128/365

Round Yellow patio Table

There's an ice cream shop in downtown Abilene that serves the best ice cream ever.  It's called the Roll Shack.  Outside the shop there are two sets of these tables for people who want to sit outside if the weather is nice.  I think the other set is red.  

The weather has been really nice lately, but I guess no one is going to the ice cream shop early in the morning.

127/365

Random Blue on Blue

I was waiting for a friend at my favorite coffee shop.  The weather was gorgeous today, so I was sitting at a seat outside.  While waiting I decided to make a photo of the chair I was sitting in.  It's this random blue design that works as a great background for text or other images. 

Who knew a chair could be so creative.

It's pretty amazing what kind of images I can find when I'm desperate.

126/365

Brick Wall Corner

On one of my photo trips, I saw this brick corner on one of the buildings and thought the colors looked interesting.

125/365

Palace Theater

Abandoned Palace Theater in small town Texas.  The marquee is still there, but the theater remains empty although ticket booth is still in front of the theater on the street as a reminder that once upon a time, it was an active venue.

124/365

Once Upon a Convenience Store

This sign was on a corner in front of an abandoned gas station and convenience store.

It must have been a fairly thriving business at one time.

Another sad and forgotten place in rural Texas.

123/365

Found License Plates

These old license plates were laying on the floor of an abandoned structure.

122/365

Abandoned Country Home

Another photo field trip, another country road, another abandoned home behind a locked fence.

121/365

Dainty Flowers

I was walking from my car in a parking lot to a convenience store and I saw these dainty flowers growing through a crack in the cement.  It always amazes me how tenacious nature can be, how growth can still happen in the weirdest and most difficult places.

I guess that can be a lesson for all of us.  We should continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and His Word, no matter how difficult things around us seem at the moment.

120/365

Golf Ball Graffiti

A friend of mine lives fairly close to one of the golf clubs in town.  One of the routes to get to her place is to drive by the club house of the golf course.  On my way home tonight, I saw this artwork on the side of the building and decided to make an image of it.  

It was a really busy day for me.  I left the house at 9 am and didn't return until 8 pm.

Cleaned an airbnb for several hours this morning and then helped another friend relocate their

travel trailer, but first we had to dig it out of the mud when it got stuck.

I'm thinking I might be getting too old to be doing this kind of physical effort, but the truth is, even though it was hard work and I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this blog post I am so, so, so grateful to God for the strength and energy he has supplied me with.

I can do this work and then be tired.  Praise God. 

119/365

Yapping Dawg

I saw this place down a side road outside of Anson, TX.  It's a stand-alone building, apparently selling liquor - beer & wine.  The building is pink, has a small entrance door, a window with protective bars and a list of hours that it's open.  

It appears to be abandoned. 

118/365

Butterfly on Wall

In Anson, TX, there's a decorated alleyway that has murals on each wall and picnic tables and benches for sitting a spell.  The walls have some great artwork and this butterfly decorates one of the corners.

117/365

Abstract Artwork

I came across this abstract piece of artwork as I was walking around downtown the other day in the area where there are many reception venues.  

I don't really like abstract art, but this is so colorful and it's right at the gate of the venue so everyone on the street can see it as can anyone entering for an event.

116/365

Another abandoned building

This building is in Anson, TX.  I've seen it before and photographed it before, but not from this angle. 

There's nothing that identifies what it once was, but the structure still looks like it has some good bones.

I wonder why no one has decided to rehab it?

115/365

Row of Homes

These 5 homes are only about 4 years old and are on the edge of downtown Abilene, Texas.  

They're within walking distance of the town if any of the residents care to walk.  They each have a driveway and a small back yard.

Before they were occupied I looked in the windows of the lower level.  It looked like the layout of each is the same, but I couldn't tell how many bedrooms are upstairs.

114/365

Supermarket Drinks

I'm working early voting this week in one of the local supermarkets.  Today was a pretty slow day and I'm always looking for a photo op so I grabbed an image of these drinks in the cooler section.

I don't get it.  The Starbucks drinks are super-expensive and the ones on the

next shelf are just....well, weird. Who would buy a drink called Liquid Death with a

skull as a logo????

113/365

Painted Fire hydrant

A red and green painted fire hydrant in downtown Abilene.

There are green paint drops on the sidewalk from when the hydrant was being painted.

112/365

SODA district

This sign is at a business on the south side of Abilene, Texas.  SODA stands for "south of downtown Abilene", and it's a complete area that contains reception venues, bars, and other social gathering places. The sign is illuminated once it gets dark.

111/365

Gnome on Wall

It was a stunningly beautiful day today.  The temp hovered around 82 and the humidity was about 32.  The sun was shining and there was a little breeze.  

After I went to the grandkid's lesson this afternoon, I drove around looking for some photo ops.  I finally parked the car and got out to walk around with my camera, and I found this little single layer of brick wall in between two larger brick walls.  I almost missed the gnome painting.

How cute is this?

110/365

Birds on Wires

I made this image a couple of weeks ago with my cell phone, so it isn't great quality.  

I just thought it looked interesting with the birds on the wires against a blue sky.

Too bad I didn't have my SLR with me to get a better image.

109/365

Abandoned School Building

This abandoned building is located in Stamford, Texas.  It looks like it was a school building once upon a time, but the plaque above the door had the name

"Brotherly Love Bible Mission".

It might have morphed into a mission.  There were no other identifiers on or near the property to say what the structure had been.  

I can just imagine, in my mind's eye, students walking up those stairs to attend classes at one time.  I could be completely wrong, but imagination is a good thing.

108/365

Registration Line

At the Taylor Electric Customer Appreciation event, the cars were driving through their huge building.  I'm not sure what the voting was for, but the company was giving the occupants of each car some separate gifts, a gift bag and food.  

The event lasted from 10 am to 5 pm.  Wow. It must have been a very long, busy day for the Taylor Electric employees.

107/365

Taylor Electric Pens

One of the electric companies in this area is Taylor Electric.  They had their yearly customer appreciation event today and one of my photographer friends had the contract to photograph the event.  He called me to help him.

These pens were on one of the tables where the cars were driving through to get their gifts from the company.  I don't know if they write in different color ink, but I thought they looked cool lying on the table like this.

106/365

Advertisements at a Coffee Shop

While waiting for a friend to meet me at the local coffee shot, I grabbed this image of the advertisements right inside the front door.

105/365

Staircase Shadows

Steps leading to an upstairs brewery/restaurant in downtown.

104/365

Window Repetition

One of my prompts was "repetition".  I thought this image of windows on a high rise apartment building in downtown fit the prompt.

103/365

Small Town Garage

This abandoned garage is located in a small town in west Texas.  

 

102/365

Building and Sign

I found a place in downtown Abilene where I haven't been before.  The sign looks like it belonged, once upon a time, to a motel.  The words on the building, which I've removed, indicate that it was an 

electric company at one time.  Maybe it was a motel before that, who knows.

101/365

Rocking Chairs

While waiting for a friend outside Cracker Barrel, I snapped this photo of the rocking chairs they have for sale.  They even have smaller chairs for children now.

100/365

Crocus Design

I was on one of the college campuses today and saw a garden with various colored crocuses and in the middle of it all was an upright metal rectangle with a crocus emblem on each side.  

I thought this metallic design of the crocus was so pretty.

The flowers were beautiful too but it was windy and in full sun so it was difficult to 

get a good photo of any of them.

099/365

Abandoned Country House

As we were driving down the road I noticed this house in a field, so we detoured a little and were able to get pretty close to it.  It was totally deserted, but there was a DISH on one side of the house and some air conditioners in the windows.  I looked in one of the windows and saw a bed mattress, shelves on the wall with knick-knacks, some clothing.  The people who lived here must have just decided one day to walk away.  There were also some sheds nearby with all manner of "things" still there.

It's a curiosity why these places are abandoned like they are.

098/365

Confederate Flag 

My friend and I stopped in the country cemetery and we saw this 

Confederate Flag flying at one of the graves.  

In all the cemeteries I stopped at I've never seen one of these flags before. 

097/365

Oil Tanks on Dirt Road

The weather was incredibly beautiful today.  It was sunny and only about 68 degrees.  

I took a drive on some back roads of a small town not too far from here and 

came across these oil tanks.

Nothing super exciting, but it was good to get out even if this was the only subject I managed to find to photograph.  

096/365

Baby Girl Quilt

My granddaughter is having her first baby in June.  The parents are both super-excited. 

It's my first great grandchild.

I've been making quilts for all the new babies in the family.

I hope she likes this one.  

095/365

Radium Girls

Once in a while when I'm in the library, I look for a movie to watch.

I saw this one and took it home.  I knew it was a true story and not a really happy one so I held off watching it until yesterday.

It was really good.  Just be warned that it will tug on your heartstrings, but there was a positive outcome at the end.  

094/365

Pink Lily

I made this image a long time ago.  I might have already posted it, but I don't remember.

I love the pink color.

It's raining today, thankfully.  We haven't had rain in a long time.  The temps are also cooler, and the longer they stay cool, the happier I'll be.  It will be way too hot for way too long here.

It's a get-undekr-a-blanket-on-the-couch-with-a-cup-of-coffee-and-a-book kind of day today.

I'm reading 

"Between the Wild Branches", by Connilyn Cossette.

 

093/365

Abandoned Building in Stamford, TX

Building located in Stamford, TX.  It is part of a structure that was something like a tourist motel.

092/365

Abandoned One Story Building

As I was wandering around downtown today, I found this abandoned building.  There were no signs to indicated what it had been.  Another conundrum.

091/365

Frog Decor

I was leaving a friend's house today when I noticed this cute little frog decor in the front yard of the house next door.   

090/365

Tree Trunk and Hydrant

One of my photo prompts was Lone Tree.  While I was looking around for such an object, I saw this tree with the fire hydrant in the background.  

I just thought the composition was interesting and there are times when I get desperate for an image of some kind.  I like the little touch of orange color in the background.

089/365

Meter Guardrail

Throughout town there are meter units that have guardrails in front of them to keep them safe from car traffic.  I've never seen anything like this in other places I've lived.  

088/365

Clean alleyway

While walking around downtown today to find a photo op, I passed through this amazingly clean alleyway and decided to grab a photo of it.  

There's often graffiti on the walls, but seldom is there trash on the ground.

087/365

Dragonfly

I bought this dragonfly for my car quite a few years ago.  

I've never even considered changing it out for another piece of decor.

I just love this one.

086/365

Farm Fresh Eggs

The price of eggs is ridiculous.  It's a conspiracy that they've killed so many of  the chickens and the price of eggs has skyrocketed.

Someone from church brings eggs to our SS class and anyone who wants them can take them, free of charge, So... not only are they free, but they're beautiful. What a blessing.

085/365

Antique Rake

On  a ride down a country road, there was an area where there were many pieces of antique equipment on display.  The gate was open so we walked around to look at the equipment.  

084/365

Abandoned Country House 3

Another beautiful weather day.  A friend and I spent the afternoon driving around looking for photo ops.

We came upon this abandoned house.  Sadly we couldn't get any closer because of the locked gate and the barbed wire, but I think the image  looks great anyway.

083/365

Weathered Santa Decor

This moon with a sleeping Santa  is a piece of decor on a downtown business in Abilene, Texas.  I've never seen it before but I made the image in the early spring, so it looks like it's left out all year.

I didn't even see a sign indicating what the business is.

I think this is so cute.  

082/365

Graffiti With Pole

In the alleyway downtown that's painted, this pole isn't painted.  It's too bad they didn't paint the pole the same colors as the wall it sits in front of.  

081/365

Sign at Zoo

This afternoon my daughter/grandkids and I went to the Cisco Zoo for an outing.  The weather was beautiful (maybe a little warm).  The Zoo was in operation between 1920-1930 so now there's just walking trails and the remains of animal enclosures along with several abandoned cabins that were rented to people wanting to stay on the grounds of the zoo property.  

We spent time walking the trails on the property at the opposite end from where the animal enclosures are.  Obviously, there's a Balancing Rock nearby.  I got a laugh out of the sign.

The kiddos had a great time and they were very sad when we said it was time to leave.

080/365

Concho County Courthouse with Markers

The Concho County Courthouse is located in the small town of Paint Rock, Texas.

The Second Empire Style structure was completed in 1886 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

The markers are slightly out of focus so as to draw attention to the building itself.

079/365

Alleyway Artwork

I was walking around downtown Abilene this afternoon waiting for my meeting to begin.  There's an alleyway that's been recently painted with beautifully colored graphic designs.  

I made a few images, so I post this one today.