currants

rabbit brush

yarrow

ratibida

mallow

orange horned poppy

prickly poppy

A slice of the backyard garden scene. This year may be one of the most lush and green – plants enormous, birds plentiful, smiles abound!

We are settling into our summer routine. Greg works on the back porch, mostly with Juniper, very often with me, sipping coffee, fountain babbling and brook-like, birds chirping, until the heat becomes too much. We head in, work some more, and enjoy a meal. The afternoon is a battle against heat, of closed blinds and fans, reading and cleaning and programming and dog jaunts.

On special days, we host a visitor – Jeff! We play games and eat exceptionally well. This time was a feast of Korean style summer favorites, bulgogi burgers, homemade pickles of the cucumber, onion, and bell pepper variety, topped with a gochujang sauce that also served as salad dressing, poutine with gochujang gravy (fries courtesy of Wendy’s!). Traditional cherry pie, made with a bounty of home grown cherries. That we had enough for pie and two jars of jam was pure joy! Then there were rum and cherry cokes, with syrup made from the cherry pits (Seriously!). Exquisite and fun and the height of summer flavors.

Happy, happy…hope you are, too.

Well

Love is a well from which we can drink only as much as we have put in, and the stars that shine from it are only our eyes looking in.

Stendahl

Happy Birthday, America!

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Speed

The secret is balance: instead of doing everything faster, do everything at the right speed. Sometimes fast. Sometimes slow. Sometimes in between.

Carl Honore

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Another reason for visiting Southwest Oklahoma, rather than some more direct route to Colorado, is my Comanche Ancestry. Despite my ancestors being from Northern New Mexico, I wanted to see the Wichita Mountains, and in particular, this lake and dam, named for Quanah Parker, the last Comanche Chief, who was born nearby. I wanted to see where the Nation, though much diminished from the Empire of the 19th Century, exists today.

First in-the-wild tarantula sighting. Pretty cool!

This country is so spectacularly beautiful.

A drum, that were I the owner, would likely find too beautiful to play.

Comanche Indian Veterans Association Regalia. At the rear is a Princess Crown – the bead work is so fine!

Traditional Woman’s Dress, made of deerskin, I believe, with more fine bead work.

I also wanted to visit the Comanche Museum in Lawton, which exhibits the traditional ways and dress while also celebrating current events, like dancing and the Native American Church, and historical achievements. For instance, I had only ever heard of Navajo (Dine) Code Talkers. But, did you know that there were Comanche Code Talkers, as well? There is always so much to learn.

Though my connection to the Comanche is through a single woman, born nearly two hundred years ago, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to pay my respects for this indelible thread of my being.

After our morning at the museum, it was time for the long haul home, and as was typical for this trip, the rain to commence.

Brief encounters

It stopped, but only for a bit.

After ages of saying we would visit Mt. Capulin, the tallest cinder cone in northern New Mexico, we parted from Oklahoma with high hopes. Today is THE day! Then, the rain started to fall, and we thought, it’s still hours away. Then, despite a brief clearing in the rain as we approached, we saw lightning. I don’t know about you, but standing at an elevation of 8,720 ft seems imprudent under these circumstances. Another time.

To turn the misery of traveling in driving rain into luscious lemonade, how about these views, made even more alluring with the scrim of cloud?

Fisher’s Peak – the gateway to home and a most welcome sight.

Another great vacation, thanks for tagging along…

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Happiest of traveling companions!

Unlike the previous cities of Memphis, Chattanooga, and Nashville, where there was so much we had in mind to eat and see and do, when planning Oklahoma, I wanted rest. I wanted languor. I wanted quiet.

Boy howdy, did we find it in Medicine Park.

We read on the bed and Piggly Wiggly pillowed book nook. We took the short drive into town and strolled along turtle filled Medicine Creek, ate salads, Korean tacos, and fried pies, gulped iced tea and sipped slushy drinks. We wandered and snacked on wild plums.

In the early bright of morning, we hiked (in a new hat and t-shirt!), up and up, both to spy yonder vistas and chase the wild flowers whose blooms lured us along.

And then, oh, to descend into the respite of cool shade.

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