tulsa experienced some periods of unusually cold weather in March, including several late spring snow storms. As a result our spring blooming season was delayed by a week or two. Over the last week or so we have enjoyed some sun and warm weather and it seems like everything burst into bloom at once. The Redbud is Oklahoma's state tree and grows wild here in addition to being a favorite ornamental tree for urban landscaping. There are several varieties, the one in my garden is the old-fashioned native variety. They are spectacular when in full bloom and give off a light but very pleasant scent.

For other shades of red from all over check out Ruby Tuesday.

Fragrant Spring Lilacs

My Lilacs are blooming.

Few spring flowers smell as sweet as the lilacs. I will cut a sprig and bring it indoors to fill the house with its pleasant fragrance.

Hallelujah, Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!

Every Sunday that we celebrate the Eucharist is a little Easter

After the service we enjoy refreshments and the kids look for Easter eggs.


Bunnies and colored eggs aside, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, and is the most important event in the Christian calender.  May this day be filled with joy for you and your family.

Sunday Jigsaw Puzzle - Exchange Bank Reprise

Just for fun, here is the same photo that I posted yesterday. This is what I started with before I cropped and tweaked it for the sepia version. I thought it might make a good jigsaw puzzle.  Several people wondered how I was able to wander around the corridors in a bank.  The answer is that a very nice security guard accompanied us.  Maybe escorted is a better word.  The marble on the walls and floor create wonderful reflections.  I like the sepia version better.  What do you think?

Monochrome Weekend - Exchange Bank Interior, Tulsa

An interior corridor of the Exchange Bank, originally the National Bank of Tulsa, 
320 South Boston Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  A monochrome reflection (I'm double-dipping)



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Skywatch Friday - Bradford Pears

Tulsa has created decorative medians in a number of places.  This is driving north on Yale Avenue between South 51st and 61st Streets. Trees, primarily Bradford pears, are planted in a raised center faced with brick.  Bradford pears are so widely planted as to be dismissed by some as over used.  The reason they are so widely used is that they have many virtues; they bloom prolifically in the early spring, they are hardy during both the hot summers and cold winters, turn to a nice color in the fall, and bear small fruit that are eaten by birds during the winter.  What's not to like?

DCPB Theme Day for April = RED

Eric Clapton, Live in Tulsa!

Eric Clapton played at Tulsa's new BOK Center on March 2nd. Part of any rock music concert is some sort of light show. I captured this image with my iPhone just as the arena was flooded with red light, and posted it from the show.  It seemed perfect for Red Theme Day so I am re-posting it here.

What is a DCPB? It is a Daily City Photo Blog like this one. This is one of 1191 blogs world wide that post a photo each day in or about a particular city. In this case I post a photo every day in or about Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of this theme day

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.

The Heart of Tulsa

At the center of downtown Tulsa is (L to R) The Performing Arts Center, The Williams Tower, and the Tulsa City Hall

This post is participating in CityDailyPhoto Theme Day The Tenin Technique which is to place the camera at ground level or low or odd angle photographs.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Spring Has Come to Tulsa

Here is the proof. Right in my own back yard.

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