"BOXES"

The theme this week by Kathy is "Boxes". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration.

The reason we have this theme is Boxing Day in the United Kingdom. I'm sure Mac will explain what it is. I decided to show my grand daughter with some of the Christmas boxes we gave her. She had a great smile for the header.

I decided to show the BOX deliverer from my daughters house. She has quite the display.

They are so colorful.

They are from all around the world.

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"Holiday Preparations"

The theme this week by Lew is "Holiday Preparations". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. 

My, I wonder what holiday Lew was thinking about. We have had several birthdays and a graduation. Our grand daughter Becah graduated from Kent State. The restaurant where she had her party was ready for the holidays.

 She had decorated her cap to thank her parent for paying her way through.

She was having a fun day.

My wife does the holiday preparations in our house. She does a great job. She has set up a wrapping table in the family room and has been quite busy. Here are some of the results.

She does a great job on the wrapping.

The present pile will continue to grow.

Our local pub has it's own special holiday preparations. The moose has special job. 

Here is a down town gazebo with holiday lights.

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"CLOUDS"

The theme this week by Mac is "Clouds". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. 

Mac and I worked with Sky Watch Friday a few years back so I enjoy sky photos of the clouds. My header is clouds in the early morning.

Here is a close-up of the top cloud.

Clouds with a flag in the sky last night.

We have gone into the gray time with cloudless skies but  last night was a special time.

Here is the absence of clouds, do you see a heart with an alien to the right?

The lake always give clouds with a lot of beauty.

This was a special cloud formation day.

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Sparkle

The theme this week by Christine is "Sparkle". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. 

What an unusual subject. It is the season for sparkling things so I used our Christmas decor for the sparkles they produce. My wife made this sparkly decoration. She is talented.

Here is a sparkly star at the top of the tree.

 Here is a silver ball with sparkly silver garland. 

 Here is a red ball with sparkly red garland.

Here is our window candle,

and another sparkly view.

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Thank You

The theme this week by Kathy is "Thank You". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. 

I thought of something I was really thankful for this year. I have shared my Fish Ohio fish before but this year was really special. I caught a total of five Fish Ohio fishes this year which breaks my old record of three. It was a special year. One on May 16th was a 31" carp that I caught on a minnow under a bobber. I thought it was a big walleye of northern pike while I fought it. It was a very strong fighter and the biggest I had ever caught. 

It was a special catch as part of a special year and i returned it to the lake to fight again.

On May 14th I caught an 11" Red Ear Bluegill,which was not my biggest but was a nice fish. I caught it on part of a night crawler.

Another nice fish on May 10th was a 14" White Crappie. I caught it on a chartreuse curly-tail on a jig.  

A minnow on the bottom brought a 28" Channel Cat on July 23rd. It was returned to the lake.

The final catch on a minnow under a bobber was a 13.12" Yellow perch. The one above was a taller fish but not as long. It was a special year. I was alone so I took the photo at home. 

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"Purple"

The theme this week by me is "Purple". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. 

I decided one of the best places to find the color purple would be the grocery store. These are red onions but I thought they had a lot of purple. Since red and blue are the primary colors that make purple you can see the overlap.

 I thought these purple cabbage with the water droplets were pretty neat.

Here is a purple yogurt display.

Ice cream in a purple carton.

Here is Xtra in blue and purple.

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PANNING

The theme this week by Craver is "Panning". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that. Mac and Kathy may be off this week.

I was panning on the deer as they ran through the heron rockery in the CVNP and one of the herons was scared and was going the opposite direction.  The panning was good for only the deer.

 Here a Great Blue Heron in flight.

Here is an American Eagle flying over the lake.

Here is a Osprey flying with a fish.

Here is a sea gull flying over the water.

Here is an example of what happens when you don't pan. The standing gulls are in focus while the flying one was not. It could have been had I panned it but I just held still and shot..

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Memories

The theme this week by Lew is "Memories". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that.

I will be visiting my daughter in Mexico this year. My grandson is graduating from high school. It brought back memories of our previous trips to Guanajuato, Mexico and the wonderful colors from that country. I saw this church from the side of the mountain before we went into the city. 

 This is a wonderful church with such rich colors.

So many views of statues at the entrance. 

The bells peel at noon.

Here is another great building with a garden in front.

This is so amazing from above.

Here is a view from a garden I visited.

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No Fear

The theme this week by Christine is "No Fear". Mac, Kathy, Craver, Lew, Christine and I have a little contest to show a new theme header each week. We now post anytime before 4 PM EDT on Wednesdays and voting begins after that.

Christine came up with an interesting theme this week. I decided to find some photos that will show No Fear. The one I decided to use is a grey squirrel that showed No Fear while on our deck rail. This was just too comfortable to not capture a photo.

Mister Moose shows no fear with the spider web on him.

No wonder, with this spider above him moving away. 

The stone shows the people who used the underground railroad that ran through Kent. They had to show No Fear to travel North in the 19th century. The slaves were able to get to Canada before the Civil war times and afterward.

I think the stone was so well carved.

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