Every Point on the Map, Woman2Woman

EPOTM: Beggs, OK

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_DSC0268Their red stone cottage was nestled within the Beggs town proper, not too far from a water tower that, from our angle, read: EGGS.  I noticed ivy gracing the home’s outside walls as I stood on the porch and knocked, only waiting a moment before Jill answered the door.

It was Mother’s Day, a mid-Sunday morning, and as I spoke with her about our project asking for a conversation and a photo I was struck by the inner calm her voice offered in response. The sunlight lit her face and enhanced her high cheekbones, freckles and short red, curly hair.  Many are thrown off by our requests, but not Jill.

“Well, we’re headed to my mother’s house, but I have maybe five minutes?”  I knew we couldn’t set up and close back down again in five minutes, much less speak meaningfully with someone in that time frame.  So, I politely declined.

Back at the car, I relayed the details to Rachel and she said, “Why don’t we just pose the opportunity to give us her ‘best five minutes’?  This is going to happen more than once, so we could try it.”  I agreed and ran back to knock a second time.

Call it what you will – Providence, serendipity, or chance…but Jill had a story to tell on Mother’s Day.  And, she did it in only eight minutes, on her porch, with her husband Davíd at her side, and her eleven-week old son Noah on her lap.

And, we cried.

Thank you, sweet family in Beggs, for your Mother’s Day post script contribution to Every Point on the Map.

For more Every Point on the Map posts, click here.

Homestead and Garden

Mother’s Day Strawberries

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photo-5As my blade makes its way through a cool, ripe Stilwell strawberry, I breathe in the heady sweetness wafting upwards and across my face.

It’s Mother’s Day, and I’ve just returned from a two-day road trip to places I’ve not been, visiting with people I’ve only just met, with one daughter at my side.

A gathering of family on Mother’s Day brought my other daughter to my side accompanied by her man. Along with them came my husband, and we all celebrated his mother by eating food she had prepared for us on the day she should have rested, and received.

The berries for our dessert had been left behind, so we joyfully ate cake with whipped topping and drank our tea.

Tonight in my own kitchen, as I finish cleaning the berries previously selected for today’s dessert, I close my eyes and remember the slice of homemade pound cake with orange glaze.  I pretend to spoon my just-prepared berries over the cake, lift a full bite to my mouth, and enjoy the sweet goodness of Mother’s Day.

Thank you, God, for my own mother who helped me learn to prepare food, for my mother-in-law who prepared our food today, for my two daughters who are standing on their own as they continue to prepare food leaps and bounds over my historical 20-something capacity.  Thank you, God, for the sweet goodness of Mother’s Day.

So incredibly sweet and good.

 

27 Hats

Thunderstruck

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20140112_134312I have a confession to make: I might be a closet AC/DC fan. If you ever pull up to an Edmond intersection next to a nondescript Jeep and believe you feel an earthquake coming, it might just be yours truly damaging his eardrums in the car next to you.

On a more obvious note, I am not a closet NBA fan. I have nothing to hide. Once upon a time, I would tell friends that I had no interest in pro basketball, only the NFL. My, how times have changed. A little franchise known as the Hornets came to OKC a few years ago and rocked us like a hurricane, courtesy of a cranky persona called Katrina. The rest is history.

I enjoyed the Hornets. I even grew to like George Shinn. It seemed that he was embracing our fair city, and working to call it home.

None of that compared to what I saw last night. Continue reading Thunderstruck →

Every Point on the Map, Music Scene

EPOTM: Dibble, OK

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_DSC0038A grade school friend of mine who lived across our pasture used to tease our classmates then use “Dibble, OK” as the punch line.

“If you DO graduate high school, I’m sure you’ll have nice career at the Sonic in Dibble.”

“You’re getting on my nerves.  I think it’s time for you to move to Dibble.”

And so on.

I have no doubt that a similar personality type made the same jokes about “Tuttle, OK” while growing up in Dibble.  Dry wit, after all, is an Oklahoma pastime.

So until a few weeks ago, Dibble was a mysterious and greater-than-fiction community imprinted into my fifth grade brain as a place where punchlines finished and I would never go.

That changed when Rachel chose Dibble as the headliner for our second pilot run. And my impression of those who occupy the town has now evolved from fiction to fact by two sisters we met, sitting on their porch on a breezy Saturday morning.  They were both sporting flannel pajamas, drinking coffee, and taking in the cool morning temperatures. Wind chimes danced above their heads and serenaded their thoughts until we interrupted the scene.

Just a few minute prior, we had chosen this vintage abode as our target interview:

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The mid-century, flat-roofed home invited Dibble visitors to knock on the door, and to check out the burnt orange loungers while waiting for someone to open it up.  But no one answered; not after the first knock nor the second.

Continue reading EPOTM: Dibble, OK →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon—Hire Our Vets

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We have a lot of military personnel and vets living in our state. They have given life and limb to serve our country and protect us. I’m very impressed with those who have given up everything to serve. It takes a special person to leave their family and go to sometimes inhospitable places to help keep the peace.

Many people complain about where they are stationed and that we shouldn’t be in certain places. What I can tell you from talking to friends who are vets, they’re exact words are, “we needed to be there.” Here at home we tend to “arm chair quarterback” events in the world and make criticisms about things we really have no idea when in reality, we need to be supportive of the men and women who sacrifice so we can have the freedoms we have.

So how do we show support? Well here in Oklahoma we are making sure that returning vets and even vets who may have served many years ago have an opportunity to find a job. Only fitting since many of them had to give up jobs to go overseas for a few years. In this week’s video blog, we show you just how Oklahoma is helping our hero’s once they return.
Alisa Hines

27 Hats

Narrow your gauge

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38682_418084045702_3770755_nDon’t you just love the English language? I’ve no doubt blown more than one of its standard conventions just inside these first two sentences. A good friend yesterday was telling me of his grandson, who had just moved back to Oklahoma after spending his early life in the European nation of Austria. “Grandpa”, he said, “I’m fluent in three languages: German, English, and Okie”. He then proceeded to diagram the ways a good Austrian would say “I do not have anything to eat” in the two proper languages, and in his newfound home’s unique vernacular.

I love modern English for its variety of meanings to a word, each meaning the product of another language, culture, or unique set of experiences. “Gauge” is just one such word. If you look up its definition, you will see at least three:

A standard or scale of measurement.
A standard dimension, quantity, or capacity.
An instrument for measuring or testing.
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The Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad is a case in point, and it produced the inspiration and the headgear that is hat number 8 of 27, save one. This 45 mile track from the town of Durango, Colorado to the higher elevation point of Silverton was originally built in 1881, and it continues to run and serve over 130 years later. Its founders believed the choice of 3 foot narrow gauge rails would be well suited to the mountain route, and that the less expensive cost of narrow gauge construction could enhance the viability of the new railroad. I would say 130 years has proven it to be viable. To this day, it delivers people and goods up the narrow and sometimes treacherous path, the locomotive straining and steaming to accomplish its objective. The vistas encountered along the way are breathtaking.

The young couple pictured at the start of this entry first rode said railway on their honeymoon 25 years ago this summer. It was a bookend, or should I say “book beginning”, experience that has helped shape the conversation that is their life together. Just a few years ago, they took their progeny back to Durango so that the “young ‘ens”, as a good Okie would say, got to experience the beauty and majesty of the railway firsthand.
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Tomorrow, the eldest of said progeny will be “gettin’ hitched”, in further good Okie phraseology. Her parents pray that she and her young suitor will choose to use a narrow gauge as they start up the path of life together. The narrower gauge can sometimes come at a lower cost and enhance the viability of a new enterprise. It has proven itself to be worthy of the hard work life can bring, and it can deliver on the narrow and sometimes treacherous path. In choosing to steam through said paths together, the vistas encountered along the way will be breathtaking.

Don’t you just love the English language? I do, and so many of those who choose to speak it.

27 Hats

Bury the hatchet

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A long time ago, Cain killed Abel. It is historical fact. It is the stuff of legend. If you are not familiar with the story, look it up for yourself. By the way, Cain and Abel were brothers: the first brothers. Accordingly, brothers and sisters have been fighting ever since.

They say that time heals all wounds. I believe that is true. For some, wounds may be healed because we tend them well, but a scar can still remain. For others, the wound festers, and time’s healing comes from time being no more for the one wounded. Regardless, the wound passes, as do we.

Hat number 7 of 27, save one, is really not a hat, but more a form of headgear. This reminder of mankind being unkind to one another is called a hachimaki. It is similar to scarves worn by Japanese pilots seen when my daughter and I were recently watching a movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor. This hachimaki was a gift from a friend, a friend descended from former foes, and it is a beautiful thing. Continue reading Bury the hatchet →

Oklahoma culture

Fruit and Nut Trees Native to Oklahoma

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The reasons people choose to use our RDC Contact Form are vast.  Recipes…questions about relationships…companies asking us to review a product, etc.  Yesterday, however, we fielded a question about native Oklahoma fruit trees that led me to a phone conversation with my father.  I thought it might be helpful to pass the information along to others looking for the same information.

If you want to grow trees that have a good chance of survival and are native to our great state, here is a fairly comprehensive list created from using the “Forest Trees of Oklahoma” book by Dr. Elbert L. Little Jr.

List of Fruit and Nut Trees Native to Oklahoma

  • Persimmon   60 ft.
  • Paw Paw   10 – 30 ft.
  • Red Mulberry   50 ft.
  • Prairie Crab Apple   20 ft.
  • Plums (American, Hortulan, Mexican, wildgoose) all 20 ft.
  • Black Cherry   50 – 70 ft.
  • Choke Cherry   15 ft.
  • Pecan   70 ft.
  • Hickory (several varieties)   60 ft.
  • Black Walnut   50 ft.

You can also eat the berries from a Hackberry tree, but I’m not sure they are native to Oklahoma.  They definitely grow here!

There are several fruit trees that have been introduced into our forests and Oklahoma landscape, but are not native to Oklahoma.  An example of this would be a small, wild pear tree my Uncle found on his land in Clayton.  It appeared as a small, slightly roundish fruit with the texture close to an Asian pear.  It’s pretty cool to happen upon something like this, but isn’t “purist” if you want your trees to fit naturally with the original climate and environment.

There are quite a few grapes and a currant bush native to Oklahoma as well as several berries.  I don’t have an exhaustive list, but I can point you to a wildcrafting website that is educational.  The information on THIS PAGE isn’t delineated between native, and what simply grows naturally in our state because it was introduced.  You can, however, learn quite a bit by just scrolling through the info and photos.

Please make sure that you are well informed if you decide to go wildcrafting for fruit in Oklahoma.  There are many “look-alikes” across our landscapes and I want you to stay healthy!

Happy planting…and eating!

[kelly]

persimmon photo above by Rylee Roberts

Every Point on the Map

EPOTM: Preview of Dibble, Criner and Payne, OK

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As Rachel and I sat on a porch in Dibble, on another porch in Criner, and in the living room of a couple who had been married 65 years in Payne, we weren’t aware of something that had been happening.  Our brains had been filling up with stories of the Oklahomans with whom we were interacting.  They were filling up with the histories, and mysteries, of those we had just begun to know.

Throughout the night and into the next afternoon we continued to process all the information we had gathered on our Saturday trip to south-central Oklahoma.  Here is a sneak peak of that day, and a tiny glimpse of those conversations we’ll be sharing over the next couple of weeks.

Our hope is that we provide YOU with food for thought as well.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Every Point on the Map

EPOTM: Next Steps for the Team

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Okay, so we completed our pilot run.  I mentioned we had a few hiccups.

That was probably an understatement.

Going into a project as a novice, I knew there would be corrections.  In order to be completely open about our learning curve, here’s the list:

  1. Problem #1: I ordered an HD camera I thought was a good deal.  The camera was high quality, but didn’t have the capacity to record directly onto a SD card.  It used tapes, and had to be converted to digital files.  This would have cost us a huge amount of time in transferring files.  So, we sent it back.  That mistake cost the project $70 is shipping penalties.  OUCH.
  2. The fix for #1: The first video was shot completely using an iPhone and a condenser mic.  We were actually pretty pleased with the quality, but we may also order a GoPro Hero 4.  I’m not ordering it until I make sure we can get the sound we want, because evidently they don’t have a portal for lapel mics and we’ll need to make sure our condenser mic will work as well as it did on the iPhone.  If we rule that out, we’re back to the drawing board on a larger Sony HD camera again.  I just found that it’s laborious setting up so much equipment, and timing is a key issue.  However, with larger cameras, you can set them on your shoulder and take video while walking without bounces.  You might notice several bounces in our first piece.
  3. Problem #2: Rachel’s first try at the large format film may not have worked.   Continue reading EPOTM: Next Steps for the Team →