Musings

Apologies for the delayed post; I was wiped last night…. Our route yesterday was consistently west from Hot Springs toward Lawton/Fort Sill. We traveled on Interstate, US highways, State higways, and even county roads. There was only one short gravel stretch, with signs saying watch for flooded road; we were lucky as the ditch water was about five feet below the road surface. This is the land of flash flooding.

However, we did avoid the cops in Mena!

This part of the world has many lakes that are reservoirs. For this one, I’m guessing they left the trees telling folks it’d make great fish habitat. Some kind of habitat, anyway.

Disrespect for signs.

We stopped briefly in this small community, so I could stretch my legs. The houses on either side of this street had the barking-est dogs; however, it took almost five minutes for someone to come out and ask what I was doing. This was the view out of the hamlet; I decided not to walk closer to this agricultural implement.

We diverged a bit north to visit the quirky community of Medicine Park. The quirky here is a busy resort/ex-hippy-style place, I assume for a change of pace for those who get off-base from Fort Sill, or away from the fields. We got terrific burgers (this is beef country, after all), and spotted this decoration in a planter.

We crossed the river on this fine bridge leaving Medicine Park. It predates hippy-style.

PDQ we entered wild lands, and saw…tadah! A real wild thing. Two actually, lone males several miles apart. We’re still looking for antelope.

The open plains offer a whole different sunset experience. This dramatic graduation lasted for perhaps an hour. Such a contrast to my experience of the sky in the eastern woodlands.

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Confirmation that spring has arrived…look at this resident beneath the azalea bushes in front of the house.

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I admit it. Today was a great day weather-wise for doing outdoor chores, and boy o boy are there outdoor chores that need doing on our small urban property. But I was a lump, an indoor lump. Just no energy. Is that how spring is gonna be?

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Only leprechaun I saw at tonight’s party; I’m going with too jet lagged to show up on actual St. Patty’s day.

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We spent this morning doing errands, which is the same as accomplishing goals beyond the normal daily activities. First, I found cable connectivity, as the saying goes, in spades.

At the next stop, we found crumpets. Real, 3-D, “golden brown” crumpets.

Later, I legged it outdoors to recover from all the morning’s indoor activities and found bucket work underway. I snapped this and kept moving. [Yes, it was raining; not an impediment to my walk.]

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A consuming quiet peace washed over me as I looked up at these new leaves, with a blue, blue sky behind them.

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In truth, the biggest adjustment yesterday, contrary to the clock situation I wrote about, was/is Meeeee. I don’t do well with time changes, even “just” one hour. And I haven’t this time, either. It didn’t help that last evening we stayed up for the entire Oscars, also known as Everything winning most categories.

So, I awakened late this morning, and am now rather yawn-y…give me a week, and I’ll be back in (a version of) the groove.

White variant (and far less common) of the pink Eastern redbud pictured…a kind of an alternate reality.

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Backlit helicopters.

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For a time, I kept track of this lot. The last time I posted a photo of it, if I remember correctly, workers were finishing the two floors below the (former) ground surface, which appeared to both be parking levels. Now, the apartments far above are being finished, and I’m sure the builders are more than ready to have inhabitants move in, and to start working down their debt load. Or perhaps I’m projecting.

The title refers to the increased pressure on nearby roads and sidewalks and businesses by the new residents of this multistory building, which used to be a one-story artist studio and apartment structure. Sooooo many more residents to come….

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We had one of those gorgeous days that sometimes follow awful storms. In this case, the storm wasn’t that awful…in our neighborhood. Clear, however, is, whew, lovely. Note the tiny leaves emanating green-ness on the tree to the left. [I’m glorying in the Time of the Redbud Buds; see tree to the right.]

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