Expedition Oklahoma

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

17 Years Ago

17 years ago on the 17th of June was the first night I held my oldest child. My baby girl was born at 8:05 pm on June 17th of 1996. So, now as young as I feel I'm officially the parent of a child who will be considered an adult in the next year.

I am trying my hand at birthday cake making. I made the one on the left, and Grandma brought the store bought one on the right. Yet, I like making their birthday cakes, I will never make beautiful cakes.

Roses for the birthday girl.

She was only a couple of months old. She wore my baby dress in this photo.

Her first day of School when she was four.

These are in no order and so many of them were taken before I had any true interest in the art of photography- they are just snapshots of memories of my beautiful little girl. She is my "beloved" child, if you want to know more about what makes a child a beloved child, read Ella Deloria's novel Waterlily. I may not have a ceremony or tradition but I know what makes her beloved.

She was sooo cute when she was little. Just what everyone wants for a perfect, beautiful darling little girl.

It was her 5th birthday in 2001 where we entered the digital age. I got my first digital camera in 2001 and it hasn't been the same since. I did lose one computer hard drive in 2003 and learned my lesson by losing about a year's worth of memories.

It's kind of awesome how quickly these photos load - the files are tiny! My first Kodak easy share after my youngest was born I lost a 35 mm camera between the hospital and home.

Pinata time at the birthday, this must have been in the summer of 2002.

She was in Dance, now these were some expensive print photos that I scanned in.

My beautiful five year old

First school trip with her first best friend.

First visit to the Ocean in April of 2004 (mine too)!

California in 2004

It's funny how your oldest child is always your "big girl" until you look back at the photos and see how small and what a child they were, you always expect more from your oldest because they - after all- are your oldest.

She was 7 or 8? I'm not sure. Look at how quickly they change.

Teen theater a couple of years ago, she's a very talented public speaker.

Five years ago with the lovely Lisa bird, who... keeled over after a couple of years.

2006 before a Christmas program

2009 horribly embarrassed with her Mother. Oh, please stop Mom...

In 2009 at the Festival of Lights. We had a party for the sweet 16... My baby turns 16

I also posted about her 15th birthday! Which shows I have more time in the summer!

We were out in the yard this afternoon with our Yorkie girls..Moka and Yumi, now we have two lapdogs. I love my yorkies. She's beautiful no matter what she wears, so I like this photo of her showoing her puppy how much she loves her.

This is Moka our newest addition to our family. Moka is related to Tashi who we lost in December unfortunately.

Our three dogs.

I love Yorkies, they are just perfect, little teddy bears and adorable. I didn't think I would like the little ankle biters so much but I do.

Now what about this 17th birthday party? Well, she doesn't ask for much but her new hobby is playing with cool and colorful wigs while she grows her hair out.

Old enough to light her own candles.

Happy Birthday Grace, I love you!

Posted at 01:13 AM in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, June 17, 2013

Father's Day at Lake Fuqua

On Father's Day we headed out to the lake with the boys for a impromptu cook out and swim. It was hot out so I would play arouond with taking photos inbetween swimming. We had a good time.

We didn't plan on doing anything but we did go to the lake last week (a couple of times). I love summer and our times swimming at lakes and going places. Being on a shoestring budget it's convenient that there are lakes relatively close.

We needed firewood for our hot dog cookout. The idea of going to the lake came about after I jokingly (not really) told my husband that I'd let him cook out for Father's Day (since he does all the grilling). This was definitely more fun.

So Dad saw a lizard and was yelling for the boys to come over. They were going to catch it. It surely doesn't have a chance.

They set out to chase and capture the lizard. Not giving me a chance to photograph it.

I don't think the lizard cares that they are determined to catch it.

It was the one that got away..so back to the problem of the campfire.

See those shoulders and arms - yeah, that's what I noticed right away at a nearby lake nearly 18 years ago (in about a week or so) - we will have our 18th anniversary since we met.

The campfire is going and it's time to swim some more.

Here is an earlier post I did on Lake Fuqua

When I was a teenager we didn't live near a swimming pool so we'd go to the local lakes to go swimming, which were closer to our house than driving to town to a pool. Since I met my husband at a lake we always spend a lot of time in the summer at the lakes and swimming, something we both love. I can't imagine spending a summer without swimming. It just wouldn't be living. I love our summers.

Father's Day really isn't about anything more than a reminder that we need to acknowledge our fathers and their importance in their lives. Some people need that date on a calendar to let our parents know they matter. I hope my parents know they matter, I am sure you, my readers can tell how important my Dad is by the amount of photos I place of him on here.

If you a father- Father's Day is everyday... and it's' time for our cookout. Now, think what you will... but a hot dog cooked over an open fire in front of a lake is definitely one of the best meals that you could ever have.

One of the best meals cooked over an open fire. The most basic means of food preparation.

He was told to eat the hot dog before eating marshmallows..guess what he was sneaking while we were cooking? Yep, marshmallows.

Time to go back out for more swimming. I still have Colorado and Kansas photos to post. I also have photos from another trip to eastern Oklahoma. I've taken to editing photos while watching Netflix, tonight I'm watching Star Trek.

While they were busy kayaking and swimming I was climbing around in the rocks. The other day we visited and I didn't take my camera, knowing we were going swimming. After visiting Dinosaur Ridge (which I have yet to process and post the photos) I discovered what dinosaur bones looked like in the rocks and knowing the geologic era that many of the rocks in the area come from I began searching to see if I could see any fossils or evidence of the ancient sea that once covered this land. I found a fossilized fern - which I thought perhaps I could repeat - but no, nothing as exciting. I did find some interesting rocks which probably are some type of fossil evidence but I am not sure of what.

I found a high vantage point for a couple of shots.

Sometimes I think I'm getting bored with photography, yet it's somewhat of an addiction and I'd rather edit photos than play games online in the evenings. I'd rather edit photos than read and I enjoy this activity more than about any.

But I'm really fascinated with rocks, geology and fossils right now. I need to read more about it. Right now I realize I don't need a career. I need a job. I don't need more education to learn - I need to know which scholars to look at as the diving board into a new field of study. I don't need classes. I need names and after I find the names I can find out what to read. I don't need to justify my education or knowledge. I don't need any further experience with using others to justify and validate myself. I desperately want my College situation straight because I feel horrible about it. But any future learning will be in my hands, I feel that I've been given the research tools. I want to educate but I don't want to have to make others feel as successes or failures at my hands. Who am I to judge other's performance - performance is not learning and learning is not always performance. But as far as the photo above, I want to know what it is. Sitting in sandstone, near a layer of glauconite and shale.

The boy has decided to swim a little bit more. The last couple of visits he has tormented me about seeing snakes at the lake (we did see one the last time we were here).

So, after seeing a snake in the water the boy exited the water as fast as possible, not teasing me about snakes. He was quite happy to leave the water quickly. Then we headed home - tired and I needed to make preparation for our daughter's 17th birthday.

Posted at 11:57 PM in Stephens County , Sunsets and Landscapes, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Choctaw Council House in Tuskahoma

So my oldest Son and I headed to Tuskahoma on Thursday. It was a special trip to photograph the council house and spend some time with my young Chahta boy. I didn't feel like it. I was in a rotten mood, while he was in the mood to work on my Choctaw vocabulary.

You see, my oldest son has Aspergers which is a form of Autism marked by a high IQ and social skills deficits. We home school him and he has turned his obsession to learning the Choctaw language. Knowing of my upset he had focused his energy in continuing to teach me Choctaw, this summer. While I was writing my thesis he would bring his dictionary and translate anything I needed. For his birthday we visited the Chickasaw museum in Sulphur (I wish the Choctaws would build a museum comparable to the Chickasaws) and he wanted to find someone to speak Choctaw/Chickasaw with. I found that he knew more language than most museum employees that we've met.

I didn't want to be there that day, not after the news I had earlier that week, I pulled that post because I hope to find some answers soon. But, I was and my son expected me to learn two vocabulary words that day. He said them constantly until he learned them and I had no choice. This is why my Choctaw vocabulary is fairly large now. Yakoke Rowan, Yakoke.

We build our memories out of positive and negative experiences, and I'm glad we had to come here on this day. I spent two years of learning about decolonialism and a system of persecution of people because of their heritage and beliefs. I have spent two years studying why its okay not to understand my Choctaw heritage and why it was taken away from me. I spent two years studying in a Western setting why the western setting of knowledge an education is flawed, deeply especially in dealing with people and the humanities. Yet, why do I have such a problem with a letter grade and not fitting in with the system, economics is my main issue right now.

We don't know our heritage or our language because of things like The Trail of Tears.

I think there is an element of guilt to being a tribal member who is totally assimilated. We don't have the heritage like Natives who were raised with the stories, the experiences and the background, yet we know we have that heritage. We know it was lost and like victims we feel that it is our fault that we hold a card saying we are a tribal member who do not have a tradition of ceremony. But, we find our way to our Choctaw Home for the Labor Day Festival which invites all tribal members and provides activities to suit the assimilated and deeply cultural alike.

I can't give up on working on my Master's Degree just as much as I can't give up on educating other people who are assimilated that it is not their fault that they do not have their heritage but they can learn about their heritage they can gain some of the words and language of their ancestors.

I don't want to have to rehash a grade, really. I don't want to have to think about it and continue school. I am educated, I overall DID have a good experience at OU, my last semester was incredibly stressful though and writing a thesis was not anything that allowed me time to think about anything else. My thesis was overridingly Choctaw, which altered my perceptions about studying Native culture. I am Choctaw. I want to study Choctaw. I can bring more to my tribe than to others. I appreciate my Kiowa friend who took the time to talk to me the other evening. I appreciate the professors who have emailed me and taken time that they didn't have to with my situation. Yakoke.

The Choctaw Warrior statue. I didn't intend on posting anything today but my late night burst of energy hit and it wasn't house cleaning energy. My daughter has turned into something of an insomniac lately and since we have five roosters (we are giving them away - by the way if you'd like a rooster, hit me up). I decided it would be hilarious to put a rooster in her room to wake her up. So we went to the coop and cornered a rooster and I grabbed it and carried it in (calmed it down) then put it in her room. I was hoping it would make it's insanely annoying "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo" to give her a real wake up call, but no. The rooster was scared, in fact it began clucking like a worried mother hen. Then my daughter emerges yelling about her horrible parents and that we needed to remove the chicken from her room.

We also unsuccessfully attempted a cat bearding photo opportunity. That failed too.

He wasn't as scared as he looks, he's 20 pounds and could kick the boys rear end if he were really upset.

I am afraid that one morning I will wake up with the favor returned...

Posted at 12:45 AM in Choctaw Nation, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Georgetown Colorado

So, if you follow the Guanella pass from Grant you will end up in George Town Colorado.

We didn't enter Georgetown from the interstate, we came up Guanella Pass from Grant.

If you'd like more information about Georgetown click here.

At the Summit it was snowing on us and I was ready to get down the mountain to Georgetown, I was lightheaded and could barely carry on a conversation and my chest felt weird, I decided I didn't like the altitude.

A powerline shot, which I normally don't do, but it was unavoidable.

Didn't see any bighorn sheep, but we did see a sign for them. I was ready to get off the mountain so I have few shots on the way down.

I loved the views of Georgetown.

I had enough of the rockies fairly quickly and was ready to get back to the wide open spaces.

There are so many more tourist things that I've found to do in Colorado after my trip. But, I am not going to be a winter tourist. Maybe next summer!

Finally we made it to town...

This town is beautiful, with it's quaint victorian houses. When I become wealthy I'm buying a house in this town.

We didnt' spend much time in town. Stopped for fuel and at Subway for sandwiches..where I saw this...For whatever reasons my email didn't download right on my phone. I had an email that has upset me greatly and I'm very grateful I didn't receive it when I was in Colorado. It seems like my life is this line in a song "It's a big enough umbrella, but it's always me that ends up getting wet.

It's a chapter in my life I want closed the last two years, yet I can't seem to do that yet. So I feel very frustrated. Let me get through 2013 now. It's a setback of a 1/2 a year if I cannot resolve the situation. I have learned lessons from graduate school that I didn't expect, to trust my instincts about people and classes- I ignored them. To speak out and complain. I also need to do a better job standing up for myself. That begins now. But, for tonight, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight world.

Posted at 12:00 AM in Cities and Towns, Colorado , Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, June 10, 2013

Guanella Pass Part 2

Yes, I am editing a lot of photos today (while I work on laundry, dishes and all the other boring stuff you do when you are at home). I've worked my way through some Kansas images today and now I'm looking through these mountain images again.

My 12 year old and I are watching a show on Netflix called "I Shouldn't Be Alive," about people who have survived in extreme situations. Which of course makes me think about driving up isolated mountain roads.

The aspens were pretty here as we got further up the mountain they weren't even budded out yet.

The mountain streams which were stunning.

I'm not really sure what I was shooting here, probably a tree. Not the stream, but this is what my sister does while I'm taking photographs with her iPad camera (which takes nice photos). So here you go... me doing what I like to do.

I was shooting a tree, these shots all fit the right angle.

Every curve we passed it just seemed to get more beautiful.

Yet with every curve you could see the rugged power of nature.

I kept driving. I wasn't used to the altitude, what didn't seem to bother my sister. I was out of breath with any physical exertion, yet we kept driving up the mountain.

It was intimidating to keep driving up higher and higher, yet I knew that the road was only 24 miles and I'd been by the town that we ended up at on the other side before.

I can't imagine traveling in this country a hundred years ago.

I appreciate Cyndy and her suggestion for this trip. You can follow her on twitter: @arkydiva

Snow in June and it was the first time I was ever snowed on in June.

By the time we were this high up I was out of breath enough that I was ready to get back to the mile high city.

Posted at 08:45 PM in Colorado , Sunsets and Landscapes, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Post Rocks Near Ness City Kansas

One thing you notice as you're driving through western Kansas is the stone post rocks that dot the empty plains as you drive through on Highway 283.

After the end of the great cattle trails and the growth of the railroads settlers needed a way to fence their ranches and farms to protect their livestock. The plains were lacking in trees and these settlers found a great use for the natural limestone formations which helped them build lasting legacies of their ingenuity in stone.

If you want to learn more about these post rocks check out this site: Post Rock Museum

So this stone is limestone. Limestone is formed out of places that were formerly shallow seas or oceans.

Here is another interesting read about post rock cutting in Kansas.

My new goal is to learn more about geology and rocks, hopefully it will help me in writing descriptions for the places I visit.

More information about post rock country- so if you're interested in Kansas and the Great Plains you might stop on by this page too: www.plainsfolk.com

Posted at 06:03 PM in Kansas, Sunsets and Landscapes, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Beautiful Cemetery

Last Tuesday as my sister and I were leaving Manhattan and driving back west towards Colorado she told me about a pretty little church that I could photograph. Well, we found it and I stopped to take a few shots of the church and then we noticed this immaculate beautiful cemetery neighboring it.

It is a beautiful little chapel.

In case you are interested in visiting here is some more information.

Little cemetery on the prairie, you can't really see the beauty of this garden of the dead from the highway.

Each grave is adorned with it's own living floral arrangement. We arrived just in time as they were all blooming. Unfortunately I cannot tell you what they are -in my botanical ignorance (this is a goal of mine to learn about the plants).

This cemetery is a reflection of the love and work over a group of individuals for a long period of time. It is truly a memorial to those who are eternally resting here.

I was in awe of this beautiful place. One could only hope that the loss of our souls would be honored like this. After a year of studying the mound builders in Ancient America I've been at a loss when seeing how empty our funerary practices are in comparison, but this place gives me hope.

Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of a million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever. ~Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad. ~Marcel Proust

We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance. ~Marcel Proust

Oh, for the time when I shall sleep
Without identity.
~Emily Bronte

Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life. ~John Muir

A prairie cemetery.

Posted at 03:00 PM in Kansas, Other States, Sunsets and Landscapes, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Sunset Zoo in Manhattan Kansas

Tuesday morning was hotel check out time in Manhattan, so I had to entertain myself the rest of the day. I decided that it was my day to visit the zoo, I've been there a few times over the years and I always love their flamingo exhibit. So I headed over to the zoo all by myself, I still had a good time.

This is such a nice little zoo, it wasn't crowded with screaming toddlers (like the Denver museum was). It wasn't crowded at all (my kind of place).

I found the peacocks first, in all their glory. This guy needs a caption.

Beautiful creatures.

What a beautiful bird, I can't really say a lot more about it. They are in the pheasant family.

Another amazing creature. My favorite bird.

I get all of my plant and animal knowledge from Wikipedia. The flamingo is a wading bird. They are stunning. I'd love to photograph them in nature.

Clearly I do my best bird photography, when the birds are caged.

The Bald Eagle says the NSA should stop spying on all Americans.

The eye of the tiger. This was shot through a chain link fence, I'm lucky it turned out as well as it did.

The zoo is filled with beautiful flowers and shrubbery, there is a whole macro world waiting for you there.

Enough with the bees, how about some more birds.

An emu for you.

Emu says hello from the Australian walkabout in the zoo.

This Wallaby was blocking my exit. Staring me down.

He (or she) decided to go ahead and pose for a portrait. Portrait of a Wallaby - sounds like a great title for a book.

This little Wallaby says hello, maybe.

Are you ready for the Chimpanzees?

There was a baby chimp so I sat down and waited to get a good shot....

and I kept waiting. They are still pretty cute.

Awww.. well that's all I have from the zoo.

Posted at 11:19 AM in Flora and Fauna, Kansas, Travel, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan Kansas

Late Saturday night we arrived in Manhattan Kansas for the annual Veterinarian conference put on by Kansas State University. My Sister had to settle in for a few days of school and I had to settle in for a few days of sight seeing. I haven't been to Manhattan since 2007, and there has been a lot of growth in the community. The hotel we stayed in was new and the museum that I finally visited on Tuesday afternoon was also new.

Across the street from the Flint Hills Discovery Center and just down the street from the mall is the new Hilton Garden Inn.

Some of the photos were shot on Saturday and others on Tuesday. I didn't visit until Tuesday, it was the last thing that I did before we left to go to Colorado for the concert and our mountain vacation. This whole week was really fun in a way for me because when I was 16 (a very long time ago), I was fortunate to win a scholarship to a science camp called "Prairies to Peaks" where they took a group of kids from Oklahoma to the Colorado Rockies and we explored geography and geology for a week - it had a lasting impact on my life and an appreciation of a sense of place.

Sometimes I don't care to visit the museums but this looked fairly new and I wanted the chance to check it out. You see five years ago in 2008 I was preparing to go to a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar on the Great Plains, where myself and 14 other teachers studied the Great Plains from Texas to Saskatchewan. This experience had a deep impact on my life and I do not think I would be quite who I am today without it, my interests in photography, fitness and a renewed interest in returning to school were sparked by this experience, along with the friends that were to be made.

I finally walk into the museum and have a nice conversation with one of the guides who reminds me to make sure and watch the film that they show to introduce the center. I'm not a big fan of watching films in musuems but I still had plenty of time.

So, I sit down to the film with a very eager three year old sitting beside me who had a great dialogue with the film - it was so enjoyable to listen to a small child excited about the world. The film began and I heard a voice which I knew narrating much of the film. While the smoke of the prairie fires, wind and snow made this four dimensional film a sensory experience, hearing a voice that I knew speaking of the prairies took me back five years to the summer of 2008.

I highly suggest you go visit this page: Plainsfolk (Dot) com and while you are at it "like" the Plainsfolk page on Facebook. Needless to say I was pretty impressed with the level of expertise that was used on the film. A great narrator, it also opened with a N.Scott Momaday quote which of course I enjoyed seeing.

I naturally navigated to the Native American section of history in the museum. Two years working on my Master's Degree at OU has left me critical of musuems. I was pleased to see that the mound builders got a mention. I was not pleased to learn that the mound had been destroyed.

One fascinating aspect of the museum was being able to see the root system of the prairie grasses which go far deeper than I imagined.

The flint hills stretch all the way into Oklahoma, but we call them the Osage Hills. You can visit them at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Pawhuska.

When I lived in Hoxie in 2004-05 my husband hauled cattle all over the state.

Lots of history at the musuem.

I am not a big fan of posting about museum visits but I really enjoyed this museum.

Posted at 09:24 PM in Kansas, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sting at Red Rocks

Don't think me unkind, words are hard to find...

I've always wanted to see a show at Red Rocks since I have watched some events that were filmed there and played on the music channels. Words can't really describe the experience. I finally had the chance to see Sting in concert at Red Rocks last Wednesday on his Back to Bass Summer 2013 tour. Yes, I've been to a Sting concert quite a few times now - 9 to be exact.

Wednesday was exhausting and stressful. Going to a concert in a city you've never been to at a totally new venue and needing to book a hotel for the night pretty much had me stressed out by the time we found the place. We actually got lost in Denver after visiting the Natural History Museum and found our way to Red Rocks, left Red Rocks and booked a hotel, took a nap and returned early before the gates opened.

There will be cell phone pictures in this post since places such as concert venues discriminate against those of us who use good photography equipment. Yes, I said discriminate. Because having a detachable lens means you might actually take good photos of an event while attending it and cause mass destruction to the corporate empire that feeds off of celebrities and talent.

This is the first venue where I can honestly say it doesn't matter where you sit. I spent far more time watching the view than I did worrying about seeing Sting up on stage. It helps that I've been to many of his concerts. But looking out over Denver on a cold June night was pretty incredible.

The Hounds of Winter was my favorite song to hear performed at this show.

Of course you all know which song this is right? Right? Roxanne of course. Never as good as it was since The Police tour of 2007 and 2008! How can that be six years ago! June 26, 2007 in Dallas Texas was an amazing show! November 2007 in San Antonio, May 21st 2008 in Dallas... Yeah I remember them all!

You really should go to this venue, even if your sense of direction gets horribly messed up and your navigator is less than talented at navigating and your phone maps suck and you are depending on a paper map and the directions of McDonalds employees to help you find your hotel after the show ends.

I parked on the side of a MOUNTAIN! All of the Sting shows I've been to have been memorable and great times with my older sister. I really loved his Symphonicities tour in 2010, it was a wonderful day waking up to photograph the sunrise in Galveston and then going to the Natural History museum and finally heading to see Sting at the Woodlands in Houston. The tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was the best concert I've ever attended. The music was perfect, incredible. I wish he would do it again.

The view was amazing. I remember the first time I ever went to Houston was in 2004 for the Sting's Sacred Love tour. I was teaching school in Kansas at the time and I left on a Friday afternoon and returned to work on a Monday. It was 1000 miles one way and quite a weekend.

Parking uphill on a mountain wasn't really what I anticipated.

This is another one of my favorite Sting songs, The End of the Game. Last June we went to see Sting two nights in a row at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville Oklahoma. Yakoke, Chickasaws, Yakoke.

Another one of my favorites that he performed at Red Rocks.

WHY DO I STILL TAKE SHOTS FROM MY CAR LIKE THIS??? I still do it. I rarely edit anything I shoot like this. Yet.. here they are.

Here is the view of Red Rocks from Dinosaur Ridge (also a neat place). And I will close with one of the best songs in the history of music. Message in a Bottle