Tag Archives: Oklahoma Culture

Oklahoma culture, Travel

Thursday Morning Shout Out: The Talimena Drive and Those Who Takes Us Along With Their Eyes

(Note – this is a reprint from last year, retitled.  We hear that NOW is the time to be in the mountains if you want to see the foliage this year.  What do YOU hear?)

Good morning, Red Dirt Country.  We haven’t had a “Friday Morning Shout Out” in a few weeks, so I thought I would provide you with a little treat.  I’m going to take you back, back, back…all the way to November 13th of this year. Was that just one month ago?

It was a beautiful day, and a few members of the Tulsa Digital Photography Group were winding around the hills of Oklahoma’s famous Talimena Drive.  Sometimes they’d wind all the way over to Mena, Arkansas. But, then they would hop right back into our great state once again…shooting the autumn beauty in “God’s Country” all the while.

The borders of Oklahoma and Arkansas get a little fuzzy when there is so much beauty in one place.  And, photographers like Brian Favell did their best to capture all of what the perfect drive for Fall had to offer.  It seems that every year is different; who knows what 2011 has in store for the beholder?  But for this year, and for that day, and for this Shout Out, we’re going to share with you what Brian found – through his eyes, on his journey down the beautiful, twisty, turvy, upsy and downsy Talimena Drive of Eastern Oklahoma.

Thanks Brian, for the tour…and thanks, Oklahoma mountains, for once again showing us what you’ve got!

Continue reading Thursday Morning Shout Out: The Talimena Drive and Those Who Takes Us Along With Their Eyes →

Cents and Sensibility, Oklahoma culture

Joe’s Mojo

Joe Hartin’s eighty year-old knees popped five times as he kneeled down to meet my five year-old stature. His bloodshot eyes looked massive through his prescription eyeglasses as they sized me up with a long gaze into my face.  I squirmed, terribly aware of the drooping eyelids covering half his pupils while the other half bored a hole through my early childhood psyche. The eyelids fluttered while his brain worked on the next sentence to come out of his mouth.

“Well, well…you knew quite a few Bible verses. I’ll let you choose a coin for a reward.  Which one would you like?”

It was 1967 and any one of the “monies” in Joe’s open, weathered hand was fascinating.  “I think that’s a dime,” I thought to myself as I stared into his palm full of coins.  “I think a Hershey bar is a dime.  Maybe I could eat one square for twelve days if I took that coin.”

I was hesitating for too long as I thought through my options.  I looked up at Joe’s face and saw him grimace, then slightly shift.  He was hurting and I needed to choose.

I took a breath and said, “I’d like THAT one.”  I timidly reached out and touched the biggest silver coin in his hand.  I didn’t know its value; I only understood its size in relation to the others

A few too many seconds went by before a smile broke across Joe’s face.  He looked up to my father who was observing the scene, then shakily stood back up.  With his other hand, he carefully picked up “THAT one” and handed it to me, patted me on the head and walked away chuckling.

I still have that half-dollar in my jewelry box and I’m never going to spend it.

Foodie Page, Oklahoma culture

Native Oklahoma Persimmons 101

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Persimmons are beautiful simply served on a dish by themselves. Photo by Rylee Roberts

(Originally published Fall, 2010) While sitting at the breakfast table as a young girl, I could look out the window this time of year and watch the squirrels scamper like mad up and down the trees just across the fence line along our garden.  They were scrambling to see who could harvest and store the highest number of Oklahoma native persimmons, the bright orange to dark amber fruits tempting them to work extra hard. Even by squirrel standards.  Occasionally, I would wander outside, cross the fence and collect a few of the fruits I knew for sure were ripe, but at that age it was a guessing game for me.

Persimmon tree during autumn.

Sometimes I would choose them at a stage too firm and orange (green) and suffer the consequences of a horrible experience – something like all the moisture being sucked out of my mouth, with no way to quench the thirst!  But the ripe persimmons…ah, those were nice.  And still are.

My father brought some to our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and luckily not all of them got eaten.  I have them now and I thought I would share a few basic pieces of information in case you are outside and see them in a tree somewhere.  They are worth your harvesting time.

Continue reading Native Oklahoma Persimmons 101 →

My Little Victory Garden

My Little Victory Garden: Sweet Safari!

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Fallow deer, heading toward the feeding trough on Honey Hill Farm.

You know those stories that begin with one segment, then lead to another? And another. And…another? This is one of those stories.  Here’s how it started:

One of my first Victory Garden entries included a trip to my neighbor down the road, Crestview Farms.  I picked up some fresh eggs, some Honey Hill Farm local honey, and spoke with the owner about when her French Tarragon might be in.  I got home, unloaded my treasures, and noticed that the Honey Hill Farm label read: Edmond, OK.  How about that?  The beekeepers were ALSO neighbors.  I stashed that little nugget of information into the back of my brain and thought, “Okay, I’ll get there soon.” I wrote that post March 20th.

On June 20th, exactly 90 days later, Jerry Logan took a few hours out of his early morning schedule to show me just how it is that his bees do what they do.  And his deer run like they run, and his Scimitar oryx grow horns as beautiful and long as they grow them.  I appreciate Jerry’s willingness to let me ride along in his farm truck, in his camouflage utility vehicle and walk by his side as I learned all about how one thing led to another, and then another, until it became what it is today. Continue reading My Little Victory Garden: Sweet Safari! →

Oklahoma culture

Tall Tales by Pistol Pete: “Trot-Line Fishing”

Rolla Goodnight and Frank Eaton at the Oklahoma State Capitol Building, 1950

Trot-line Fishing

Once upon a time Fred, Rolla Goodnight and myself thought we would do a little fishing.  So we made us a good boat about 14 foot long and four foot beam and also made a trailer to haul it on.  Then loading up our trot-lines, tools and bedding we all started down on the river to fish.  We put our boat in the water and it was in good shape and waterproof, then we started out to get some bait.

On the bank near us was a big cottonwood tree with a long straight limb sticking out and was about 15 feet long.  It showed marks of being the roosting place for wild pigeons but there were none there at the time.  Now trot-line fishing has its many difficulties and one of the worst is getting bait.

We scouted around not doing much good, for the Democrats had taken over and the jackrabbits were scarcer than hen’s teeth. Continue reading Tall Tales by Pistol Pete: “Trot-Line Fishing” →