Saturday, June 18, 2016

The original plan for today was for the entire family to take us to a wildlife preserve near here called "Wool-a-roc".  I think I may have spelled that wrong.  Anyway, they have a lot of buffalo there.  Because it's in the upper 90's here, we decide to go to the Woody Guthrie museum in Tulsa instead.  Some opted out, needing to barbecue for tonight's dinner and working, so 7 of us went.  It was well worth it.  Woody Guthrie was born on Okemah, Oklahoma, not far from Tulsa.

The original piece of paper with "This Land is Your Land" song lyrics is on display along with his guitars and banjos.  They have a short movie about his life and influence on American music.  He was quite the artist, too.  There are numerous paintings and drawings that he did as well as all the songs he wrote.  He was in the Army during WWII so that played a part in his writings.  He also wrote short stories and novels.  I thought the displays were very well done.  One section has a film and displays about the Dust Bowl and how devastating it was.

They also have a room that has traveling displays and The Supremes are honored in that space.  It just opened on Thursday and lasts until October, I think.  There are costumes on display from their performances, and screens showing them on Ed Sullivan, etc.  Quite a contrast from Woody Guthrie, but fun to look at.

The center of the universe, as it's known here in Tulsa, was about a block and a half up the street so of course we had to see that.  It's a circle that looks like it's made of concrete that is set in the middle of the walkway on a pedestrian bridge.  When you stand on the circle and talk or make other sounds you hear the words or sounds as an echo but everyone else hears it as regular speech.  It's weird but fun.  We all tried it.

Then we walked to a chocolate shop about a block away.  An astounding display of candy made with every flavor imaginable.  For example, watermelon and feta cheese.  How did they ever come up with that combo?  The guy running the cash register told me that a guy came in last Valentines Day and bought one of everything in the store.  I can't even imagine what that must have cost.

This evening, there was another movie on the agenda but a storm blew through and dropped a lot of water in a short amount of time so that was cancelled.  Good thing they got all the equipment and screen put away before it hit.  Stella's nephew, Lee, had spent most of the day barbecuing, bringing ribs, brisket, ham and turkey.  More food than we could eat in a week.  It was all excellent.