334/365

Mom and her Mom

It was a cold 31 degrees this morning.  I still haven't exchanged my summer clothes for my winter clothes, so I just bit the bullet with what I had at my is disposal and was cold all day.

I also was completely uninspired about taking a photo today, so I found this image of my mother and her mother when they lived in the Bronx.   This might be the only photo I have of the two of them together so I really cherish it.

333/365

Dublin Sodas

I took a ride today  because the weather was beautiful and tomorrow is supposed to be much colder.  I went to Dublin, which is about 1.5 hours from here.  The population is a little less than 4,000, some of the streets were closed off for construction and many of the store fronts were abandoned.

But what's there and functioning is cute.  This picture advertising Dublin sodas was on one of the bill boards and I took a close-up of it.

332/365

Business Wall in Dublin

A business wall in Dublin, Texas.  The population of Dublin in 2020 was 3,359.  Dublin is the home of the world's largest Dr. Pepper bottling plant.

331/365

Vacant Structure

An abandoned building, maybe a store at one time, in a small town in central Texas.

 

330/365

Metal Tree against Business Wall

In Coleman, Texas there's a business with a long outside wall and this metal tree is set against the wall as decor.  It's really unique.  I couldn't help taking a photo of  it.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. SO MUCH to be thankful for!! but this is going to be one of the most quiet holidays for me that I've had in a long time.  My daughter's family went to their friend's house today for a meal and on Thursday they're doing nothing.  She's not cooking. She has a baby that's only a few months old plus 4 others under 7.5 years, so I know she needs the day to just chill and enjoy being with her husband.  

I'll have to figure out what to do with myself even though I'm actually looking forward to spending the day alone.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL.

329/365

Vines on Building

In downtown Abilene there's an old train station that's been for sale for as long as I've been in town.  It's a beautiful historic building but lately the windows and doors have been covered over with plywood, which diminishes the look of it quite a bit.  There's an old door and some vines still visible and I thought they looked really good in the late afternoon sun today.  I wish someone would purchase the building and refurbish it to its former glory. 

328/365

Loading Zone

One of the businesses in Coleman has this doorway and No Parking sign on the exterior wall.  

I think the business is closed, but the sign is still there.

327/365

Cartoons in Windows

In Coleman, Texas there's a building that has small windows up on the second floor and each of the windows has a cartoon of a farm animal in it.  There are probably 7 or 8 windows and it's really cute to see all the animals peeking out.

326/365

Abilene State Park Pond

I decided to take a ride to the state park this morning.  In all the times I've gone to the park, I've never seen the water in the pond this low.  It's a total surprise since we've had more rain this summer than in the past 5 summers, so what's the deal????

325/365

Cactus Mural

In Coleman, Texas there is a mural on the outside wall of a business that's all cactus and flowers.  It's really beautiful and it faces a large parking lot.  Everyone who parks there can see this beautiful artwork.

324/365

Abandoned Country Road House

My friend and I were taking a drive to Coleman, Texas and we saw this abandoned house on a back road.  There was a fence with a locked gate, so, sadly, we couldn't get any closer to it.

323/365

Monk's Fireplace

My fave coffee shop just underwent a slight remodel.  These flames were painted in the fireplace.  The photo was originally in color, but I tried it in bw and I liked it, so there you go.

322/365

Grinch Christmas

On my way to my fave coffee shop today, I noticed that someone was painting the windows of the shops across the street.  It isn't even Thanksgiving yet, and Christmas scenes are being painted on windows. 

The artist was painting, so I stopped to talk to her.  She was doing a great job so I had to get some photos of her work.

321/365

Round Window and Stump

There's a building in downtown Abilene that has some round windows instead of square or rectangular windows.  I saw this tree stump near the window and thought it would make a nice random image, so here it is. 

320/365

Looking Up

While walking around in downtown Abilene, I saw this fire escape and one of the prompts came to mind.  It was "looking up", so I tried it and I like the way it turned out.

319/365

Rocky zoo enclosure

The Cisco Zoo in Cisco, Texas is open to the public.  Some of the animal enclosures are still visible and it's easy to see how the animals were on display.  The Zoo was opened in 1920 and closed around 1930 when two animals were mysteriously poisoned.  

Now there is a walking trail that's about 1.25 miles through the old zoo area and it's a great place to go to spend some time outdoors, especially if there are children with lots of energy and curiosity.

318/365

Bricks

These bricks are seen within one of the old enclosures in the Cisco Zoo.  The Zoo was opened in 1920 and closed about 10 years later after two of the animals were mysteriously poisoned.

There's a walking trail around the old zoo grounds now and it's a great place to go for a day out especially if there are little kiddos who would love an adventure.

317/365

Cisco Zoo

This zoo opened in 1920 and was open for about 10 years.  It closed after two of the animals were mysteriously poisoned.  

Now there's a walking trail around the grounds and it's a great place to go to spend some time out doors.

                                                                                316/365

Retro Gas Station in Albany, TX

This retro gas station is in Albany, Texas.  It looks like it's being used as an office of some sort based on the paperwork and writing implements on the desk inside the structure.

315/365

Albany Methodist Church

This beautiful Methodist Church is located on a corner of one of the streets in Albany, Texas.  

The three blue circles indicate the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and they intersect at the crossbeam of the cross.

314/365

Alleyway doorways

These two doors and the awning are located in an alleyway in Albany, Texas.   The building seems to be unused at the present time.

313/365

Artwork in a Coffee Shop

I attend a once-a-month bookgroup that's usually held in a local coffee shop.  One of the walls had these framed images in a seating area and I just liked the way they looked.

312/365

Hiking Willie Marsh

In December of 2108 (after we decided to hike year-round) my friends and I hiked a trail called Willie Marsh.  We had done this trail in the warm weather as well.

It was always fun on hiking day because we started out early, ate lunch on the trail and then went to a restaurant on the way home for dinner.

(I actually took this photo and the one in the previous post by putting the camera on a small tripod.)

311/365

Sleeping Beauty Mountain

Back in 2018, before I moved to Texas, these ladies and I would hike once a week in the Adirondacks of NYS.  We started hiking together about 18 years ago only hiking in the warmer weather and then we decided we'd hike all year. In the winter we'd hike just a trail usually, using snow shoes or spikes. It was so beautiful we wondered why we didn't hike year round all those earlier years.

One year we trained all summer to be able to hike Mt Marcy, which is the highest high-peak in the Adirondacks.  It took us 11 hours up and back.  The view from the top was amazing.

In this photo we were holding up one finger to indicate that this was the first in a series of hikes we planned on doing that year.  

Upstate NY is beautiful, unlike central Texas.  Of course the current politics in NY leave a lot to be desired now, but back in those days it wasn't bad.

I miss those gals and those days of hiking.

(and yes, I took the pic by putting the camera on a small tripod)

310/365

Angel Statue

This sweet Angel statue is seen in one of the the small town cemeteries scattered throughout the countryside in rural Texas.

309/365

A Stream

This beautiful stream is located in New Braunfels, Texas.  There's nothing like this near Abilene, so it was irresistible and I couldn't resist getting the shot.

308/365

Wurstfest

I took this photo about 2 years ago in New Braunfels, Texas during their Fall wurst fest.  These guys were more than glad to pose for the photo.

307/365

Christmas Scene

This beautiful Christmas scene was photographed a couple of years ago and was located outside one of the churches in downtown Abilene, Texas during the Christmas season.

306/365

Agricultural Structure

I'm not sure what this structure is but it's pretty imposing in downtown Abilene, TX.  I was there on a day when it was closed and there were no people around.  

It was a beautiful clear day.

305/365

Downtown Church

I had my wide angle lens on the camera and got this image of this downtown church.  No indication about what kind of church it is, but the street view is beautiful. 

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What is It?

I was walking around downtown Abilene today and came across this beautiful building which I've seen many times before.  There are no signs indicating what the structure is for.  It appears to be a large home, but I don't think it is.  It must be some kind of business, but whatever it is, it's beautiful.

303/365

Beautiful Church

It was a gorgeous day today so I went for another walk through town.  I forced myself to use a wide-angle lens, even though I wanted to use my usual lens.  I couldn't have gotten this image with the lens I always use, so this was a treat.

This is a stunning church in downtown Abilene, Texas.  The air was clear, the sky was blue and there were no people walking around, so I could get this image easily.