Seen on Old Route 66

We drove past this scene when we returned from our anniversary weekend.

Somewhere between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Near Stroud, if my memory is correct.

I assume these guys are here because it's OU football season.

Have you had any foreign visitors lately?

Gnomeo & Juliet - Coming Soon!

My niece-in-law sent this link to me this morning. She knows of my love of yard art and thought I would enjoy this upcoming movie. She is so right!

Click to enjoy: Gnomeo & Juliet

He Deserves A Post By Himself (Cake Gnome)

In my opinion, the best entry in the Tulsa State Fair Sugar Arts Show:

It's a gnome!

A yard gnome!

Mullinville, Kansas - Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose

After leaving Dodge City, we drove and drove and ended up in:

This was a very interesting little town for a couple of reasons. First was a Yard Art Studio.

The artist making one, of many, statements:

The artist has created an OVERWHELMING amount of yard art. We took the following video, in an attempt to give you an idea of the quantity. Let me just say, the video does not capture the awe inspiring reality.

As we drove around the town (all the better to get the video), we saw that a number of the houses proudly displayed items from this artist. We took photos of a few pieces in a couple of yards.

Yard # 1:

Yard # 2:

Second interesting item, as we drove out of town:

Our thoughts were "Not the kind of sign a person expects to see in Kansas."

As we continued motoring down the road, we came to the town of Greensburg, KS. On May 4, 2007, an EF5 tornado destroyed 95% of the town and killed 11 people. Greensburg is rebuilding as a "green" town. As we drove through town, everywhere we looked there were signs of construction, which equates to progress in the rebuilding effort.

The contrast in these two towns made me think:

• It just goes to show, it can be "fun & games" in one location, while it is "life & death" in another location not far away.
• Practice tolerance. (You don't have to accept, but peacefully tolerate).
• Support others through their tragedies.
• Enjoy life every day.

Thanks, Kansas, for providing an interesting drive.

Job Specific Yard Art

I had no idea the firefighters in Woodward, OK were yard art connoisseurs! We drove by the station recently and snapped a couple of photos.

See part of the fire department sign and the truck through the window?

Now, look closely under the flagpole:

                               

A fireman and a fireplug! How appropriate...and cute...and subtle, very, very subtle!

I've been following and playing The Yard Art Game for a few months. I wonder how many points the Mistress of the game will give me for this report?

"Ahoy Matey" & Yard Art on Steroids

One last story from our recent Indiana trip...

We split the drive from Indiana to Oklahoma into two days. 

We checked in Sunday night at the Carlinville, IL Best Western. The entire theme of the hotel - lobby, lounge, restaurant, rooms - is nautical. Extremely nautical in the middle of nowhere in the Illinois corn fields! It has a river boat, in a pond, with fish. You can feed the fish from a dock or you can fish for the fish from the dock.

A nice place to be sure, but the decor was surreal, especially after a couple of cocktails in their "Yacht Club." The Husband and I agreed that the owner (a former Navy man) ran a "tight ship" because everything was very "ship shape" at the hotel. (Har dee har har. Aren't we original?)

As we drove down the road the next morning, congratulating ourselves for being so witty, we thought we were seeing things.

A spaceship?

An elephant sticking out of a building? 

Another elephant. Pink this time. 

Isn't he cute? 

My Husband, not the elephant! 

Well, okay, the elephant is cute also.

An oversized ice cream cone? 

And, look, The Three Stooges! 

They were nice enough to agree to a photo with The Husband.

Yet another elephant? 

Smaller than the pink one, but larger than us.

But not larger than my new friend!

Where, you ask, did we see this yard art? Just off I-55, Exit 37, Livingston, IL at The Pink Elephant Antique Mall.

Most people may not agree that this is yard art, in the traditional sense of the term, since it is not located at a private residence. I believe it is yard art because the owner of the antique mall has personally amassed this collection. The ladies who work there tell me many people try to purchase the pieces (especially the space ship, which is what I wanted!) but they are not for sale.

I'm hoping that the Mistress of the Yard Art Game will spend a moment or two pondering whether or not these items qualify for points. If they do not, I will understand.

And, by the way, the antique mall was excellent! The building is the old gymnasium for the town's school and is very cool. The booths were filled with excellent items. And, yes, of course I purchased a few. Vintage linens again. Peacocks for our guest room!

A Kansas Turkey

I promised you a Kansas turkey story and here it is.

On the way to Kansas City last weekend, we drove along a slight curve on a narrow stretch of highway and suddenly saw a larger than life turkey!

We passed it, but I made The Husband turn around and go back to take pictures. This part of the highway does not have shoulders and there was a lot of traffic, so the pictures were HOR-RI-BLE.

We agreed on our return trip home Sunday, we would stop and get better pictures. These are our best attempt from the highway with our point & shoot digital camera.

It's a turkey made of barbed wire and metal. I'm assuming he has feet made of rebar, or some such material. He stands 3-4 feet tall.

Another view. Look at the majestic tail. Our niece-in-law said his tail used to be bigger, but she thinks the wind has played havoc with his "feathers."

I can just imagine the creator of this turkey gathering the components for this sculpture:

• rusted barbed wire (from old fences)
• metal (torn off of barn roofs during high winds/tornadoes)
• rebar

Funny side notes to this turkey discovery:

• When we arrived in KC, I told our nephew and niece-in-law about seeing this sculpture. They both laughed and told me they had already discussed that I would probably stop and photograph it on this trip, since I have started playing the "yard art game." How right they were and how predictable I am!
• About 2 miles from arriving at the turkey location on the Sunday drive home, we saw 3 live turkeys foraging along the side of the highway. We were so focused on discussing where we thought the barbed wire turkey was located and strategizing about how to safely photograph it (since there are no shoulders on that stretch of highway), we were totally bum-fuzzeled when we saw the live turkeys. We did not get one photo of them. They were so close to where the fake turkey was located, we didn't have time to turn around to photograph them. Not that they would have been there, because pretty much as soon as our car passed them, they started running for the woods.
• About 10 miles past the turkey sculpture, we entered a zone along the highway where it appears it is being prepped for widening. Fences have been taken down and rusted barbed wire has been rolled into small(ish) balls. I told The Husband all I could see, while looking at the balls of barbed wire, was a flock of turkeys! I must have one...

I L.O.V.E. yard art!

What have you seen on your recent road trips? Anything interesting?

The Yard Art Game

Guess what?

I have a new game to play -- The Yard Art Game.

Have you ever heard of it? Me neither!

My recent post "Okie Yard Art" came to the attention of the administrator of the website Along Life's Highway The Yard Art Game.

I received an e-mail from her asking for permission to use my photo and I, of course, immediately agreed and said "I wanna play! I wanna play."

My entry into the game was posted this week and I was awarded 7 points. Whoo hoo!

I am now SERIOUSLY kicking myself for not buying the garden gnome I saw at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago.

He kept calling to me "Cindy, Cindy, buy me please."

But I ignored him, even after returning twice to have another look. I'm a FOOL! Little did I know then that garden gnomes are the highest scoring individual item in the game at 4 points. 4 points!

My personal yard art is sooo boring. A frog here, a sun face there. You know...typical stuff.

I'm so happy I was found by the Yard Art Game folks. I love me some good yard art and I admire the creativity that goes into the scenes. Now I'll have a place to share the best examples of Okie ingenuity for both fun and points!

If you need some humor in your day, I encourage you to visit Along Life's Highway The Yard Art Game and to also play the game!

Okie Yard Art

The Husband and I frequently take Sunday drives in the country, with no intent other than to share Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken gizzards (don't judge us) and to spend time together.

I always bring our camera, because we never know what we are going to see.

Okies are resourceful people and we hate to throw anything away.

Behold...recycled goods that make a lovely tableau in the front yard!

Note the plastic flowers. They must be enticement for the lead deer!