Favorite Photo - 2nd runner up

Another favorite from this past January, this traffic light is still pretty cool looking to me.

Favorite photo - 3rd runner up

As we near the beginning of the new year, some other Daily Bloggers have been showcasing their favorite posts so I thought I would go through some of my own from 2007 and find my top three favorites. I posted this shot back on January 21. It was about 20F degrees when I shot the picture and it looks like we will kick off 2008 with a big cold front so I'm looking forward to that. This current mild weather is nice but a bit of cold weather is nice this time of year.

The January 1st theme for City Daily Photo Blog will be "Best Photo of 2007" so be sure to check back here on January 1 and I will include a list of all the participating city bloggers.

Fishing along the Guadalupe River

Lately the weather has been lovely during the day. Still a nip in the air but enough sun to warm you up a bit. We like to cruise around town once in a while to just soak things in. It's very relaxing to drive, listen to the Sirius jazz and see what goes on around town. This is along the river in Starcke Park. There were plenty of fishing going on but I like this spot these men found. When I moved here from NC, I noticed and really liked the color of the water in rivers and creeks here. I grew up near the Cape Fear River and water in the middle of the state of NC tends to be muddy so you have a rusty color. I love the bluish green here.

I'll post a couple more the next few days of things we saw in the park.

Chilly mornings

Lately we have had very pretty weather though we do need some good rain. During the day, it's been in the 60s (F) and mostly sunny. Overnight, it's been dipping down into the upper 20s (F), which means mornings can be frosty. This is the windshield of the truck. I tried to scrap the frost as much as possible but it's hard when the frost is on a truck and you are only 5'2"! :)

Here's a shot of the windshield from inside the truck, where I implemented Plan B -- melting the frost, which only took 1 minute really.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry for the last minute post but I was ill yesterday and then we visited family all day today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with love, laughter and fun!

Nutcracker Museum

Besides pecans and other nuts, dried fruits and sweet treats, Papes Pecan store also has a nutcracker museum that you can browse. It is amazing how many are in the collection! There are all different sizes, shapes and characters...from Ronald Reagan to Yosemite Sam.

Hot Santa

Here it is a few days before Christmas and in Seguin, we have beautiful weather -- in the 60s with plenty of sun and very little humidity in the air. The only "bad" thing about this is that it's hard to get into the Christmas mood if you don't have to layer on some clothes. I wonder if Santa is hot in his suit.

We were running errands this morning and we passed Santa standing in front of a florist shop. I was impressed by this Santa b/c he face really looks nice and what I envision as a "good, authentic Santa." Some Santas you see don't even bother covering up their dark hair! We didn't stop to chat but his beard even looked real. Very nice.

We stopped by Gift & Gourmet to pick out a few more final gifts and now it's wrapping time. Or napping time. This is the first weekend in months where we do not have to be somewhere or do something away from home. It feels nice. :)

Honorable Mention

It was hard to capture a full view of my office decorated with the snowflakes and lights I have posteb about earlier. But here is one shot. I think I cut out about 40 snowflakes! It was fun today in the office. Lots of cheer in the air. Sonia and I received Honorable Mention along with another coworker for his office. There was also a winner for Most Creative and another winner for Best Traditional.

Christmas lights and a little friendly competition...

Tonight I am busy pulling together the final touches for my office decorating contest. Things have heated up a bit and people were busy preparing for the judging tomorrow morning. The snowflakes I cut and posted about a few days ago have all been taped or hung in the office along with some trees fashioned out of tissue paper. I needed just a little something to finish off my space. My friends suggested adding ambient lighting. So here I am digging through attic boxes to find unused lights. Choices, choices. White string or dancing color...hmm. I will let you know if I place in the contest and I'll post a picture of the finished product. It's really fun.

Mistletoe

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Texas was the abundance of mistletoe EVERYWHERE and this is year-round. In the past, I only encountered mistletoe during the Christmas season and usually in a boutique or at the tree stands. I recall having to hunt down some mistletoe once to have some for decorations for a party. And here? I can just walk around (or even stop along the road on the way to work) and snip off whatever I want. It's pretty neat. I also snapped a shot of a batch with berries this past weekend. Okay, off to bake more brownies. Have a good week everyone. Only six more days of waiting!!!

Visit to the City Cemetery

When we visited the cemetery to put a flag on Calvin Williams' grave on Veteran's Day, we noticed this next to it. We don't know what it is. Do you know?

The last trip to the post office

Yesterday Mark and I made our last trip to the post office and our gifts for far off family members are on their way. We did priority because the postal rate is currently 5 days behind, pushing arrival of our things to post-Christmas. It is always nice when the staff tells you what your options are and also when they honestly tell you if it will make it in time!

This trip was fun. Everybody in line were good spirits and we talked and laughed and waved to Santa, who was there for pictures with anyone who wanted one. It was one of the most fun trips to the post office ever.

White Spider

I don't know much about spiders but I thought this one looked very interesting. All sorts of living things love our plumeria. Check out those cool legs he has! Every time I got too close with my digicam, it would scoot to the other side of the plant. It took several times and slow movements to catch him.

Hair Haus Revisited

About a year ago, I posted my first post of Hair Haus. I thought I would post an updated shot since some greenery has been added to the front. I like the potted plants and the little tree to the side. You can't go wrong with more green. Tomorrow I finally get to use my Stress Reliever gift certificate and I am so excited!! 2 hours of pampering; what a treat.

You can also see the location of the shop is very close to the Aumont, which itself is pretty interesting. I need to look inside the Aumont sometime and perhaps get a shot inside. Well, it will go on my mental list of things to check out for the blog. Two blocks beyond the Aumont, in the picture, is our town square.

Bare pecan trees

We're still experiencing quite a bit of see-saw weather lately. 80 on Monday, 40s on Tuesday, 50s today. Who knows what it will really be tomorrow. Anyway, as I was driving from the library to the house, I noticed these neat piles of leaves in this yard. It reminded me of my childhood in NC, where fall meant lots of raking on weekends. We used to rake winding paths in the leaves and ride our bikes all around the yard before we finished our task. It made the chore more fun that way. Around Seguin, pecan trees are mostly bare of leaves now but on the tree in our backyard, we still see some pecans still in their little coverings, waiting to drop. And yes, there is still plenty on the ground.

Snowflakes!

This is the closest we have gotten to snow this year. :) I am busy trying to wrap and ship gifts (5 boxes sent yesterday) and decorating both home and office this year. There is a 9 foot tree in our living room, tall and VERY slim. Can a 9 foot tree be cute? I think it is. It's on loan from my sister as we couldn't find one we really liked.

I have not cut snowflakes in over 20 years I believe! These are for my office at work. There is a decorating contest and Sonia and I have decided to participate. When we finish, perhaps I will post a picture here for you to see. We are really enjoying working together at the steel mill in town.

Hello from up above...

We're slowly getting the house put together after having so much work done on it this past year. The study is coming along although it is currently Gift Wrap Central. We have a house about a hundred years old. Mark found a government survey of historic homes in Seguin and our house was included. I like features on our old house, like the storage space tucked in above the closet here. Smokey likes it also, as you can tell. Anytime the ladder is brought out to do any kind of work, he has supersonic hearing and is up the ladder before we know it. And of course if we don't notice him right away, he will meow to get our attention.

Inside Chiro Java

This is an inside shot of Chiro Java, a coffee house located on the town square. (I also have an outside shot of Chiro Java.) I am really glad we have a coffee house in town and I hope that they will one day extend their hours into the evening a bit more. It'd be a great hang out where you can unwind in the evenings and would also be a good place to gather for some group activities such as a knitting group, which is something we did in San Antonio once a month.

Besides coffee, there are other beverages and some food. I've met friends there a few times for lunch and we had some great salads and sandwiches. You can also surf the we there on a PC that's provided.

Beautiful days

Well, I've been out of town again so I didn't get a chance to post before I left. I'll be home tomorrow so look for some more pictures soon.

Here is a little birdy I noticed on the tip of our roof day before the trip. I heard sweet little chirps and looked for him but it took a while to find him up there. I'm not sure what he was looking for up there. The blue sky is an indication of just how lovely the weather has been lately in Seguin. Just perfect temperatures; cool and crisp during the day and chilly at night. Cold enough to enjoy hot chocolate properly. :)

Red leaves

Sometimes we get so busy that we miss things right under our noses. I have been in Texas for a little over 12 years now and I have grown to love it here. I still, however, ache to see endless seas of orange, red and yellow leaves to herald in the fall of North Carolina, where I grew up. We were getting in the car Sunday and as I got in, I noticed the leaves on our crepe myrtle. Well, when did that happen? The leaves are so beautiful. I love red leaves.

Our weather has been sort of up and down lately. We caught a cold spell with nights in the 30s (F degrees) but then it warms back up into the 80s. It's hard to tell if it's spring, fall or winter. That's south Texas for you.

"Smokey" Joe Williams Blog Launches Today!

Today I wanted to let you know that a new blog has been created to honor a native son of Seguin that many people outside the area probably know nothing of unless they are baseball history buffs.

On October 17 2006, I posted an entry about "Smokey" Joe Williams and my favorite photo of him. I am happy to report that my husband, Mark, has created a blog where he will share some of his nine years of research on "Smokey" Joe. This incredible man and ballplayer brought recognition to Seguin when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, yet most people, even in our own little city, know nothing about his accomplishments. When you know "Smokey" Joe's story, you will also have a glimpse into the lives of other black ballplayers who played during a time when baseball was segregated. It's very interesting and also amazing how these men loved the game so much, they were willing to suffer through many challenges just to be on the field.

The picture you see here is of young Joe Williams. You can learn more by visiting the "Smokey" Joe Williams blog when you have a chance.