Guess who's in the kitchen

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 10, 2001 by Joan Gilmore

Oklahoma Cityans Betty Bradley and hubby, Ed Huycke, have been vacationing in their palatial "cabin" on the mountainside near Cuchara, Colo. The other day, they returned to their summer home after a luncheon. She opted to take a nap and he opted to read in the den.

As he read, he heard a noise in the kitchen. Curious, he walked through the house to the kitchen area and, sure enough, someone was in the kitchen. He quietly walked back to the bedroom, entered, closed the door and said to his wife, "Betty, I believe there's a black bear in our kitchen."

After quickly discussing their options, they opened the sliding doors from the bedroom to the deck, which almost encircles the house. They tiptoed around, quietly opening all of the sliding doors to the house, hoping that the big black bear would choose to depart, having eaten all the tomatoes on the counter which had drawn him to the house anyway. The bear, which had entered the kitchen by crashing through a screen door, fortunately decided to leave the same way. Of course, he took the hummingbird feeder full of sweet syrup with him.

Then they ran around and closed all of the doors again. Ed asked Betty, who had grabbed her camera when they left the bedroom, how many pictures she'd taken. She had to admit she'd been so excited, she'd forgotten to take any photographs. Friends have advised them not to ever leave food out on a counter when the doors are open and aromas could escape. They also suggested that the hummingbirds should find their sweet syrup someplace else.

Interestingly, when this house was being built, black bears visited the site several times, leaving their footprints on the concrete floor of the garage.

Greenscape's artistic

Everyone's been watching the structural steel being put in place for the new Oklahoma City Art Museum downtown in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center. As a matter of fact, 950 tons of that steel have been supplied by W&W Steel. Fear not, this will not be just another brick and mortar building with no softness to welcome visitors. This facility will offer beautiful landscaping.

What will really be interesting is when the landscaping gets under way. Scott Howard of Howard Site Design has designed the floral and fauna and whatever using eight varieties of trees and plants and an irrigation system to take care of them.

Six upright English Oak trees framed by three "Green Vase" Zelkova trees at each end, will span the width of the museum building's north facade. More of these trees will be planted at curbside to outline the museum's sides and front. Greenmound Juniper will serve as ground cover for 46 Nellie R. Stevens Holly plants along the Museum Cafe's patio at the east side of the building.

Along the west wall will be Dwarf Fountain Grass as ground cover for large Nellie R. Stevens Holly. Autumn Sage shrubs in a sloping bed with Greenmound Junior ground cover will fill the space between the sidewalk and the gentle curve at the museum's left front corner. Pairs of Purple Wintercreeper ground cover beds at curbside will frame three diagonal metered parking segments on the museum's front, accenting the atrium and theater entrances.

The new Museum is expected to open with great ceremony in early 2002.

International flavor

Oklahoma City Community College's annual Labor Day weekend celebration will take on an international flavor this year. Scheduled Aug. 31-Sept. 3, Arts Festival Oklahoma on the OCCC campus offers free admission to all comers. A minimal $2 parking fee per car is all that's required.

Festival hours will be 3 until 9 p.m. Aug. 31; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 1; 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Sept. 2, and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sept. 3, Labor Day.

The festival's live entertainment lineup will kick off at 7 p.m. Aug. 31 with Jovino Santos Neto. A Brazilian native, Neto came to this country in 1993 to reside in Seattle. Since his arrival, he has performed and recorded with a variety of international musicians. He tours as a solo pianist and also leads his own ensemble in concerts.

An Arts Festival tradition is the performance by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and this will take place at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 1. The concert, which features classical standards, lively showtunes and contemporary selections, will conclude with a fireworks display.

The quintet ESTA will perform at 7 p.m. Sept. 2 from its repertoire of American jazz, Mediterranean folk music and rock `n' roll rhythms. More than 150 artists and crafts people will have their creations on view in tents and a children's activity area will be available at a $1 per child admission. Ethnic and popular foods also will be available during Arts Festival Oklahoma, to enhance the international theme.

For additional information, call 682-7536.

"The Tribe of Will"

Coming up Saturday will be the third annual "Feasting of the Tribe of Will," a picnic basket contest sponsored by Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park. The contest will be in Edmond's Hafer Park, beginning at 7:15 p.m., immediately prior to the performance of Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy by William Shakespeare. This play will run Thursday through Sunday until Sept. 2.