The Pot Thief who Studied Ptolemy by J. Michael Orenduff

The Pot Thief who Studied Ptolemy by J. Michael Orenduff is another book in the his Pot Thief series starring Hubert ("Hubie") Schuze a pottery store owner in the Old Town section of Albuquerque. He has flexible hours at his store, he counts among his friends a crooked cop, a priest, and a Basque afternoon margarita drinking companion. He also disagrees with the United States Congress on policies regarding digging for pots on public lands. And he has talents for picking locks and fooling security systems. He is a very resourceful guy and a lot of fun.

In this book he finds out about some sacred pots that belong to the San Roque Pueblo. He wants to return the pots, well, maybe most of them, to the pueblo but they are in a condo complex with a very good security system where he has to use all his talents.

If you would like an interesting, lively mystery, steeped in New Mexican culture this book is for you.

I give this book four stars out of five. Check out the Kindle version on Amazon. It is only $4.59!!! It is a bargain.

Check out my previous reviews of the Pot Thief who Studied Pythagoras and the Pot Thief who Studied Escofier.

Riverwalk Reflection

Another view of the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Weekend Reflections

Yellow Skies

Last week we had some storms blow through northeast Oklahoma. We basically went from drouth to floods in a few hours. After it blew through it looked really bright outside even though it was late evening.



The sky was yellow. It was surreal. We also had mammatus clouds. Wikiepedia says that mammatus clouds are associated with strong storms.



What got me was that not only was the sky strange looking but the dim yellowish light made everything seem strange. These are Sweeties normally beautiful knockout roses.



It was all disconcerting. Eventually everything cleared up.

Oh, well, another day in tornado alley.

Check out Skywatch Friday for more views of the sky from all over the world.

"O" is for Ollies Station Restaurant

Last weekend, SuperPizzaBoy and I ate at Ollies Station Restaurant in west Tulsa.



It is on Route 66 in west Tulsa, on the wrong side of the Arkansas River. The east side of Tulsa is museums, concert halls, and big old huge houses from the roaring 20's. The west side is refineries, railroad yards, oilfield fabrication shops. That is where the money was made to build the nice stuff on the other side of the river.



Ollies has decent food, it has model trains to go with the food.



Check out ABC Wednesday for my "O"s from all over.

Again to Carthage by John L. Parker, Jr.

"Again to Carthage", by John L. Parker Jr.,published in 2007,  is the sequel to Once a Runner published in 2007. Quinton Cassidy the collegiate mile runner in Once a Runner is now 10 years older. He has gone to law school and is doing quite well. He hangs out with his buddies and has a cute girlfriend and all that but he isn't happy. He feels his youth slipping away from him and he wants to prove that he still "has it."

He mulls it over and decides that he wants to make the Olympic Marathon Team so he excuses himself from his law practice and heads to a family cabin up in the hills and commences a brutal training regimen running over 120 miles a week (about two and half months worth of running for me.)

The book is pretty good but the end of it is the best when Cassidy runs the Olympic trials to see if he made the team. Parker is a former competitive runner himself and his best writing is describing the races and how brutally hard they are for the top competitors. (Like I'll ever know.)

Parker waited 29 years between the two books. The writing style of the second book is much more mature without sacrificing any of the passion. The first book is a runners cult classic, I've seen it on the counters of some of the running stores in town. (My brother, who started running long before it became cool and still runs about 40 miles a week gave it me, he gave me the second book also.)

The book is well written and very interesting if you want to know about the life of a competitive runner.

I give it three stars out of five.

Doings at the Tulsa Garden Center

The Tulsa Garden Center is a great place. It is a grand old oilman's mansion from the 1920's that now buzzes with activity most days.



I just love this old fireplace in the ballroom.



If you love windows and doors, the garden center is the place for you.



I helped my wife Sweetie set up for a Children's Gardening Class (Little Green Thumbs) held at the Garden Center.





You cannot have a gardening class without "soil." Don't call it dirt, especially at the Garden Center. They will kick you out.



There she is, getting ready.

The part I like the best is the art deco streamline design ladies restroom shown above. Don't ask me how I got the photo. I'd have to take the fifth. (Not really, the door was open and I was in the hallway and it was unoccupied. That's my story. Oh, and I didn't open the door either.) If you are saying that it is hard to tell anything from the photo. It is that way live and in person also. To get better pics I'm afraid I might risk outraging public decency.

That's My World

Because He Lives

Because He lives!

I can face tomorrow.

Because he lives,

All fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

Chorus from "Because He Lives" by Bill Gaither

Happy Easter Everybody!

Baloney Sunday Challenge

Scripture and a Snapshot

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

I just finished The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly. It is another book in the Lincoln Lawyer series starring Mickey Haller a criminal defense attorney who, because of downturn in the economy, has switched to defending homeowners against fraudulent foreclosures in southern California.

Mr. Haller doesn't have an office, he conducts his business in the back of a Lincoln. Mickey has a brand new associate right out of law school, an investigator, who is also a biker, and Maggie, an ex-wife with benefits, and I don't mean a 401K.

One of his foreclosure clients is accused of the murder of a banker who held her mortgage. So Mickey has to put his foreclosure business on hold and get back in the courtroom. He goes up against a good friend of his ex-wife who happens to be an assistant DA.

This is one of the best books of the courtroom drama genre I have ever read. The trial goes this way and that way between exhilaration and despair as Mickey and the prosecutor hook it up and try and outwit and outmaneuver each  other in the courtroom ruled by "a judge with a grudge."  The stakes on trial go up every day. There are no slow boring parts. It was literally a page turner. In fact I liked it so much that even though I had a library copy I bought it on my Kindle. There is nothing finer than reading a book on a Kindle (I imagine the other e-readers are similar.) You can just fly through a book.

I give this book a five out of five. I don't give too many fives, so go to your library and get a copy.

Early Evening on the San Antonio River

Early weekday evening in San Antonio on the River. The restaurants are filling up, the boats are still touring, the pedestrians are strolling.

Weekend Reflections

Early Morning Texas Aggie Moon

Them Texans sure like to fly their state flags. They fly them more than the US flags it seems sometimes. In downtown San Antonio they were flying the Texas A&M University flag also.

I've had a few questions from people who don't know what Aggies are. Texas A&M is a large state run university based in College Station, Texas with branches throughout the state. It is a great school with outstanding programs in a number of fields including Engineering and Agriculture. They are well known for their Corps of Cadets which supplies the United States Army with a great number of officers.

The students are known as Aggies. Aggie jokes are a staple of humor in Texas.

Skywatch Friday

Tony's Tejano and RIP Freddy Fender

Found while wandering around San Antonio north of downtown.



I worked in south Texas when I got out of college years ago. Tejano music was huge then. Remember Freddy Fender? He was born, Baldemar Garza Huerta, in San Benito, Texas. It doesn't get any more "south Texas" than San Benito.

Signs, Signs

Remember April 19, 1995

16 Years ago today 168 people lost their lives in the Oklahoma City Bombing.



The Oklahoma City National Memorial stands where the Murrah building stood. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.



I was living in Tulsa when it occurred. I remember at first it was speculated that Islamic terrorists had perpetrated the crime. Within hours though we found out it was our our own countrymen who planned and executed the killings.



16 Years later all is quiet and peaceful.



Amond the tranquility there are few raw reminders of that day.



It is a very emotional place.



Visitors talk softly, it is like being in a church or other sacred place.



Memorials like this are very important. We don't ever want to forget what happened, even though many of us still don't understand how such a thing could occur.



My World

Band Bus?

Parked outside the swanky Mayo Hotel in downtown Tulsa. Who owns it, some big rock music group or retirees Bob and Betty who decided oh why not a get a hotel room just this once?

What do you think?

Ruby Tuesday

This is the Day

 ²⁴This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

(Psalm 118:24, King James Version)

A Mule Named Jed

This is an update on son SuperPizzaBoy's therapeutic riding program, "Bit by Bit" at Roger's State University here in Oklahoma. He is still participating and doing very well and loves it even though he and his Mom have to drive 25 miles to the program after school on Monday evenings.

Recently they have switched him over to a mule named Jed. Jed is over 20 years old but still looks great. (To my unknowledgable eye at least.) Jed seems like a very calm and collected mule. SPB's instructor says he is doing better than ever. We are big fans of Bit by Bit.

Bit by Bit has very few paid staff. The outrider's ensuring the safety of the rider and the people taking care of the horses and the stable are all volunteers. We appreciate them very much.



We the clients of Bit by Bit are big fans. They do a lot with not very much.



Son is gaining more and more confidence with every session. He is going to participate in a Pinto Show and an Appaloosa show at the Tulsa Fairgrounds later this year.



There is no way that he could do this without Bit by Bit.

SPB has a form of Autism called Asperger's Syndrome. Hippotherapy helps with his body awareness in several different ways.

I'm sure that there are similar programs near where you live.

Give them a little love if you are so moved and able.

Camera Critters

Related articles

• April is Autism Awareness Month (autismsocietyofnc.wordpress.com)

Three Trees on the San Antonio River

Weekend Reflections

Driveway Skywatch

Sometimes you don't have to travel far to capture an image of the sky.

Skywatch Friday

The Kings of Leon at the BOK Center

Last week Sweetie and I dropped the kid off at Nana's (the world's best baby sitter) and headed downtown to the BOK Center to see the Kings of Leon in concert.



I didn't know much about them and I was very surprised. These guys can rock. They are three brothers and a cousin who formed the band in Tennessee in 1999. Check out the Kings of Leon Wikipedia site for my information.



The arena was packed with a very appreciative audience. We were on our feet for most of the concert. What I love in a concert is when the band and the audience are really tied emotionally together. Not too many performers command that. Garth Brooks, Michael Buble, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts get that, so does the Kings of Leon.



There wasn't a whole lot of chit chat, they just played, and played hard.



(sorry for the fuzzy photo).

I didn't find out until the next day that the Kings of Leon have an Oklahoma connection. They were awarded a Rising Star Award at the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame just prior to the concert. A couple of them were born in Oklahoma and they said they consider themselves "Sooners at heart" and are talking about buying homes here.

I rate these guys five stars out of five. I don't think Sweetie liked them near as much as I did. If they come to your neck of the woods and you like great rock music check them out.