355/365

Yertle the Turtle

In downtown Abilene, TX there's a park called Everman Park that showcases several statues from 

Dr. Seuss books. (the park is often referred to as the storybook park)

This one is Yertle the Turtle.  It's just so adorable.  There's a sign to the right of the sculpture that has some text from the story.  I LOVE Dr. Seuss stories and I read a lot of them to my children when they were little.  I think they liked them too.

In the background there's some construction happening so, sadly, I couldn't get the statue without the clutter.  It was a beautiful day though, the temp was 85~~and we're only 3 days from Christmas.

354/365

Christmas Artwork

One of the downtown Abilene businesses has this adorable artwork  on its plate-glass window:  

two colorful gnomes riding in the back of a red pick-up decorated for Christmas.

It will be too bad when the Christmas season is over and all this artwork is gone.

It was an unbelievable 85 degrees today.  How awesome is that when the northern part of the country is being blanketed by snow?

I checked the temps in Fairbanks, AK today.  It was -30.  

353/365

Bookstore Graffiti

In downtown Abilene, there's a bookstore. Along the side of the building in the alleyway, there's an exit door.  On the wall outside the door is this graffiti.  

352/365

Lake Path

It was a beautiful day today, temp was 70, just a little warmer than usual in December in Texas. 

There's a lake near where I live called Kirby Lake.  A lot a people fish there.  This is a path at one end of the lake that curls around the upper part of the shore.  It's closed to traffic, but not to foot-traffic.  

It's almost Christmas so the grasses are brown.  The sky was really blue, but doesn't look like it in the photo.  

351/365

Row of Decorated Trees

Downtown Abilene~~a row of trees decorated with lights for the Christmas season.

I'm never downtown after dark, they probably look really nice once the sun goes down.

350/365

Ft. Chadbourne Hospital Remains

Ft. Chadbourne is located in Coke County, Texas with the intention of protecting the western frontier and the Butterfield Overland mail route.  Although many of the buildings on the site have been renovated and remodeled back to their original forms, this structure, which was once the hospital building, is still in its desecrated condition.

The hospital originally had 3 rooms, and the floor was dirt.  

There were supposed to be 5 barrack structures for the soldiers, but by the time the 2nd barrack was constructed, water ran out and it wasn't feasible to continue the construction.

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Snowman Family~~downtown Abilene

There's a small park on one of the corners in downtown Abilene.  This snowman family decorates the park with greetings of happy smiles.  

This is a well-traveled area of the town, so more people can see the happy family.  Last year this display was in another park a few blocks away, but probably wasn't seen by as many people.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

348/365

Decor in a Coffee Shop

My fave coffee shop has a wall that separates one seating section from another and on the back side of the wall are these 4 portraits.  

No names, but the photos are retro and are so sweet to look at.  Young people today will never know the joy of looking back at old photos of their family and friends.

Very sad.

347/365

Church Choir performance

My church puts on a Christmas performance each year.  This is the first time I've been to one since I've been in Texas.  It was absolutely spectacular.  Their voices are wonderful and the director did a great job putting the production together.  

This is only a small portion of the adult choir that I was able to get without getting too much unimportant "stuff" if I tried to get the entire group.  There was a children's choir as well as a few living scenes of the Christmas story.

I'm so glad I attended this production this afternoon.

346/365

Motel Backyard in Eastland

My friend and I decided to take a ride to Eastland and we stopped in the coffee shop that's on the lower level of a motel.  There's this beautiful pool in the backyard along with a couple of BBQ grills, changing rooms and bathrooms.  There was a pool cleaner in the water doing its work and of course there wasn't anyone swimming at this point in the year, but it's still a great place.  

Almost makes me want to take a little vacation to this place in the warm weather just for a short get-away.  Probably won't happen, but it's a nice thought..

345/365

Back Alley Entrance

Walking down a back ally, there was this entrance to a business.  A guarded window, electric boxes and a locked set of doors.  Late day sun casting sideway shadows.

344/365

Grey Home

This is a second home on a piece of property in Putnam, Texas.  It looks pretty shabby right now, but I wonder if it was someone's forever home once upon a time.  The windows were boarded up on the inside so there was no looking in to see what it was like.  

So sad to see these structures go to wrack and ruin.

343/365

Abandoned Old Home

Another abandoned structure in Eastland, Texas.  The door was unlocked and I was able to get a few images of the inside of the structure~~part of the ceiling was ripped open, there was trash on the floor and there was even an upright vacuum cleaner in the rooms.

It looks like it must have been a nice home once upon a time.

342/365

Vacant Gas Station

This structure is located in Eastland, Texas.  It must have been a gas station once upon a time, but now it's just abandoned and unused.  The door was locked and the office inside was a mess. 

Who pays the taxes on these places?

341/365

Advent Candle

This past Sunday was the second week for the Advent Candle.  On the way out of the sanctuary I was able to get a photo of the arrangement with the two candles burning.

I love the Advent adventure.

Two more weeks and then Christmas Eve.  Praise God for His blessings.

340/365

Abandoned Mobil Home

This mobil home is located in a locked-fenced yard that's overgrown and appears to have been abandoned for a long time.  It looks like it might have been a nice home structure once upon a time, but it certainly isn't right now.  

339/365

Habitat for Humanity

While driving around I saw this house being renovated for Habitat for Humanity.  I knew the organization was in Abilene, but I never knew where any of the structures were located.  

I was able to go inside and see the layout.  It looked like there would be 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in addition to kitchen, laundry room, living room and other space.  There was also a nice big back yard.  

338/365

Wall Art on Abandoned Building

It was really nice today~~a little cool, but not bad if you're dressed for the coolness.  I took a drive along some roads I've never been on before and found this structure. The door to the left of the word "crown" (not in the photo) was locked tight and there were only some small windows that were covered over on the inside.  

What was this building?  How do people pay the taxes on a completely unused building? 

I'll probably never know.

337/365

Church Christmas Tree

My church has two of these trees, so beautifully decorated, on the stage at the front of the sanctuary.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of one today, but I only had my phone, so the quality isn't quite as good as I had hoped it would be.  

Beautiful just the same.

336/365

Cow Painting

When I was in Dublin, Texas last week, I saw these painted windows on an abandoned building.  

Looks like there's a sports team at the high school that needs some encouragement.

336/365

Abandoned bldg in Baird

I've had a cold for the past 4 days and it's wiped me out.  No energy so I'm behind posting pics.  I'll try to catch up before the end of the month.

Today the weather was beautiful, I think the high was 70, so I went for a drive.  I wound up in Baird and was walking down some of the side streets when I came upon this abandoned bldg.  I have no idea what the building was originally used for, but there it sits, empty.

335/365

West Texas Rodeo

I love taking photos at rodeos.  This pic is from the rodeo  a few months ago.