034/365

Damaged Mailbox 

This mailbox is on the street for a house that's been abandoned for as long as I've lived here (and probably for many years before I arrived).  

Apparently, from the little bit I know about it, the house was built by the husband for the wife, but then the marriage didn't work out for some reason. 

The last time I saw the mailbox, it was in better shape, but not so much now.

033/365

Curbside

This is the ONLY good thing to have come out of the covid debacle.  If stores already didn't offer curbside shopping, they began during the alleged pandemic.  

I HATE to shop.  Always have and always will, so this curbside shopping is just the thing.

032/365

Abandoned School Library

Today is Feb 1 and I've managed to post a photo a day for the full month of January.

Now I just have to be as dedicated for the month of February.

This appears to be the library of the abandoned school building in Putnam, Texas.  

It almost seems that one day the kids were in school in this building and the next day they were elsewhere.  

I wish I could find the back-story about this place.

031/365

Abandoned High School Building

This is the old High School Building in Putnam, Texas.  Putnam is a very small town in Callahan County, Texas.  The 2023 population was 68.  Students now attend high school in Baird, Texas.

The author of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", Larry King, came from Putnam.  

In 1919 the graduating class consisted of 3 students. 

Looking in through the front door, you can still see folding chairs and portable tables stacked in the hallway along with a large bulletin board with the school logo and 

"Go Panthers" encouragements. 

A room that must have been the library still has bookshelves with books on them. 

Even though I searched the internet for a short while, I couldn't located information about when the school closed.

030/365

Sculpture at the Museum

When I was in the museum in Albany, Texas, one of the curators said it was ok to take photos as long as I didn't use flash.  Well, that worked fine for me since the room had a lot of light from the windows and my camera can shoot in a small amount of light anyway.

I saw this sculpture.  I'm not a fan of this type of art, but I made an image of it anyway.  I didn't read the description, but it looks like a scythe with a heart at the end of it.  hmmmm

Wonder what it's supposed to represent?

029/365

Shakelford County Courthouse

This beautiful structure is located in Albany, Texas and sits right along the Main Street of the town.  The trees are bare and the grass is brown since it's a winter photo of the courthouse.  The two stone tables to the right of the foreground of the image contain the 10 Commandments. 

028/365

100% Pure Love

Another alleyway scene.  Sweet graffiti on a red brick wall with one window showing.

027/365

Brick Wall and Palletes

Another scene from an alley in downtown Abilene, Texas.  

026/365

Kids Running Logo

I was walking around downtown Abilene yesterday in an area I don't usually walk in and I came across this sign for a Day Care Center. It's such a happy looking sign and I was able to photograph it without the words which were on the bottom of the sign.

It's been a very quiet day.  I went to church this morning, then home.  I read a little and am now watching TV as I write this blog.  It's 49 degrees right now (I should be outside doing something more constructive than just sitting in front of the TV-sigh) and it will be 72 by Sat. I'll have to figure out something interesting to do outside by the end of the week. 

025/365

Two Figurines

I went to Albany, Texas today and my friend and I went into the museum.  There was a room with Asian artifacts and I thought these figures were interesting.  

Surprisingly they said I could take pics as long as I didn't use flash. Great!!

I made several images and I'll scatter them through the coming days.

024/365

Abandoned Downtown Business

For as long as I've lived here, this place has looked exactly like this.  Abandoned and nothing has changed one bit.  I don't know what it was when it was an active business.  

There is little-to-no foot traffic in this location, but once upon a time there must have been.

Very curious.

023/365

Dining Room Decor

I was at a friend's house today for a meeting.  I needed a photo for today when I realized this display case would make the perfect image.  

How beautiful is this?

022/365

Circles and Diamonds

021/365

Railroad Crossing Sign

A close-up of a railroad crossing sign in downtown Abilene, Texas. The sign is on a corner in front of an abandoned building.

020/365

Oil Lantern

A friend of mine on the "prepare spectrum" gave me this oil lantern for Christmas.  

I've always loved these lanterns and I just love that he thought of this for me.  I got the oil and matches to go with it.  I might just use it some night for a night light while watching TV.  Otherwise, it sits on my mantle offering security in case the electric goes off for some reason.

I watched the inauguration of President Trump and Vice-President Vance this morning with my Republican Women group.  In my entire life I've never watched an inauguration.  This one was great~~a new and exciting chapter in American History.

Praise God!!!

019/365

Downtown Abstract

One of the buildings in downtown Abilene has this decor on one of its outside walls.  I'm not a fan of abstract, but for some reason I love this.  It looks good and it's a great place to do high school senior photos. 

There's actually a sign for handicapped parking which I removed for the sake of the image.

Went to church this morning, then back home.  I worked on a quilt for a little while. 

 It was about 19 degrees this morning and is only about 32 now. 

 It will be in the mid 50s by the middle of the week thankfully.

018/365

Graffiti Face on Wall

There's an area of downtown where there are a few businesses, some abandoned buildings and very little foot traffic.  This artwork is on the side of one of the empty buildings.  I've made images of it before, but never as a close-up. 

 "Close-up" is one of the prompts on my list, so this is what I got.  

Any closer and it might have turned into an abstract, which I didn't want.

January 18th is "National Winnie the Pooh Day"

017/365

Pink Famingos

As you first enter the Abilene, Texas zoo there's a location where there are pink flamingos.  They're so beautiful and it's fun to watch them in this environment.  

They were pretty active since the air temp was about 55 and it was near feeding time.  

016/365

Cheetah at the Zoo

Even though the holidays are over and all the decorations have been taken down at the local zoo, I decided to go there because the weather was so beautiful and I thought the animals might be a little more active because of the coolers temps.  

This Cheetah was walking around its enclosure and then it finally settled high up on the rock formation.  I was able to get an image that pretty much blurred out the bars.

Just gorgeous!

015/365

Circles of Wood

While walking downtown the other day I came across a pick-up truck with these cut pieces of tree trunk.  The perfect shot for the photo-prompt of "circles". 

I found some other "circle" photos, but they aren't half as interesting as this one.

014/365

Businessman on Overpass

It was another beautiful day~~up to 55 degrees.  I went to the Y again this morning and was exhausted when I got home.  I thought I'd just hang out in the house, but after resting I decided I needed to get out and enjoy the weather.

I went to town, yet again.  As I walked past this overpass that goes from one office building to another across a street, I saw this man walking and quickly composed to get this image.  

Not the best image, but I like it.   

013/365

All Grey

I saw this electrical box on one of the walls in an alleyway downtown and just thought it looked pretty interesting.

I love the monotone color.

012/365

Off Road Cabin

On the way to Rule, Texas we saw this very, very abandoned cabin just off the main road.  There's probably not anything redeemable about this structure but it sure makes for a great photo.  We walked all around the cabin and there wasn't a bad perspective to be seen considering how decrepit the structure is.

011/365

Textured Glass Entrance

While walking around Stamford, Texas we came upon this empty building.  I love these textured panes of glass and this little alcove appears to have been an entrance into the building once upon a time.  There's a huge piece of metal covering over what was a doorway.

Without knowing any history, structures like this are such a puzzle.

What was the building, why is it empty/closed/abandoned, who maintains the building in such good condition, who pays the taxes on an empty structure?  So many questions, no answers.

010/365

Abandoned School Bldg?

This old abandoned building is in Stamford, Texas.  It looks like it was originally a school bldg, but there was no sign or information to say what it had been.  

The interior was totally trashed and as you can see some of the windows were completely gone.  

Just take several steps back in your mind to imagine what a beautiful building this once was. 

009/365

Snow

Today we had snow in west Texas.  It was in the forecast, but that's always iffy.

I woke up this morning to rain and then snow.

I usually only post one photo a day, but I couldn't help myself today.  I took the top photo of the snow and then about an hour later I looked out at the parking lot and saw this snowman in the yard across the way.  Sadly I didn't see who made it.  

It's just cute.

Today is Thursday and by Saturday it's going to be back into the mid 50s.  I can deal with that.

008/365

Abstract Window Panes

A friend and I went to Rule, Texas today.  It was chilly but not too cold to be out making images.

Rule is a small town and the main street businesses are mostly abandoned.  

I didn't notice this "bullet" hole in the glass until I was right in front of the window trying to figure out how to get an interesting composition.

Is it a bullet hole or a BB hole?

I played PickleBall again this morning and was going to head home but then my friend suggested this field trip.  It took most of the afternoon thankfully.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow.  Hmmm.

007/365

Succulent Plant

I went to lunch with some friends today and right outside the entrance of the restaurant was a HUGE succulent plant in a planter.  It was pristine and really beautiful.  I only had my cell phone camera with me but I made a close-up image of the plant anyway.

There were about 12 of us and we had a really good time.

This morning I played PickleBall, then went to line dancing class and then to the restaurant.

It's cold here now and there's a forecast for snow on Thursday. At least the snow and cold won't last long, which is a relief, except that summer is brutal. 

006/365

Patterns

One of the photo prompts I found was "patterns".  I've walked past this building so many times in downtown Abilene, Texas, but never thought of making this image.  

The other day it occurred to me that this would make a great image for patterns.

So there ya go!!!

005/365

Close-Up "W"

This white W with a black outline is on one of the metal post supports for an alleyway porch roof of a downtown business in Abilene, Texas.  

It's getting colder here in West Texas.  It's 11 pm right now and the temp is 28, yikes.

Tomorrow will start out at 21 and the high temp will be 41.  

Since I hate summer here I guess I need to be glad of the cooler temps right now.    

Hmmm, I'll have to think about that.

004/365

Something That Makes Me Smile

I decided to use a photo prompt list.  One of the prompts is 'Something That Makes Me Smile".  I went to town and found this graffiti in an alleyway that I don't usually go into.  

It's so cute and it really did and does make me smile.

003/365

Retro Typewriter

When I was in high school I took a steno/typing class.  Even though I was tracking to go to college, I decided to fill in my empty spots with these courses.  I LOVED typing and my parents gave me my first typewriter for Christmas.  It wasn't this one, but I've loved these machines ever since.

After I relocated to Texas I spent some years looking in the antique shops to see if I could find a typewriter for a decent price and in decent condition.  About a year ago I came across this one.

It was $19.95 and it had a carrying case with it.

I couldn't resist, so I bought it.  I need to get a new ribbon for it, otherwise it's in perfect condition.

I didn't do much today.  Played pickle-ball all morning, then to the grocery store~~I still can't believe the price of groceries!!!

Then home where I haven't done one constructive thing all day.  Oh well.

Three photos down, 362 to go.  

 I feel like Julie in "Julia and Julie" when Julie decided to work her way through the Julia Childs cookbook, blogging about how she's doing.

I need to find a list of photo subjects to keep me going. 

Have a great weekend!

002/365

Rustic Steps at the State Park

I took a drive to the state park about ½ hour from here.  It's really not a very exciting park, but there were a lot of people wandering the trails and a lot of campers, probably because it was a holiday and the weather was so beautiful.  I love these stairs, but one can only make just so many images of them.  I've made one or two images in the summer when things are more green, but it still doesn't look much different.

At least it was some outdoor exercise and it was great to be walking through a forested-looking area rather than the track around the gym at the Y.

001/365

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I remember reading the book "1984" in 1964 and thinking 

1) those things could never happen and

2) 1984 was a long way away

I was so, so wrong on both counts.

Little did I know that 2025 would be here in a blink of an eye.  

One photo down for my photo a day.  Only 364 more to go.