Time is running out on 2023. In a few days it will be time to ring in the new year!! I hope that everybody had a good 2023 and wish everybody a great 2024. I appreciate everybody's participation and support.
Skywatch Friday opens up a new chapter every Thursday at 12:30 PM Tulsa time (currently Central Standard Time in the USA) and runs until the following Thursday at 12 noon.
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 28 December 2023 Edition
Time is running out on 2023. In a few days it will be time to ring in the new year!! I hope that everybody had a good 2023 and wish everybody a great 2024. I appreciate everybody's participation and support.
Skywatch Friday opens up a new chapter every Thursday at 12:30 PM Tulsa time (currently Central Standard Time in the USA) and runs until the following Thursday at 12 noon.
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 2023 Winter Solstice Edition
Hey, it's winter solstice on Thursday!!The shortest day of the year, now the days will get longer until the summer solstice. From what I read lots of people celebrate the solstice. Christmas kind of drives our family celebration so we don't celebrate the solstice, but hey if you do, then you be you!! We love to see people celebrating and getting happy.
The photo is of some Christmas Lights at local church ten years ago. That is my wife and son and one of our dogs who has since passed away.
Welcome to Skywatch Friday. We open up every Thursday at 12:30PM Tulsa time and keep it open for 167 hours and 30 minutes until 12PM the follwing Thursday. So just jump in whenever you can.
Happy Solstice to those who celebrate! Merry Christmas to those who celebrate that. Happy Holidays to all!!
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 14 December 20223 Edition
The downtown Tulsa skyline back in 2013. Things haven't changed that much in that part of downtown. To me there is nothing like the winter noon sky during a freezing day.
Skywatch Friday opens up at 12:30 Tulsa (USA Central) time on Thursdays and stays open for a week, closing at 12 noon the following Thursday. All are welcome.
Thursday, December 7, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 7 December 2023 Edition
I'm loving the colder temperatures that we are getting. Out in the woods the bugs are gone, the snakes are slowing down, and the vegetation undergrowth has cleared out. That makes those of us who like to go hiking happy. We just have to bundle up is all. And of course if you are missing the warmer temperatures our southern hemisphere skywatchers are to the rescue with photos of warm, sunny beaches. It's all a win/win.
Thank you for your participation. Just include a backlink to this site and if you have time please visit fellow skywatchers. Skywatch Friday starts anew every Thursday at 12:30 PM Central Time and stays open until 12 PM the following Thursday.
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 30 November 2013 Edition
Here in the USA we got through Thanksgiving and then plunged into the shopping nightmare of Black Friday. I actually went on a hike on Black Friday and ignored Cyber Monday. We have to keep our wits about us during Christmas season. Step back, breathe in and breathe out, chill out. That's my advice. Spend lots of time in nature outside if you can. Yep its cold, wear a coat.
Last week I averted catastrophe with SWF. I had this nagging feeling Thursday morning so I fired up the page and sure enough, for some reason, I had the page coming on Friday night and the location was some place in Australia. So I was able to fix it. Whew!! To do SWF I have to set the date and time in two places and correct the location. Blogger insists that I live in south Australia. Maybe it is saying I should move there? I'd love to visit but I'm happy here in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Thanksgiving Skywatch 2023
Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. It's a holiday and so we gather as families and remember those who can't be with us, and those we went before us. We also give thanks for our many blessings. In my years of blogging I have noticed that a great many countries have similar holidays. It seems like a a universal impulese to be thankful for what we have and to remember and honor friends and family. I wish everybody a great day.
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 16 November 2023 Edition
The days are getting shorter and especially with daylight savings time going away, nighttime comes earlier and earlier. Back when I worked I could go into a conference room as the sun was going down, turn off the lights, and shoot away. After a time I figured out how to minimize the reflections off the window. I took this shot 14 years ago. We bloggers, we figure out the way to get our shots don't we?
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 9 November 2023
We are well into November here in northeast Oklahoma and are still running our air conditioning. We've had a few days of cold weather but right now it is shorts and tshirt weather. I love the long autumns were have here. I took this shot in Oklahoma City in November 2012.
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 2 November 2023 Edition
November is here! I love the colder weather. I really do. The snakes, chiggers, and ticks go away so I can do my geocaching thing and go hiking without having to worry about those things. Plus there are lots less people. Of course there are downside. The photograph is of Lake Bixhoma south of Tulsa aways. It is kind of isolated and one day ten years ago in November I was exploring it during a dark, cold, windy day and fell kind of hard on a rock. Good thing I didn't break anything. There were no bars on my cell phone. But hey, I picked myself up, brushed myself off and made it two miles back to my car. I am not sure I would do that now. One thing I have learned ovder the years is that yes, bad things can happen to me.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 26 October 2023 Edition
Hey believe it or not that was a time, long before I retired when I was up early enough to see the sunrise on a regular basis. Sunsets are nice but I loved sunrises where the skies turned purple. Back when I worked I would often get up at dark thirty and run five or so miles and then clean up and go to work. Just writing that makes me tired now. I used to run after work a bunch also. In the winter it would be dark. Never bothered me a bit. Oh well, them were the days. Now, I am safely at home when it gets dark. Don't judge me!!
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 19 October 2023 Edition
October continues to be a great weather month for northeast Oklahoma. Warm sunny days, cool nights, keep them coming. Pretty soon the vegetation will change. I hope everything is going well for everybody.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 12 October 2023 Edition
Getting deeper into Fall here in Oklahoma. The best season in eastern Oklahoma: mellow temperaturs, dry air, and great foliage changes.
This was my view from my office window when I still worked. I loved working there but I don't miss working. Is that a bad attitude?
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 5 October 2023 Edition
An unexpected sight at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City during a fall break family trip several years ago. Kansas City is a great place to visit and the museum is huge and awesome. The kid is out of school now and I'm retired so we don't have to wait around for fall breaks any longer.
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 28 September 2023 Edition
I used to mess around with a bunch of cheap film cameras. Many of them made it easy to double exposures and so I wasted a lot of money experimenting with that. My favorite technique was to hold my hand up to the sky to cover the sun and take a photo of the hand and then expose the frame again by taking a shot of nearby flowers. So here is an example of one of those efforts from years ago. I call these creations "floral skies." I can do similar things with the Hipstamatic App which I used to be crazy about but don't use very much any longer.
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 21 September 2023 Edition
One of my favorite views of downtown Tulsa. I took the photo ten years ago but nothing in this view has changed. Except the sky of course, it is always changing.
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 14 September 2023 Edition
Evening Sky over the Arkansas River in Tulsa in 2013. It has changed much since then.
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 7 September 2023 Edition
September is State Fair month in Tulsa. I always go to check out the animals, the 4H booths from towns all over the state, and just generally abosrb the vibe. I don't ride the rides. For food I always get a corn dog and end my stay with a beer at the beer tent since we can now get decent brews in Oklahoma.
How about you? Do you like such fairs?
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 31 August 2023 Edition
Another week another Skywatch Friday. This is a view from my front yard from several years ago. I've captured lots of good photos from my front yard and posted many of them to instagram. I get lots of compliments but also lots of comments about when my neighbor is going to get his car fixed. Hey, I like my neighbor! I don't know when he is going to get his car fixed so lay off cuz I am not about to ask him. Nor do I care!
Here is to all the good neighbors of the world. I have some really good ones now. They don't complain about me flying my drone in the late afternoon and they don't come over and complain about our dog's barking. We visit and have each other for drinks. Life is good!! Be nice to your neighbors. If you know who they are.
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 24 August 2023 Edition
August is a popular month for road trips and vacations here in the USA. It's also a great time to see some road trip skies. I hope everybody is resting up this summer. Our hearts go out to the people of Maui.
Thursday, August 17, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 17 August 2023 Edition
Mount Moran in the Grand Teton National Park from 2018 when my sister, Ellen, took a few days off from her Seasonal Ranger job at Yellowstone to show me around a little bit.
Thursday, August 10, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 10 August 2023
A small town in Wyoming back in 2017. Big Trucks and Big Skies. I love the American West!!
Thursday, August 3, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 3 August 2023 Edition
Sunrise over Flandreau, South Dakota. Sometimes I see a decent photo in my rear view mirror. I was leaving Flandreau early in the morning headed back to Oklahoma years ago and I stopped the car on the side of the road and took this photo. Not an award winner for sure but I liked it.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 27 July 2023
Whoa it is getting hot here in Oklahoma. The local paper is showing that Tulsa is going to have seven straight days of 100F highs. Thank goodness for air conditioning is what I say plus I'm loving the cool, frosty, posts from our members south of the equator. Cools me down every time.
Above is a sunset photo of one of our past beach vacations. We'll be heading to the Gulf Coast in a little over a month. We love it there.
Everybody be weather aware out there. I'm fully acclimated, I go hiking and bicycling in the heat of the day now. I just do it. I wear lightweight technical clothes, a hat, and take lots and lots of water. Sitting.
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 20 July 2023
Here I was, in a pickup truck years ago on some dirt road in western Oklahoma shooting a sky through a bug spattered windshield. I don't think I was driving so I did what I had to do to get the shot. Does Photoshop have a bug spatter filter? They got everything else I think. With this AI thing going on maybe in a year or two we can just think a photo into existence. A few years after the computers won't need us. Okay, I'll rein this in. Thank you for participating, pardon the bugs.
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 13 July 2023 Edition
Above is the Snake River as it flows through Idaho Falls, Idaho. The city has done a great job of landscaping and putting in miles of trails on both sides of the river. In the summertime visitors from all over the world walk the trails snapping photos and taking in the sights. They stay in the city for a night on their way to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. When my parents were still alive and lived in the area I really enjoyed visiting them in the summer. Now winters, you better bring a warm coat.
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Skywatch Friday 6 July 2023 Edition
Tulsa's RiverWest Festival Park on a little inlet off the Arkansas River in 2013. Note that the floating stage is long gone. Numerous community festivals and events take place at the park. People in Tulsa love the Arkansas River and have invested heavily over the years to add facilities and make improvements.
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 29 June 2023 Edition
A vacation pic from several years ago. We love renting a condo for vacations on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe we do it too much. We think we would like to go somewhere else but the Gulf is where we feel the most comfortable and so we keep on going back.
How about you? If you take vacations do go different places or do you like to go back to the tried and true?
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 22 June 2023 Edition
From our Hawaiian Cruise from several years ago. At port in Honolulu. I forget whether we were leaving or coming in but I liked the photo.
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 15 June 2023 Edition
From our family Hawaiian Cruise eight years ago. Kalapaki Beach in Kauai. Hawaii is a land of great beauty and many surprises. I'm looking forward to going back. Not on a cruise though.
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 8 June 2023 Edition
A sunset photo while walking in our neighborhood greenbelt in June 2014. I love summertime even though it is hot and humid where I live. I've kind of gotten used to it over the years. I spend a lot of time outside so I am conditioned to it as well.
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 1 June 2023 Edition
Sunset at Island Park, Idaho, June 2013.
Welcome to Skywatch Friday. Us in the northern hemisphere are plunging into summer. In the southern hemisphere everybody seems to be getting out their winter clothes. You folks in the tropics, we envy you.
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 25 May 2023 Edition
Memories of May 2019 when torrential rainfalls lead to record floods in northeast Oklahoma. Keystone Dam was at maximum flow in this photo.
Thursday, May 18, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 18 May 2023 Edition
Heller Park in Tulsa, May 2013.
Apologies for not getting the link up on a timely basis.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 11 May 2023
A view from 50 meters above my backyard on Tuesday evening looking to the southwest. Storms were rolling through the Tulsa area but missed us except we got good skies. I love blue skies as much as anybody but I also like a little texture and color every now and then.
I hope everybody is doing well. I appreciate everybody who checks into Skywatch Friday and especially those who link their posts here.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 4 May 2023 Edition
Welcome to a new month and week of Skywatch Friday. Here in Oklahoma new life is springing up everywhere. The leaves on the trees seem to be a neon shade of green. The snakes are out, the butterflies are here, the birds are building nests. It is a great time to be outside! Thank you for participating!!
Thursday, April 27, 2023
Skywatch Friday 27 August 2023 Edition
Welcome to Skywatch Friday. I appreciate you being here and participating.
Here in Oklahoma we had a brief interlude of Spring and now we are going back to winter. Freeze warnings and snow in some parts of Oklahoma. I'm having to dig out my winter clothes again. But hey, we have some rain and things are good. Could be worse. My sister is going back to Yellowstone very soon as a seasonal ranger again and the place she supposed to park her trailer has snow piled up the roof!!
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 20 April 2023
Here in Oklahoma we are getting all the seasons every day right now. Cold, Hot, Cloudy, Clear, Wind, Still, Rain, who knows what to expect on an hour to hour basis. Keeps life interesting!! I hope everybody is going well. Thanks for joining in.
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Thursday, April 6, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 6 April 2023 Edition
Spring is here (in the nothern hemisphere). Nothing like the redbud trees to signal the season. In fact they are the state tree of Oklahoma.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 30 March 2023 Edition
March is coming to an end soon. It's been cold and windy here in Oklahoma. Rainy as well which has been a blessing because it was very dry.
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Skywatch Friday - Spring is Here 2023 Edition
Spring is now officially here in the northern hemisphere. Here in Oklahoma it's kind of hard to tell but the tulips are just beginning to do their thing. The redbud trees are just now starting to bloom and the temperatures have started to get to shorts weather. Full blown Spring will be here before you know it!
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 16 March 2023 Edition
March is a heart breaker here in Oklahoma. In like a lion, out like a lamb is going on. It is going to get bitterly cold the next couple days so the weather people are saying cover everything up you don't want to lose.
Thursday, March 9, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 9 March 2023
A superduper, loop the loop, ride at Branson, Missouri's Silver Dollar City several years ago when we visited on Spring Break. Son and Wife went on the ride. I held their drinks. I don't do rides.
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Skywatch Friday - Looking for Good Weather Edition
March is here!! WooHoo!! Warm weather, except here in Oklahoma the saying is that March is in like a lion and out like a lamb.
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 23 February 2023 Edition
Sometimes in February in Oklahoma, the weather gets very warm and sunny for a couple days. This shot is from a few years ago at a equine therapy facility in the rolling prairie north of Tulsa. That's my son on the horse with his therapist walking alongside.
Thursday, February 16, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 16 February 2023 Edition
A scene from February 2016 in downtown Tulsa at quitting time. The sun was just starting to set and I was going home. Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time for the photo.
Thursday, February 9, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 9 February 2023 Edition
A colorful sunset from back in February 2015 captured from my front yard. Sometimes you don't need to travel far for a great sky.
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Skywatch Friday - Groundhog Day 2023 Edition
Meet Punxsutawney Phyllis doing her thing in 2013 our cranky 20 pound Maine Coon who we recruited every year to go outside so we could see if she saw her shadow. She never did warm up to the job and she is long gone now but we (by that I mean everybody but her) had a lot of fun. It was always a good idea to wear a heavy duty canvas coat and leather gloves when taking her out to see if we could see her shadow.
The days are getting longer but I'll tell you that February and March will break your heart in Oklahoma. It will be cold and windy. That's okay by me. I love hiking and not worrying about the snakes and insects is great. Plus there are a lot less people out and about.
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Skywatch Friday - 26 January 2023
Welcome to another edition of Skywatch Friday. I appreciate everyone's participation. The above photo is from 2014, when I still worked. I had a cubicle facing a western window in a high rise with a direct view of the Arkansas River. I took photos almost every day in the winter of the sun setting. I hope everybody is doing well!!