Spring Flowers

These flowers are growing out next to my driveway where I get out of my car. They happened to catch my eye, and I thought they'd make a good photo. Spring is my favorite time of the year, and I love finding new things growing around the yard.

Here's one more shot of the flowers at a different angle, that I've played around with a little in Paint shop pro.....

So Long, Sunday

Goodbye weekend, hello Monday and Jury duty for me. =)

Stand for Change - Obama won Kaufman Caucus

I spent the better part of my Saturday at the democratic caucus convention for Kaufman County. It was a pretty exciting day, which included some raised voices and heightened tempers. But in the end, everyone seemed to unite as democrats and pronounce their support for whomever ends up being the final candidate for the party.

Our county representation resulted in a state delegate breakdown of 15 Obama and 9 Clinton delegates that will be heading to the state convention in Austin held from June 5-7th. You know, personally the most important thing to me is to support the democratic candidate no matter who it is, so I was happy to leave the convention with a sense of unity within the people attending.

Is anyone thinking of good tricks to play on significant others or family for April fool’s day? My ‘favorite’ aunt, Valerie, will be celebrating her 50th birthday on April 1st – she was 11 when I was born, and that REALLY makes me feel old. I can’t imagine how she feels. =)

Terrell Water Tower Two

This water tower is located off FM 986 on the north side of town past the high school. I never really paid much attention to all the different shapes of the towers around Terrell, but will be keeping my eyes open for different types now.... =)

Terrell Water Tower

Today's photo is one of several water towers around town. This one is located down near Ben Gill park. I'm still trying to read through the owner's manual for my new camera.... I'm pretty impressed with it so far...

Terrell Post Office at Night

I celebrated my 39th birthday this past Saturday, March 22, and I decided to get a new camera with my gift money. I’ve been looking at them for months - every time I went in WalMart.… when it came down to buying one I decided to check around and read as much as I could. I’ve been using a Samsung A7, which I really like.

After looking at a lot of different brands and models – and driving all around Dallas and areas east, I found the best prices online. I finally decided on the Samsung NV11, which I bought online Sunday night and it just came in the mail today! It has a lot of features I need to read the manual to learn how to work, but I’m a learn-as-I-go type of person. I am from Missouri, the Show-Me state, after all.

So…. These are my first photos with the new camera – night photos, since I had to charge the battery before I could use it. =) This is the Terrell Post Office, located on North Frances, just north of the downtown strip. The first photo above shows the back of the post office and the loading dock. This second photo shows the front of the building – it came out with a slight green hue to it, so I changed it to b&w.

Terrell Lodge No 5

This building is located on North Catherine Street, right off the downtown 'strip'. At one time it was apparently some type of lodge, as the name and coat of arms/crest painted on the front is still visible. There is currently a florist, 'Creative Florists', and another small retail store in the storefront, with loft apartments located upstairs.

Terrell Water Meter

Today's photo is a water meter located in the downtown area of Terrell. Funny how the Terrell meter is stamped and made in Grand Prairie, Texas.

**Update: I should have mentioned that our city is in the process of replacing all of our water meters. As they replace the water meter, they also replace the water meter cover with a new bright blue painted cover. This method allows them to more easily see which ones are 'complete'.**

Brin Opera House

Today's photo is the old Brin opera house, located on the main downtown strip. Terrell doesn't have an actual 'square' like a lot of older towns. We have a small state highway, highway 80, that runs through the middle of town (along with the railroad that runs parallel to 80). The Brin opera house is located directly between Moore Street(hwy 80) and the railroad tracks.

I'm researching more about the history of this building, and will have a follow up post soon with an older photo of how it used to look. The inscription at the top of the building says "1874 Philip Brin 1922". It's currently used as an office building.

Terrell Taco Bell 2

I posted a photo 3 days ago (Thursday, March 20) of the Terrell Taco Bell, and mentioned that there had been some demolition going on. An 'anonymous' left a comment stating that a new Taco Bell was being built in Terrell, and would be complete sometime around July. The demolition crew has been making good time in tearing down the old building, as you can see from today's photo... So I guess instead of some cosmetic remodeling, we're getting an all new one!

Happy March 22nd

One month til Earth Day April 22nd! I'm taking the day off today in celebration of my birthday, which is the reason for the late post. I'm officially (and truly) 39 years old today. My last year until I turn the big 4-0. 8-)

Today's photo is from the archives and is a 'vegas.com' mobile sign that lives on the side of a white van. This was from my last trip to Vegas back after New Year's. This is where I'd like to be for my birthday, but unfortunately not this March 22nd, so maybe next...

Earth day question for today: has anyone heard of a 'freegan' ?

SE Missouri Flood

With all the flooding across the midwest this week a few people have asked about my family, who live in and around Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Everyone is doing ok, a few close calls with flooding though. The photos today are taken with my sister's camera phone from the parking lot around the moving company my dad owns. This first photo is looking from the front door of the office out into the street. There isn't any water here at all normally - this is a parking lot and driveway, and there is a small water drainage ditch out parallel to the street/highway in front. Obviously this ditch is full and overflowed everywhere.....

The next photo below shows the front of Poplar Bluff Transfer Company. My dad owns this local agency for Atlas Van Lines. You can see a small wooden plank that seems to be floating in the water, and this is normally the walkway across the ditch to get to the mailbox....


This next photo is another one of the parking lot - if you didn' t know exactly where the driveway was when turning off the highway, you could easily end up in the ditch... the driveway is right next to the yellow post....but which side?


This last photo shows the McDonalds right down the street from the office....

Terrell Taco Bell

I'm not sure exactly what's going on with our Taco Bell here in Terrell, but it appears some major demolition is going on. Our Taco Bell gets way too much business to be closing down, so maybe we're getting a newer and better one. I'll follow up as soon as I can get some more info. I like the 'graffiti' on the right hand side of the buidling where it says "No 'insert taco photo here'"...

A Wrinkle in Time

I have a birthday coming up on Saturday, and my broken down old grandma has been kidding me about pushing 40 (i'll be turning 39) and how i'll be getting some new wrinkles as I turn another year older. I told her that if heredity has anything to do with it, then I should be worried. (a joke of course, she'll be reading this later - but i really did tell her that!)

She often tells me that I treat her like an old dirty rag or an old shoe, and I just toss her aside when I'm done with her. She can be very dramatical, but it's all in fun. She's like a close friend... I talk to her every day about whatever may be going on at the time... she's an old marine's wife and not one to mess around with. She's sharp as a tack and can cuss with the best of them(us). I called to make sure she wouldn't kill me for using her as a post for today, and she thought it might be best if I posted some photos from her youth instead of a current one. I thought that kind of lost the whole reason for the 'wrinkle' story, but felt obliged to include a few... she looks like a movie star to me, but I'm sort of biased. ;)

Woody's Greenville

Woody's welcomes you to Greenville, Texas.

Azalea Bloom

We still have a couple weeks until we're in full 'spring' mode here in Terrell, but my azalea bushes have their first blooms for the spring already. This will have flowers all over in a few weeks, but I have very little patience - so here's a sneak peak!

Bee in the jasmine

This little guy found his breakfast in the Carolina jasmine growing in my driveway... the bees were buzzing all around today. It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day here in north Texas....

First United Methodist Church - Terrell

Bulbous Berry Eyes

The two top berries here remind me of some bulge-y eyes... i'm not sure what the bottom berry looks like though... HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!!

Abitibi Paper Retriever

Today's photo is a cartoon character from our local paper recycling bin in Terrell. I chose this to post because I have a meeting at work today for an 'Earth Day' committee I've been elected/selected (forced) to be on. Earth Day is April 22nd this year, and this is our planning meeting to see how we can make changes around the office and in our every day lives that can make a difference in conservation efforts for our earth.

Personally, I've already replaced all the original windows in my older home with double-paned energy efficient windows (it was nice to finally have windows that weren't painted shut) and I've also replaced my old shingled roof with a metal roof. The metal helps to reflect sunrays off your roof and keep your home cooler in the summer - and it also helps to keep the heat in the home during the winter. I've actually seen savings in my heating and cooling bills around 20-25% since making these improvements. My 'project' for this year is to add insulation up in the attic to see if I can trim a little more off these bills.

I'll be posting some more 'green' information over the next month... did you know that you can buy insulation now that is made out of recycled denim/blue jeans? And the final note for today: Please remember to flatten your cardboard!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE GILBERT!!

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd

This is a photo taken at night of the Episcopal Church of Terrell Texas, located on Brin Street. My first photo shows the amazing stained glass window on the front of the church...

My second photo shows the whole front of the church taken at night, and I'm including an old postcard photo of the church and how it looked back when it was built around 1908. It really amazes me how well these older buildings stand up, because it still looks fairly 'new' to me.

Terrell Alley

Today's photo is the alley behind the southern side of downtown Terrell. This street is right between the businesses and the train tracks that run through Terrell. The perfect place to hide all the power lines and poles that one wouldn't want to see on the downtown strip.

Interestingly, I was going to include the name of the street but can't seem to find it. On one google map, the street doesn't even show up; on another one it does show the street but it has no name. So, this must be the place where the street has no name.

Railroad Crossing Sign

Forney Jackrabbit

The high school mascot for Forney is the Jackrabbit. This particular jackrabbit is found in downtown Forney right near where the train comes through town.

Railroad spike

A leftover scrap from the railroad tracks in downtown Forney Texas....

Sorry I haven't had time to visit many other sites lately, I've been busy with work the last couple days because of the bad weather going on everywhere...

Loyd's General Merchandise - Forney Texas

Today's photo is an old brick storefront in downtown Forney near the train tracks. The current occupant of the building is a local flower shop. I'm attaching a picture of the side of the building, which shows that the old occupant was the old town general store...

Forney Train Tracks

This is a view from the middle of the train tracks in downtown Forney, Texas looking west towards Dallas.

Watching... and waiting...

Well, the voting is officially over and I am now officially a caucus delegate going to the county convention at the end of March! As of my posting, there is 76% of the vote counted in Texas for the 'Primary' portion of our voting and Clinton is winning 51% to Obama's 48%... it'll still probably be a week before the caucus results are known. I have to say my county went for Clinton in the primary, but for the caucus in my precinct the Hillary supporters were outnumbered 63% to 37%. For my precinct, this meant that Hillary ended up with 3 delegates who attend the county caucus on March 29th. As I stated earlier, I'm one of these 3 delegates to the county so I'm pretty excited... this is the first time I've been involved in politics to this degree.... just sitting and waiting for final results is the hardest part!

**Update** Texas is called for Hillary Clinton... the thing to watch for now are the caucus results, because that could make the difference in the final delegates awarded... she could win the popular vote, but Obama may get the delegate vote....

TEXAS PRIMARY

Finally, after a few very long months, we finally make it to Texas voting day. I don't think our vote has ever mattered in any of the election primaries I've voted in in the past =)...

Dandelion 'Clock'

Well, the Bradford Pear trees next door have buds and white blooms coming out on them, and the yards everywhere are filled with little yellow dandelions and their seed pods like this in the photograph. I had planned to take a picture this morning when I saw a field of these, but it was really windy and when I went back there were only a few left intact. Just to be sure I had the name right (dandelion), I looked this up in Wikipedia and saw that these are actually called a 'clock.' You learn something new every day....

Rowlett Shopping Center - Comming Soon

I drive past this area every day on my way to work, and have thought this was funny since the sign first went up. I'm kind of a stickler for spelling, and the inner-editor in me cringes when I see things like this, but I see humor in it too. I laugh that someone paid for this sign...

March Theme Day - Graffiti and/or Street Art

The theme for the first day of March is graffiti or street art. I had a tough time with this one, luckily, since we don't have a lot of graffiti around our town. Unfortunately, we also lack any interesting murals. I wanted to photograph some of the graffiti from the trains passing through town, but never was able to catch anything that came out clear.

So, I'm posting my theme day photo of this skull that I found on the back of the old 'Southland Athletic Building' near the train tracks. When I first saw this, I thought it was just an alien - but upon closer inspection, I guess it looks like a cross between an alien and maybe a reptile. I thought it looked kind of cool against the old bricks of the building.

Over 140 other City Photo Blogs from around the world are participating in today's theme day! Please take time to check out these other cities and their local street art and/or graffiti.

Adelaide, Australia by Gordon, Albuquerque (NM), USA by Helen, Aliso Viejo (CA), USA by Rodney, American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Arradon, France by Alice, Ashton under Lyne, UK by Pennine, Athens, Greece by Debbie, Auckland, New Zealand by Lachezar, Austin (TX), USA by LB, Bandung, Indonesia by Guntur Purwanto, Baziège, France by PaB, Belgrade, Serbia by BgdPic, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Bicheno, Australia by Greg, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Boston (MA), USA by Fenix, Boston (MA), USA by Sarah, Whit, & Leyre, Brighton, UK by Harvey, Bucaramanga, Colombia by Fernando, Budapest, Hungary by Isadora, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Buenos Aires, Argentina by Karine, Canterbury, UK by Rose, Cape Town, South Africa by Kerry-Anne, Chandler (AZ), USA by Melindaduff, Chateaubriant, France by Bergson, Cheltenham, UK by Marley, Chicago (IL), USA by b.c., Chicago (IL), USA by U R us, Christchurch, New Zealand by Michelle, Clearwater (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Clearwater Beach (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Cleveland (OH), USA by iBlowfish, Cologne, Germany by April11, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Detroit (MI), USA by Taittems, Dunedin (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Durban, South Africa by CrazyCow, Evry, France by Olivier, Forks (WA), USA by Corinne, Glasgow, Scotland by Jackie, Greenville (SC), USA by Denton, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Guelph, Canada by Pat, Helsinki, Finland by Kaa, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Hyde, UK by Gerald, Inverness (IL), USA by Neva, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Joplin (MO), USA by Victoria, Juneau (AK), USA by Gwyn, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Edwin, Kyoto, Japan by Tadamine, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Le Guilvinec, France by ds2944, Lisbon, Portugal by Sailor Girl, Lisbon, Portugal by Jsaltao, Lodz, Poland by ritalounge, London, UK by Ham, London, UK by Mo, Mainz, Germany by JB, Maple Ridge, Canada by Susan, Mazatlan, Mexico by Kate, Melbourne, Australia by Mblamo, Melbourne, Australia by John, Memphis (TN), USA by SouthernHeart, Menton, France by Jilly, Mexico, Mexico by Poly, Mexico City, Mexico by Carraol, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Mitch, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Greg, Monte Carlo, Monaco by Jilly, Montréal, Canada by Douber, Moscow, Russia by Irina, Mumbai, India by Kunalbhatia, Mumbai, India by MumbaiIteanu, Naples (FL), USA by Isabella, Nashville (TN), USA by Chris, Nelson, New Zealand by Meg and Ben, New Orleans (LA), USA by steve buser, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK by Cassie & Chris, Niamey, Niger by Dinabee, Norwich, UK by Goddess888, Nottingham, UK by Gail's Man, Ocean Township (NJ), USA by Josy, Paris, France by Eric, Pasadena (CA), USA by Can8ianben, Pasadena (CA), USA by Petrea, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by Murphy_jay, Pilisvörösvár, Hungary by Elise, Port Angeles (WA), USA by Jelvistar, Port Elizabeth, South Africa by Sam, Port Vila, Vanuatu by Mblamo, Prague, Czech Republic by Honza03, Quincy (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Radonvilliers, France by Deslilas, Riga, Latvia by Prokur, Rome, Italy by Giovanni, Rotterdam, Netherlands by Ineke, Saarbrücken, Germany by LadyDemeter, Saint Louis (MO), USA by Strangetastes, Saint Paul (MN), USA by Kate, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation by Lark, San Antonio (TX), USA by Kramer, San Diego (CA), USA by Felicia, San Diego (CA), USA by Zentmrs, Santa Fe (NM), USA by Randem, Seattle (WA), USA by Kim, Seattle (WA), USA by Chuck, Seguin (TX), USA by Thien, Selma (AL), USA by RamblingRound, Sesimbra, Portugal by Aldeia, Setúbal, Portugal by Maria Elisa, Sharon (CT), USA by Jenny, Silver Spring (MD), USA by John, Singapore, Singapore by Keropok, Sofia, Bulgaria by Antonia, St Francis, South Africa by Sam, Stavanger, Norway by Tanty, Stayton (OR), USA by Celine, Stockholm, Sweden by Stromsjo, Subang Jaya, Malaysia by JC, Sydney, Australia by Sally, Székesfehérvár, Hungary by Teomo, Terre Haute (IN), USA by Zann, Terrell (TX), USA by Bstexas, Terrell (TX), USA by Jim K, The Hague, Netherlands by Lezard, Tokyo, Japan by Tadamine, Torun, Poland by Torun Observer, Toulouse, France by Julia, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina by Jazzy, Twin Cities (MN), USA by Slinger, Vienna, Austria by G_mirage2, Wailea (HI), USA by Kuanyin, Wassenaar, Netherlands by Rich, Wellington, New Zealand by Jeremyb, West Paris (ME), USA by crittoria, West Sacramento (CA), USA by Barbara, Weston (FL), USA by WestonDailyPhoto, Wrocław, Poland by Loompi, Yardley (PA), USA by Mrlynn,