ABC Wednesday --- O

Needs no explanation, right? Visit Mrs Nesbitt for more ABC Wednesday posts!

Where in the world is Lake Lady?

Another shot from the hotel last night. And a few more taken downtown this evening. For those of you not in the USA, the title is referring to NBC's The Today Show and their "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" series that's running right not. Anyway, can anyone figure out where I am? Certainly not in Gun Barrel City!

Odd Shots Monday

Running late with my post tonight because I've been on the road all day. Now I'm tucked into a 6th floor hotel room and just got this Odd Shot. Enlarge it and look carefully....the right side of the photo is the view downtown...the left side is the reflection of my room in the window! Odd enough? To see more Odd Shots, visit Katney, our hostess with the mostest!

Here's Buster!

Several of you have made lovely comments about my postings from Buster's yard. So, I thought today (Camera Critters Sunday) was the perfect day for you to meet Buster! You can tell by his business-like demeanor that his yard crew, house-keeper, boat-man, cook and valet would all be the best! We couldn't ask for a better neighbor! Be sure to visit Misty Dawn's site by clicking the Camera Critters link above and see more great critter shots!

Project Green

The first shot is actually turned sideways....the 2nd shows the grasshoppers actual orientation on my post. The setting sun is to the right. See more Project Green entries and Anna Carson's photography.

Sky Watch Friday -- Sunset

This was my view as I turned into our subdivision coming home from work last night. It's not ALL about the water here. We also enjoy some great country scenery! Please visit WiggersWorld to see other Sky Watch Friday contributions today.

This one's for you and you know who you are!

Also from Buster's yard. And especially for my favorite sailor......
Anybody wondering about Buster? Pop in Sunday for his photographic debut!

N is for Nautical Net on ABC Wednesday

Back to Buster's yard for inspiration today! See other ABC Wednesday posts at Mrs. Nesbitt's Place

Pulled this one out of my .....

I got stuck out of town another night and had to search the chip in my camera for something to post! I was messing around the other night and shot this for the fun of it. I was surprised by the reflections on the glass table top.



Binoculars are never out of reach when your view includes boats, ducks, birds, turtles and fish. Sometimes people are fun to watch, too!

Reflections of and on a bridge...

This is on the east edge of Malakoff. There were a series of bridges here and there is currently construction going on to remove or replace them all. I got this shot in March of 2007.

Camera Critters Sunday theme

You'll allow me one more Mallard shot this week, right? I mean, you're my friends ... love me, love my ducks, right? If you click on the photo to enlarge, you'll see that he was DWS...Drinking While Swimming. I've found another theme blog you might want to check out. Click here to see other posts: Camera Critters Sunday

A Tale of No Tail

Not great quality photography....just happened to have the camera in my hand when this fellow landed on the fence below me...zoomed quite a bit. What's up with the lack of tail? Maybe OldManLincoln can tell us???

Sweet moonrise

I've been out of town this week and have gotten behind! Got home just in time to catch this shot for Sky Watch Friday!

ABC Wednesday---M is for Mallards

Magnificent Mallard in flight.....
Morphing Mallard.......
Mallard shot Missed........
And Mama Mallard. Click the ABC Wednesday logo to see more participants!

The king lives in Malakoff

Well, who would have thought of looking here? Certainly peaked my interest in this little antique store. Too bad they were closed for the day already! There are several great stores around Malakoff for antiquing and for "lakey" decorations. Malakoff is also home to the Cornbread Festival, which is coming up soon and may provide for more posts!

Odd Shots Monday

Back to Buster's Yard....in context, this fits the scheme of decor....out of context, I thought it might qualify as an Odd Shot! To see more Odd Shots for Monday, please click on the icon below to go to Katney's Kaboodle.

a BEE-utiful weekend!

Couldn't ask for a more perfect day for human or beast! The flowers are gorgeous and the bees appreciate them and vice versa. The ducks and birds are entertaining us. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Blue Boathouse

There aren't too many real boat-houses on Cedar Creek Lake. It's a man-made lake that was filled in the mid-late sixties. Couldn't swear to it, but I'm guessing this one was one of the first boat-houses built out here! Most residents have boat docks with covered lifts these days. Easier to maintain and they don't block the view so badly. But they don't have the "character" of this one, either!

Sky Watch Friday---country sunrise

It's Sky Watch Friday again already! This was taken last year just before Easter. We were planning our first sunrise service on our "Future Home of...." property and I was going out there to see what time the sunrise would be at it's peak. This is one of the shots I took that morning. Alas, the cold rainy weather leading up to Easter that year forced us indoors!

Sunset cruise

We've had some dreary-looking days and some terrible thunderstorms this week, so I just needed a reminder about how beautiful it was this past weekend and how beautiful it will be again soon! Sunday evening we took a little cruise on a friend's boat. (Thanks F&P!). It's nice to be able to ride with someone else and get the opportunity to shoot pictures. I would advise against leaving a pager in your shirt pocket when you lean over the edge of the boat looking for that "odd shot", tho.....

ABC Wednesday

L is for Lakey .... a very popular indoor and outdoor decorating theme around here! Thanks to Buster's Mom for letting me use her yard for today's shot!
ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs Nesbitt http://mrsnesbittsplace.blogspot.com/search/label/ABC%20Wednesday

The other end of the lake....

The north end of the lake is the "low" end....the dam is to the south. In the area of this shot, when the water is up like it is now, you can always find people fishing from the banks. I tried not to disturb any of them! This bridgework supports some type of pipeline. This was taken between Mabank and Kemp, just off of the highway, on one of our dreary days last week.

Turtle Eye View

Thought I'd join in to Odd Shots Monday by looking at my view through my turtle friend's eye! Hopefully I'll get better at this with practice! ;-)
P.S. For those of you who asked what the turtle is (see my response below), here's a shot of the fish.

New family in the neighborhood!

We've seen 2 new wood duck families this week and this Mallard family that swam by in late afternoon yesterday.

Malakoff School built by WPA/PWA--- Can we save it?

Mission Statement of the Malakoff Historical Society: to save the history of Malakoff and to establish a place where future generations can appreciate what has and is occurring in our city.
(See 2nd photo--school entrance---below)
They are currently trying to convince the Malakoff Independent School District to not destroy this historic building built by the Works Progress Administration's little known Public Works Administration. The PWA built 70% of the U.S. schools built between 1933 and 1939. This school was built in about 1939. They were given a 3-year reprieve last summer to come up with a plan and money for restoration. To restore this building for student use is extremely costly, but there is hope it can be used for something else that would have fewer restraints.

It's a beautiful building. This one and a new one share the block and are completely surrounded by this great stone wall.

For more information on the school, there's the Architect's Report published in the Malakoff News. Go to http://www.malakoffnews.net/ and search the archives for WPA, article Aug 24, 2007.

March Sunrise

Shot out the window as I crossed the bridge. I decided that was safer than stopping on a bridge!

Girls Rule

At least for now....during the mating season, female mallards get maybe too much attention from the randy little males....but this one must have a nest nearby....the two males are doing a great job of standing sentinel while she eats the seeds our wild birds have knocked out of their feeder.

Murals in Malakoff

The community was formerly known as "Caney Creek" and "Mitcham Chapel." An application for a named post office in 1854 under "Purdam (or Purdon)" or "Mitcham" resulted in the current name, because the other names were already in use. It is named for a Russian town.
In the 1920's coal mining became an important acivity.
The "Malakoff Heads" found in the 1930's resemble carvings of the Olmec culture. For more on the murals in Malakoff, see http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Malakoff/Malakoff.htm

The Work of Water

Today I chose to show some of the "behind the scenes" work involved in bringing us water to drink as well as water to admire! This is the spillway where overflow water is released. There were cormorants, pelicans and seagulls feeding there when I took this on March 19 after a great rain. The following information is from Wikipedia:

Cedar Creek Reservoir is a man-made reservoir located in Henderson and Kaufman Counties, Texas (USA), 60 miles (97 km) southeast of Dallas. It is built on Cedar Creek, which flows into the Trinity River. The lake includes a spillway that lets water out into a canal to the Trinity River. The lake has a drainage area of over 1,000 square miles (2,600 km²). The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department maintains three islands, totaling 160 acres (65 ha), as a Wildlife Management Area for aquatic birds. The lake is owned by the Tarrant Regional Water District, and supplies water to Fort Worth and other cities and water districts in Tarrant and Johnson counties. Construction on the lake began in 1961, and was completed in 1965.
Towns on or near the lake include Kemp, Mabank, Gun Barrel City, Payne Springs, Enchanted Oaks, Eustace, Caney City, Malakoff, Star Harbor, Trinidad, Tool and Seven Points. Its proximity to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex makes it a popular weekend getaway.
Cedar Creek Reservoir was built on Cedar Creek, a tributary to the Trinity River. The dam is at the south end of the lake in the town of Malakoff. The spillway on the west side of the lake lets water into a canal to the Trinity River. Other major creeks that contribute to the inflow are Caney Creek, Clear Creek, and King's Creek.

Please enjoy the Theme Day photos of the following CDPB members as well:

theme day id=13

Adelaide, Australia by Gordon, Albuquerque (NM), USA by Helen, American Fork (UT), USA by Annie, Anderson (SC), USA by Lessie, Ararat, Australia by Digger, 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, Barton (VT), USA by Andree, Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro by Paja, Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro by Bibi, Bellefonte (PA), USA by Barb-n-PA, Bicheno, Australia by Greg, Bogor, Indonesia by Gagah, Boston (MA), USA by Fenix - Bostonscapes, Boston (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Boston (MA), USA by Sarah, Whit, & Leyre, Brighton, UK by Harvey, Brookville (OH), USA by Abraham, Budapest, Hungary by Zannnie and Zsolt, Budapest, Hungary by Isadora, 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., Christchurch, New Zealand by Michelle, Clearwater (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Clearwater Beach (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Cleveland (OH), USA by iBlowfish, Coral Gables (FL), USA by Jnstropic, Cypress (TX), USA by Riniroo, Dallas/Fort Worth (TX), USA by A Wandering Soul, Dunedin (FL), USA by Smaridge01, Durban, South Africa by CrazyCow, East Gwillimbury, Canada by Your EG Tour Guide, Evry, France by Olivier, Glasgow, Scotland by Jackie, Greenville (SC), USA by Denton, Grenoble, France by Bleeding Orange, Guelph, Canada by Pat, Gun Barrel City (TX), USA by Lake Lady, Hamilton, New Zealand by Sakiwi, Hampton (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Haninge, Sweden by Steffe, Helsinki, Finland by Kaa, Hobart, Australia by Greg, Hyde, UK by Old Hyde, Inverness (IL), USA by Neva, Jackson (MS), USA by Halcyon, Jakarta, Indonesia by Santy, Jefferson City (MO), USA by Chinamom2005, Jogjakarta, Indonesia by Jogja Portrait, Joplin (MO), USA by Victoria, Juneau (AK), USA by Gwyn, Katonah (NY), USA by Inkster1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Edwin, Kyoto, Japan by Tadamine, Lake Forest Park (WA), USA by Azure, Larchmont (NY), USA by Marie-Noyale, Las Vegas (NV), USA by Mo, Lisbon, Portugal by Sailor Girl, Lisbon, Portugal by Maria João, Lodz, Poland by ritalounge, London, UK by Mo, London, UK by Ham, Mainz, Germany by JB, Maple Ridge, Canada by Susan, Marseille, France by Alex, Mazatlan, Mexico by Kate, Melbourne, Australia by John, Melbourne, Australia by Mblamo, Memphis (TN), USA by SouthernHeart, Menton, France by Jilly, Mexico City, Mexico by Carraol, Mexico City, Mexico by Poly, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Greg, Minneapolis (MN), USA by Mitch, Minsk, Belarus by Olga, Monrovia (CA), USA by Keith, Monte Carlo, Monaco by Jilly, Montego Bay, Jamaica by Ann, Monterrey, Mexico by rafa, Moscow, Russia by Irina, Mumbai, India by Magiceye, Mumbai, India by MumbaiiteAnu, Mumbai, India by Kunalbhatia, Nancy, France by yoshi, Naples (FL), USA by Isabella, Nashville (TN), USA by Chris, Nelson, New Zealand by Meg and Ben, New Orleans (LA), USA by steve buser, New York City (NY), USA by Ming the Merciless, Niamey, Niger by Dinabee, Norfolk (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Norman (OK), USA by Chad & LaCresha, Norwich, UK by Goddess888, Nottingham, UK by Gail's Man, Odense, Denmark by ania odense, Omsk, Russia by Nataly, Orlando (FL), USA by OrlFla, Oslo, Norway by Lothiane, Paderborn, Germany by Soemchen, Paris, France by Eric, Paris, France by Gordio, Pasadena (CA), USA by Can8ianben, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia by Murphy_jay, Pilisvörösvár, Hungary by Elise, Pont-à-Mousson, France by Tintin-j, Port Angeles (WA), USA by Jelvistar, Port Elizabeth, South Africa by Sam, Port Townsend (WA), USA by raf, Port Vila, Vanuatu by Mblamo, Portland (ME), USA by Corey, Portland (OR), USA by NWgal, Portsmouth (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Prague, Czech Republic by Honza03, Quincy (MA), USA by Cluelessinboston, Riga, Latvia by Prokur, Rotterdam, Netherlands by Ineke, Saarbrücken, Germany by LadyDemeter, Saigon, Vietnam by Simon, Saint Louis (MO), USA by Strangetastes, Saint Paul (MN), USA by Kate, Salem (OR), USA by jill, Salt Lake City (UT), USA by Eric, Salt Lake City (UT), USA by atc, San Diego (CA), USA by Felicia, San Francisco (CA), USA by PFranson, Seattle (WA), USA by Chuck, Seattle (WA), USA by Kim, Seguin (TX), USA by Thien, Selma (AL), USA by RamblingRound, Sequim (WA), USA by Eponabri, Sesimbra, Portugal by Aldeia, Setúbal, Portugal by Maria Elisa, Shanghai, China by Jing, Sharon (CT), USA by Jenny, 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, Stouffville, Canada by Ken, Subang Jaya, Malaysia by JC, Suffolk (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Sunshine Coast, Australia by bitingmidge, Sydney, Australia by Nathalie, Sydney, Australia by Sally, Székesfehérvár, Hungary by Teomo, Tacloban City, Philippines by agnesdv, Terrell (TX), USA by Bstexas, Terrell (TX), USA by Jim K, The Hague, Netherlands by Lezard, Tokyo, Japan by Tadamine, Toruń, Poland by Torun Observer, Toulouse, France by Julia, Turin, Italy by Livio, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina by Jazzy, Twin Cities (MN), USA by Slinger, Victoria, Canada by Benjamin Madison, Vienna, Austria by G_mirage2, Virginia Beach (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Wailea (HI), USA by Kuanyin, Washington (DC), USA by Rachel, 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, Williamsburg (VA), USA by ptowngirl, Willits (CA), USA by Elaine, Yardley (PA), USA by Mrlynn,