While on a walk with my dogs, Mariah and Prancer, last week, I saw this lovely moss under the trees. It is prolific this year, probably because of all the summer rain. I also noticed that the native grasses were going to seed and showing off. What struck me was the architecture of each seed head. I thought I would share some of these with you. This is Little Bluestem. I am not a native grass expert, but after this walk, I wish I were. I thought about my grandmother, Edith Juanita, and how she knew all the names of common plants. She was raised in Kiowa, Oklahoma, and learned them as a child. She taught me many things like how to grow killer tomatoes and how to cook poke sallet in the spring (in order to cleanse the blood, she said,) but I wish I'd asked more questions before...

Don't want to garden in this weather? Why not go to a museum over the Thanks- giving holiday instead? Introduce your extended family to Bricktown and the revitalized downtown area. Mi Familia decided to visit the Oklahoma History Center for the first time last weekend, and we were entranced. The center consists of five galleries with hands-on interactive exhibits. It looks like someone finally discovered what makes the Science Museum Oklahoma (f/k/a the Omniplex) so popular. I especially liked the video presentation by a woman from Corn, Oklahoma, who explained the history of her personal family quilt collection. We also heard dances and music recorded from the Choctaw, Cherokee, Osage and many other American Indian tribes. The Chinese Americans living in Oklahoma were represented in their own exhibit. Great human stories mixed in with history. It doesn't get much better than that. When you depart, you get to see real...

My friend, Debbie B., asked me a question on Friday, and I've thought about it ever since. She and her son wondered why fall colors echo the colors of Thanksgiving. Why does this holiday which is all about gratitude follow the same pattern as its surrounding clime? Why the beauty--the yellow of the Cottonwood leaves, the red of the Sumac, the oaks' burnt orange umber? At first, being my ever-practical self, my answer was that we took nature's cue and clothed our holidays likewise. This makes sense, when we consider Thanksgiving where we celebrate our gratitude for an abundant harvest with a feast of color. Think of the candied orange sweet potatoes, the golden brown of turkey skin, the paler orange squash of pumpkin pie, pecan pie's crunchy caramel, united by the green of pole beans (unless they are swimming in a creamy casserole and topped with Durkee onions.) At...

We're 100 years old, and today, we're celebrating all over the state with parades, fairs, craft shows and more. Because my little town of Guthrie was the first state capitol, where the gunshot sounded signifying statehood, we got to throw the biggest party of all. The official Guthrie Centennial Website stated that Guthrie would "host historical re-enactments of the statehood proclamation, the swearing-in of Oklahoma’s First Governor, Charles Haskell, and the symbolic wedding of Oklahoma Territory with Indian Territory." The re-enactments were held at the historic Carnegie Library where they happened in 1907. I hate to gush, but I am so proud that Guthrie still has the Carnegie Library. It's been surpassed by a more modern building, but the edifice of the old is beautiful. In fact, if you're ever able to come visit, please stop by and see all of the old buildings we didn't demolish. During the 50s...