#5 Boston - Seersucker is Back! July 8, 2006
Let me tell you my friends - in certain regions of the country bold-colored seersucker is making a dramatic comeback - and I am not talking the somewhat classy seersucker suits Harry Truman made popular in his day. Certain individuals at Tulsa International Airport seemed very fond of this fabric, and there was no holding back when it came to their daring choice of patterns. It's bad enough that the stuff always looks as if you slept in it and have just rolled out of bed (I have since learned that the puckered surface of the fabric is a result of weaving fibers together that shrink differently). According to the website www.worldwidewords.org "a seersucker suit evokes a world-weary foreign correspondent in some tropical clime, suffering from heat and excess alcohol. Originally, in the eighteenth century, seersucker was striped Indian cotton.... the original name, the Persian shir o shakar, literally “milk and sugar”, in reference to what we would now call its candy stripes." Alas, the airport in Tulsa did not conjure up any images of tropical magic and I missed out on any inebriated foreign correspondents - my vote for the best outfit of the day though went to the guy with a ratty old green t-shirt saying "An awkward morning beats a boring night" - Amen to that!
Tales from the Sooner State - what can I tell you? It was hot and it was dry. The air conditioner replaced the dehumidifier, and as always the pace of life slowed down enough to give my restless self a bit of a breather.
The Washington Irving Trail Museum (http://www.cowboy.net/non-profit/irving/), located just a few miles outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma, celebrates American author, poet, writer Washington Irving, best known for his stories " Sleepy Hollow" (the legend of the headless horseman) and "Rip van Winkle". Named after George Washington, this famous novelist zipped all over the place and wrote books about his exploits, and the reason for this little shack of a museum is that in 1835 he documented a journey from Fort Gibson to the Cross Timbers in what is now Oklahoma with his book "A tour of the prairies". The museum itself is definitely a find, a true gem - curiosity shop meets museum - we felt as we had discovered the attic of an old house filled with treasures to explore. The collection is impressive - despite its unassuming exterior the place is an abundance of riches. Not all of them relate to Oklahoma's or Native American History, but you can find anything from the Campo del Cielo Meteorite (a 4.5 billion years old, 37-pound rock found in 1576 in South America), to the Salem Witch Trial Death Warrant for Rebecca Nurse who was hanged in 1692, election posters for Abe Lincoln and Andrew Jackson, a Jesse Jackson "Wanted-Dead-or-Alive" Poster, a full-blown exhibit on barbed wire and how it shaped the development of the American West, a European style viewing coffin (the pioneers feared disease, that way you could take a last look at the diseased without catching anything), a mummified cat - you name it. Oklahoma history was depicted in descriptions of David Payne and the Boomer movement, which drove the settlement of unassigned lands in the Sooner State; legendary cowboy Billy McGinty, who rode with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the Spanish American war; Otto Gray and the Oklahoma Cowboy Band; the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893; stories of outlaws, in particular the famous gunfight in 1893 at Ingalls where the Daltons and the Doolins gave each other a serious beating. And of course the legend of Cimarron Rose, a rather unassuming woman who had a weak spot for an outlaw named Bitter Creek and in an unconventional romantic gesture gave him a rifle with an inlay saying "The Rose of the Cimarron". Apparently the woman was the wife of an Oklahoma politician, a respected Christian woman, good mother and wife, yadayadayada.... well, apparently life at home was not exciting enough for the little missus, eh?
And artifacts, artifacts, artifacts - iron knuckles used in the Tulsa Race Riots; newsletters written in Cherokee Alphabet; hackamore bits for breaking horses; Geronimo's stick ball racket; Kon-soo-koh, an Indian dice game; fire starting sticks, a brass-tack decorated Sioux rifle, Indian bows and arrows, scalp lockes...... What a great glimpse of the Wild West!
Moving on to Modern Architecture - another one of our excursions led us to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to visit Price Tower, the only skyscraper ever built by Frank Lloyd Wright (http://www.pricetower.org/about-ptac/). It is quite an impressive building, and so not what you expect in Northern Oklahoma. It houses an art center, a gallery, businesses, a small hotel and the tour still features some of the original apartments built on the top floors. The building itself is modeled after the structure of a tree (Wright called it "the tree that escaped the crowded forest") and narrows quite substantially on top; all structural elements adhere to the Lloyd Wright preference for triangular shapes and the detail work is quite stunning. The building concept was originally designed for an apartment tower for the vestry of St Mark's in the Bowery in New York, but never materialized, so Oklahoma it was! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_Tower).
The gallery in the Price Tower featured an exhibit by renowned Egyptian industrial designer Karim Rashid - http://www.karimrashid.com/ . Funky, colorful, fun - Rashid designs anything from furniture, water kettles, mouse pads to restaurants. His most famous design is the stackable "Umbra Oh Chair" which made Time Magazine call him "The poet of plastic" in 2001. Pretty cool stuff!
Of course no trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma is complete without a trip to Wall's Bargain Center, the best shopping experience anywhere in the US and the one that made Ulli's daughters dub us "the crazy shopping ladies". This time pretty much a whole day was allocated to this adrenaline-powered outing (with a lunch break) and needless to say I came back with an entire new wardrobe. For the blog newbies among you, Wall's is located on the outskirts of Stillwater in a shopping mall that does not inspire confidence at first sight. Wall's is kind of like a Marshall's or TJ Max on steroids, and you have to investigate your way through huge piles of clothes, house wares, shoes, CDs - but it does have the best deals ever - whole lots of designer ware is shipped here courtesy of Macy's, Bergdorf's., Neiman Marcus. Everything was 75 percent off, and at the register they knock off an additional 20%. Once you have bought Tommy Hilfiger tops for 8$, Franco Sarto shoes for $16 and a Ralph Lauren bathing suit for a few bucks, there is no going back! You will never shop anywhere else!
The 4th of July holiday was rained out, big thunderstorms roamed the skies of Oklahoma - BBQ was moved indoors, the dreaded World Cup game between Germany and Italy was watched on HDTV, and we toasted the Boston fireworks on TV with a nice bottle of champagne. Life was good!
Boston welcomed me back into its damp arms with more rain, but the last couple of days the sun has come out to cheer us up a little and I am hoping the weather will hold for tomorrow's Iron Girl 10 K Road Race. Marathon Training is continuing nicely, it took place indoors mostly in Oklahoma (except for a 3-mile run in 90-degree heat around Boomer Lake, where I promptly took a spill and kissed the concrete) and now with the help of some new running shoes, I am ready for new challenges. The mileage per week is increasing, and tomorrow after the road race, I will have to add another 10 K to stick to my schedule.
Friends, be well, stay dry - write soon, I'd love to hear your tales of summer!
pet:)
Tales from the Sooner State - what can I tell you? It was hot and it was dry. The air conditioner replaced the dehumidifier, and as always the pace of life slowed down enough to give my restless self a bit of a breather.
The Washington Irving Trail Museum (http://www.cowboy.net/non-profit/irving/), located just a few miles outside of Stillwater, Oklahoma, celebrates American author, poet, writer Washington Irving, best known for his stories " Sleepy Hollow" (the legend of the headless horseman) and "Rip van Winkle". Named after George Washington, this famous novelist zipped all over the place and wrote books about his exploits, and the reason for this little shack of a museum is that in 1835 he documented a journey from Fort Gibson to the Cross Timbers in what is now Oklahoma with his book "A tour of the prairies". The museum itself is definitely a find, a true gem - curiosity shop meets museum - we felt as we had discovered the attic of an old house filled with treasures to explore. The collection is impressive - despite its unassuming exterior the place is an abundance of riches. Not all of them relate to Oklahoma's or Native American History, but you can find anything from the Campo del Cielo Meteorite (a 4.5 billion years old, 37-pound rock found in 1576 in South America), to the Salem Witch Trial Death Warrant for Rebecca Nurse who was hanged in 1692, election posters for Abe Lincoln and Andrew Jackson, a Jesse Jackson "Wanted-Dead-or-Alive" Poster, a full-blown exhibit on barbed wire and how it shaped the development of the American West, a European style viewing coffin (the pioneers feared disease, that way you could take a last look at the diseased without catching anything), a mummified cat - you name it. Oklahoma history was depicted in descriptions of David Payne and the Boomer movement, which drove the settlement of unassigned lands in the Sooner State; legendary cowboy Billy McGinty, who rode with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the Spanish American war; Otto Gray and the Oklahoma Cowboy Band; the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893; stories of outlaws, in particular the famous gunfight in 1893 at Ingalls where the Daltons and the Doolins gave each other a serious beating. And of course the legend of Cimarron Rose, a rather unassuming woman who had a weak spot for an outlaw named Bitter Creek and in an unconventional romantic gesture gave him a rifle with an inlay saying "The Rose of the Cimarron". Apparently the woman was the wife of an Oklahoma politician, a respected Christian woman, good mother and wife, yadayadayada.... well, apparently life at home was not exciting enough for the little missus, eh?
And artifacts, artifacts, artifacts - iron knuckles used in the Tulsa Race Riots; newsletters written in Cherokee Alphabet; hackamore bits for breaking horses; Geronimo's stick ball racket; Kon-soo-koh, an Indian dice game; fire starting sticks, a brass-tack decorated Sioux rifle, Indian bows and arrows, scalp lockes...... What a great glimpse of the Wild West!
Moving on to Modern Architecture - another one of our excursions led us to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to visit Price Tower, the only skyscraper ever built by Frank Lloyd Wright (http://www.pricetower.org/about-ptac/). It is quite an impressive building, and so not what you expect in Northern Oklahoma. It houses an art center, a gallery, businesses, a small hotel and the tour still features some of the original apartments built on the top floors. The building itself is modeled after the structure of a tree (Wright called it "the tree that escaped the crowded forest") and narrows quite substantially on top; all structural elements adhere to the Lloyd Wright preference for triangular shapes and the detail work is quite stunning. The building concept was originally designed for an apartment tower for the vestry of St Mark's in the Bowery in New York, but never materialized, so Oklahoma it was! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_Tower).
The gallery in the Price Tower featured an exhibit by renowned Egyptian industrial designer Karim Rashid - http://www.karimrashid.com/ . Funky, colorful, fun - Rashid designs anything from furniture, water kettles, mouse pads to restaurants. His most famous design is the stackable "Umbra Oh Chair" which made Time Magazine call him "The poet of plastic" in 2001. Pretty cool stuff!
Of course no trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma is complete without a trip to Wall's Bargain Center, the best shopping experience anywhere in the US and the one that made Ulli's daughters dub us "the crazy shopping ladies". This time pretty much a whole day was allocated to this adrenaline-powered outing (with a lunch break) and needless to say I came back with an entire new wardrobe. For the blog newbies among you, Wall's is located on the outskirts of Stillwater in a shopping mall that does not inspire confidence at first sight. Wall's is kind of like a Marshall's or TJ Max on steroids, and you have to investigate your way through huge piles of clothes, house wares, shoes, CDs - but it does have the best deals ever - whole lots of designer ware is shipped here courtesy of Macy's, Bergdorf's., Neiman Marcus. Everything was 75 percent off, and at the register they knock off an additional 20%. Once you have bought Tommy Hilfiger tops for 8$, Franco Sarto shoes for $16 and a Ralph Lauren bathing suit for a few bucks, there is no going back! You will never shop anywhere else!
The 4th of July holiday was rained out, big thunderstorms roamed the skies of Oklahoma - BBQ was moved indoors, the dreaded World Cup game between Germany and Italy was watched on HDTV, and we toasted the Boston fireworks on TV with a nice bottle of champagne. Life was good!
Boston welcomed me back into its damp arms with more rain, but the last couple of days the sun has come out to cheer us up a little and I am hoping the weather will hold for tomorrow's Iron Girl 10 K Road Race. Marathon Training is continuing nicely, it took place indoors mostly in Oklahoma (except for a 3-mile run in 90-degree heat around Boomer Lake, where I promptly took a spill and kissed the concrete) and now with the help of some new running shoes, I am ready for new challenges. The mileage per week is increasing, and tomorrow after the road race, I will have to add another 10 K to stick to my schedule.
Friends, be well, stay dry - write soon, I'd love to hear your tales of summer!
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
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