Copper Bracelet From The '50's

I was shopping with the wife of one of the people my husband does business with. The woman is amazing! She can walk into a store and immediately find secret sales - racks of stuff I would love to own that is marked to at least 75% off and sometimes more. She lives in Chicago, and so far, all our shopping has been in towns that neither of us are familiar with. (San Antonio and Las Vegas.) I don't know how my friend (because this woman is definitely my friend) does it, but this cute tank top is one of her finds. It is goes perfectly with this Renoir brand Copper Bracelet from the 1950's.

Sales Tax Holiday?!!

This is for all my West Coast friends and family: They do something really weird here - they pick a weekend and don't charge you any sales tax on s certain group of items. I know, I never heard of such a thing either. (It's not like when you go to Portland, since Oregon has no sales tax.) Next weekend, if you buy clothing (not jewelry or accessories) that costs under $100 per item, you don't have to pay sales tax. And the merchant legally cannot charge you any tax.

Oklahoma Guys Are Pretty Cute

An Oklahoma art collector was just featured on Antiques Road Show. He collected Chinese Rhino Horn carvings. They didn't look like much to me, but he was told they were worth between 1 and 1.5 million dollars. (A record for the Roadshow.) And this cute old guy says that now he won't have to depend on just his Social Security.

Gulf of Mexico is Beautiful!

I have always been intriqued with the Gulf of Mexico. This week I actually got to put my toe in it. It takes so little to excite me. Remember my motto - Lower your standards, it makes life more fun!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I love my birthday! Can't think of anything else to say about it.

Longest Bridge in the US

It's probably hard to imagine that being driven across the longest bridge in the US would be a good, much less great birthday present for anyone, but that is exactly what I wanted and got yesterday. I have always loved driving across bridges. I should never be allowed to visit Vancouver, BC alone, since I will drive across the Lion's Gate Bridge, turn around, drive back across it, lather, rinse, and repeat until it's time to go home. But back to the Present - the longest bridge in the United States spans Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana and is 24 miles long, and my husband drove across it for me without even the slightest grump. And then we went to Long Beach, Louisiana and ate at DarWell's from the Diner's, Drive-Ins, and Dives TV show from the Food Network. Good Times!

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde Look-Alike For My Mother

Boisseranc family members are the only ones who will appreciate this picture of Christine Lagarde, who is the spitting image of my mother at 50. (And looks amazing like my brother Frank today.)

Visible Monday on Sunday

I found the cutest Chinese Laundry Shoes at the Goodwill in Claremore. Brand new and in my size for less than $4. They are Brown with Turquoise Cherries - fruit being one of my most favorite motifs in print clothing. So I put them on with a Chicos Jacket and Brown Broomstick Skirt and added one of the Calypso Bead Necklaces. Thanks, Patti! I love this idea of yours!

Rats!

It is officially too hot to snuggle!

Can Anyone In Tulsa Cut Curly Hair?

Every other woman in the Water Aerobics class has short hair. Makes sense in Tulsa for the Summer. I wish I felt like taking a chance on getting a good haircut, but I don't. A bad cut makes curly hair look like a tumble weed, and not in a good way! So I decided to try the new Goody brand hair implements, advertised as the answer to keeping your hair up without damaging it. At $6 each, they seemed costly for what they were. But they absolutely work with my hair. No pain or hair breakage.

When my husband looks for someone new to cut his hair, he concentrates on finding someone he likes and they would have to be really bad before he would change.

And for those of you interested in one of the main themes of my life in Tulsa and how totally it differs from the West Coast life I had before, you will be pleased to know that the 40th Annual National Taxidermists Convention, Competition, and Trade Show is this weekend in Sioux Falls, SD.

When Did My Blog Become Dominated By Peaches and Taxidermy?

After the Peach Cobbler story, Serena sent me her Grandmother's easy recipe - Melt one cube of butter in the pan, mix one cup each of sugar, flour, and milk and add to the pan, top with three cups fruit and cook at 350. Oh, wow!! It's easy enough that when you slip up and eat an obscene amount of the first batch, you can just whip up another. I know myself pretty well and chose to just make two at once - one with white flour and the other with whole wheat. Reasoning that the whole wheat would be healthier, it's the one I started eating. Elapsed time: 1 hour!

Water Aerobics and Farm Stands

In the past two days, I've found two of the things I knew would make Tulsa better for me - Water Aerobics Classes and a (Card Making) Stamp Club. And as if it couldn't get any better, when I was leaving my first Water Aerobic class at the Owasso YMCA, there were 3 really good Farm Stands in the parking lot. (As a side note, I hadn't considered looking for Water Aerobics at the YMCA, since I grew up being told that the pool at the YMCA didn't require bathing suits, which was why it was male only.) I got Okra, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Onions, Japanese and Greek Eggplant, and Green Bell Peppers. (I think I'll suff the peppers.) Did they have peaches? Well, yes they did. Were they expensive? Even bought in a parking lot, they were still $1 each, something about the excessive heat (106) being bad for the crop. Did I buy any? Might have. Were they worth $1 - no, these were $5 peaches - I (hypothetically) have never had a better peach(es). Will there be one for my husband when he comes home? Not really. It's the Peach Cobbler Fiasco, all over again. My sister Claire has requested that I put the Peach Cobbler story on my blog. I love my sisters and will do just about anything they ask, so - My girlfriend Judy is the best baker in the State of Washington. Her Peach Cobbler is one of her best recipes. But she goes the extra mile, and doesn't bother to make it unless the peaches are perfect, although, as good as her recipe is, canned peaches would make a heavenly dish. About 6 months after John and I were married, he had a poker night and I went and had dinner at Judy's. She lived about 20 minutes away and made a great dinner followed by her amazing Peach Cobbler. All good. Until, one week later, Judy sees John and asks him to his surprise, how he liked the Peach Cobbler she sent home for him. It seems that he didn't realize that the new 9 x 13 glass pan was not actually new, but had been licked clean by his wife on the 20 minute ride home. After she had devoured the entire contents. And I have never felt sorry, just caught.

Sound Familiar?

Tidbit: This is the anniversary of the marriage of Frank Sinatra (age 51) to Mia Farrow (age 21). And they said it would never last! (But at least he didn't sleep with her daughter.)

Coleman Inflatable Bed - Not Just For Camping

We have a huge spare room and even with my craft stuff, there is still room for a queen size bed. Perhaps to leave me enough room to eventually take up Taxidermy, my husband refuses to put a bed in it. Or so I thought. What is really happening is that my husband has become fixated on having an inflatable bed. He had his chance when my sister and her husband showed up this weekend. He ran out to Target and purchased the Double High Queen Size. And inflated it in the spare room. Where we slept on it, since he was just too excited about his new toy to share. It was really comfortable. Oh, and we went to Billy Ray's Barbeque on Old Route 66, since the theme of my sister's vacation was driving as much of the old mother road as possible.

Visible Monday - Flower Power!

Trying something new, and I don't just mean the clothes. Visible Monday is such a fun concept. I hope I have given you a link to the originator of the concept and all the other participants' pictures. This jacket and pants are Victor Costa and the main reason I joined in the first Visible Monday. I have never worn them because I feel too conspicous in the jacket. It is what I first envisioned as a very visible outfit and one I should have worn a long time ago...what was I waiting for?

Woolaroc

Today my husband and I took my sister Claire and her husband to Woolaroc - thought it was called Willow Rock. It was named by Frank Phillips after his three favorite things about the place - woods, lake, and rocks. And plenty of taxidermy! I didn't even know they stuffed giraffe heads (and necks). And, no, I don't have pictures of all the trophies, but they brought back memories of my mother's parent's home, with all the evidence of my grandfather's prowess as a hunter. I was eleven when the airplane landed on their house, followed by a very efficient fire, which meant I never had to be around dead animal heads again unless I chose to. And I still don't like them all that much, but have more tolerance for them in an art/ museum setting than in the living room. Lots of live guys roaming the grounds, actually very little movement as the heat coupled with those fur coats made standing still under the shade of the trees the buffalo's stance of choice.

Porter Peach Festival

Spent this afternoon in Porter at their annual Peach Festival. It was a most peculiar event. Not a lot of entertainment. Took a bit of deciding which booth to purchase the Peach Cobbler from - the purchases of Peach Cobbler being the entire reason for the sojourn to Porter in the first place. I asked one of the locals which one he endorsed. He took to waxing on the justness of certain religions and the booths manned by them and that one could chose the perfect Peach Cobbler for oneself as one chooses to worship. Specifically, the Kingdom Life group had a peculiar orange tint to the sauce that seemed not to come from the peaches themselves. Perhaps there was artifice involved. The Baptist group didn't bother with Peach Cobbler on the theory that one might be inclined to dance under the influence, so settled for Hamburgers and cold drinks at their booth. I tried to stay as true to my roots as possible, deciding that in the absence of a Catholic booth, Methodist would have to suffice. It was the right choice. We took our cobbler to a table already occupied by a man with less teeth than I have limbs and even he didn't reduce my enjoyment of the most excellent Peach Cobbler possible - except my friend Judy's.

Speed Bumps at the Tulsa Airport

There are plenty of speed bumps at the Tulsa Airport - only in Tulsa they are called "SPEED HUMP"s. How odd is that?

View From My Back Porch

I love the view from my back porch! Can you tell that my new place is yellow?

Bonne Fête Nationale

Happy Bastille Day, or as they say, Bonne Fête nationale. It is funny that when I did my blog reading for today, some of the American blogs wished me a Happy Bastille Day, but none of the French (mostly sewing) blogs did. I visited them all and even followed links to some I don't usually read - I'm not that interested in what little French kids are having sewn for them. Just saying!

New Shoes

Espadrilles seem to be the only fashion shoes I ever wear out. (Athletic shoes only last about 3 month, at best.) So I was excited to see that the Calypso St. Bart Espadrille at Target had gone to 75% off. But all the 9's were gone. And over 50% of the ones left were size 8 1/2. (I know, I thought that most odd, too.) Not usually my size, but at 75% off, I could at least try them on. And they fit! Perfectly! Pretty cute with my new Chanel Peridot toes.

Peridot Polish From Chanel

Went to Utica Square this afternoon and got the new Chanel Peridot Nail Polish. Shiny and fabulous. The sale associate asked if I agreed that it looked like a really fancy race car paint job. I answered that my first thought was that it looked like the sun shining off the sand on the beach. She said there didn't have the beach in Oklahoma, but they had lots of car races. What can I say, I'm not an Oklahoman - yet.

Took my husband to the airport this morning at 4:15. It was 87 degrees. At 4:15! That would be 4:15 am! I figured the novelty would keep me from obsessing about the weather for the first two years. Maybe I was wrong.

Visible Monday - The Yellow Edition

What a dilemma - Visible Monday is Yellow themed this week. I love yellow and have too much to choose from. I settled for putting on jeans and photographing just two of my yellow tops. The Striped Sweater is Isaac Mizrahi and the Eyelet Tunic is Talbot's - where the Espadrilles are from. With the stripes, I am wearing a simple gold locket that was an anniversary present from my Sweetie, and with the Eyelet, I am wearing a terrific necklace from Banana Republic and some child's bangles from Walmart (I think).

Will I Ever Understand Oklahoma?

I was jogging on a treadmill next to a woman who was born and raised in Oklahoma. Yep, been an Oklahoman for at least 50 years. (Looked like 70, but she had her pack of cigarettes by her machine, so she could light up the minute she got outside - which would have added the 20 years of age to her face.) Basically, I am having a little trouble relating, but she is friendly and chatty and I'm enjoying the exercise more with company. She finally comes up with what I mistake for common ground - she is sorry that she had to give up her craft room when she and her husband sold their house. Great, someone who likes craft stuff so much that she actually had a whole room to do them in. Sewing? Scrapbooking? Stamping? Jewelry making? No! Taxidermy and Gourds (I assume painting them). Taxidermy? Kind of fits in with all my husband's work friends trying to get him to go shooting with them.

Philbrook Museum and Fresh Okra

Found more fresh Okra at a new farm stand, Ram County Stand, and it looks really good. Young and tender. Can't wait to try it, but I'm making Mexican Chicken Soup tonight and Okra is not a recommended ingredient. Six types of peppers (red jalapenos, green jalapenos, poblanos, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, and orange bell peppers), (OK, that's seven types of peppers), onion, cumin, pepper, can of diced tomatoes, and baked chicken thrown into a pot of chicken stock. Then, right before serving, cut the kernels off two fresh ears of corn and throw them in. Pretty good.

Went to the Philbrook Museum today. Interesting place. The Buckeye Burl Bowl was so unusual that I tool a picture. There was a piece called the Titanic (I think), that was a wedge of glass with few additions. Next time I visit, I'm going to join. Money well spent.

Will Rogers Museum

There is a beautiful Museum in Claremore dedicated to Will Rogers. Very informative - did anyone know he played Polo in Southern California? And he asked to have put on his headstone - "I never met a man I didn't like." He sounded like a sweet man.

Food Pictures And What Makes A Salad?

Today I fried up the rest of the fresh Okra from yesterday's visit to Foster's Farm Stand. It was so fabulous that I didn't get a picture of it before I ate it all. I meant to photograph it, but since I didn't, I'll post this generic salad. This is not my favorite type of salad, having grown up with a French mother who could turn anything into a salad, I'm better pleased with a wedge of iceburg lettuce or hearts of Romaine. Most of these fancy greens are just lawn clippings to me.

Claremore, Oklahoma

I decided to take a right turn off our street and follow it until it ended. Eventually I came upon Claremore, a fairly decent sized town on old Route 66, with a nice scrapbook store and Goodwill, but no Chick-fil-A. The Goodwill was one of those where the Target stuff was just as expensive as buying it new (marked down) in Target, but Ferragamo shoes were $3. Coming back, I took a different route, Route 20, to be exact and drove past Foster's Farms stand. They had this big size promising fresh Okra - and I couldn't turn around fast enough. The Okra was very good, but the Potatoes were fabulous, also amazing - the Tomato, Corn, and Cucumber - all local and organic. Happy Days! (That's a picture of an Origami Camel folded out of a dollar bill as a tip by Zach. He can fold anything!)

My oldest brother Don says he has shrunk and is now only 6'3'' tall. When he was in high school, he had all the basketball coaches interested in him, but just didn't have the talent for it. He was the sit-up champion, though. He's a very nice man. That's him, sitting with my brother Tony and our mother. And standing with my husband John and his wife Marya.

Visible Monday

Got back to Tulsa last night and didn't have much inspiration, so I put on a totally Chico's outfit that I rarely wear. I had to have it because of the beaded belt. Growing up in Southern California, my friends would all get those beaded belts as souvenirs when they or their grandparents went to New Mexico or Arizona on vacation. This grown-up version is also in a beautiful color combination of lime, turquoise, and royal, with earrings that coordinate perfectly.