Greetings everyone! I apologize for disappearing recently. We were out of town for a few days and I caught a major case of the lazy's. I will do my best to get caught up and come visit all your blogs as best I can. I also hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I'm extremely fortunate. The place where I work closes each year between Christmas and New Year's. I don't have to be back to work until January 5th and I have to tell you, this is really relaxing. On the days my wife has had to work I've been able to go pick her up for lunch each day and that has been nice too. After lunch yesterday I drove down to the Port of Olympia. It's a great place to photograph everything from the water to boats to birds and much more. It's hard to tell from this photo but there was a mist falling. Not only did it not seem this clear and blue, but I didn't even see the rainbow until I viewed it on my computer.

Krise and I sincerely want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I know it's going to be an interesting one for us. I hadn't mentioned it on here yet but Krise is pregnant. She's due in mid-July, and we're happy as can be.

For this week's Floral Friday contribution I thought I would share with you this tower of poinsettia from the Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma.

Click the link below to see more botanical beauties.

You might remember this previous post from our oldest daughter's last high school band concert. Believe it or not, my wife and I really enjoy going to these. There really are some talented kids there. Tonight was the Christmas (or winter if you prefer) concert for Jazz Band, Symphonic Band & Orchestra. Some of the songs carried the holiday theme, but they also played other non-seasonal songs. They led off with a wonderful version of "Fly Me To The Moon" as well as a fun upbeat song called "Goomba Boomba." Another concert well worth attending.

As I was looking back through some old photos this evening trying to decide which one to post this one caught my eye. Number one, for it's age it's still in pretty fair shape (ahem...like someone I know), and number two, I noticed it's another old photo of me holding a camera. If you look close you can tell it's an old box camera. The man in the photo is my Uncle Bob and you can see my dad's Packard in the background. I believe I was about five when this was taken in Spokane Washington, my home town.

For more nostalgic photos take a trip over to Remember Whensday.

Take a couple of cans of this, add grilled cheese sandwiches and suddenly this dreary, rainy day got a little better.

To see more ruby red photos click the link below and visit Ruby Tuesday.

A couple of days ago I showed you this photo of Santa's backside and the top of our youngest daughter's head. I had a request to try a little harder and post a better shot of the two of them. So, if you can put up with the frosty breath on the left of this photo here's a better shot of the two of them.

Well, today we got our first snow of the season. Not a whole lot but it sure made things beautiful. This evening we heading out to meet some family for dinner. My wife and I decided to take a drive through a housing area not too far from where we were going. There were several places that really looked good but this one sort of stood out. Perhaps it was the bright blue waterfall or the traditional holiday frogs just to the right of it.

Last night Santa and a few of his local helpers, ie the Tumwater Fire Department pulled their classic fire truck out of the garage and headed for the streets. The whole thing was pretty simple. Donate food, get a candy cane. Actually our youngest daughter who's head you see here managed to get her picture taken with Santa on the fire truck. It really is for a good cause, and the community has always responded generously.

I took this shot out the back door at work late this afternoon. All I had left to do was lock the doors and be on my way. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab my camera and capture this shot. It seemed like a beautiful way to end the work week. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

For more SkyWatch shots from around the world click the link below.

The cold weather really had a beautiful effect on this fountain at the Cambridge Court apartments in West Olympia.

Thank you Lauren for pointing this one out!

This past Sunday, after we left the beauty of the conservatory and all those flowers we took a drive to Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood. If the name sounds slightly familiar it's because I've posted a couple of photos from there such as this one from the dog park there, or this one showing part of the old mental hospital. This time we were simply taking a drive there but once our seven year old daughter saw the playground she wanted to stop, and you know it didn't make any difference that it was thirty some degrees with the wind blowing like crazy. We parked and watched her run off to climb and slide and just about anything else you could do at a playground. This really is a wonderful place. Click here to see who designed it.

See more contributions to Monochrome Weekly by clicking the link below.

It was a cold windy Sunday today, a good day to be indoors. We picked up my Mom and headed for one of our favorite places, the Seymour Conservatory up in Tacoma. They just changed their display to their Christmas theme. Lots and lots of Poinsettia set in amongst the plants that make this wonderful place their home year round. After we were done looking around and taking loads of photos (some of which I'm sure will show up on Krise's blog Floral Friday) we decided to go take a peek inside the gift shop. As I was walking through I noticed these three fat little birds perched on a branch reminding us of the three important "don'ts."

Another frosty morning with a little fog thrown in for good measure. Rather than take the freeway, some mornings I take the back way to work. The drive is a little slower and I get to go across Black Lake. With the fog and the colors of the sky it looked like a water color.

The past couple of weeks it's been gradually getting a little colder each day. Finally a couple of days ago we had our first real frost. When I look at the extended forecast I see the possibility of snow toward the end of next week. In the evenings the sky has been clear and the moon has been bright as can be. Come on winter, we're ready for ya!

For more SkyWatch Friday photos click on the link below.

On a recent walk through downtown we spotted this sign. Later, looking at this photo again I started to wonder about all those holes. Are they from previous signs, and if so where did they go? Did someone steal them? If so, I'd like to ask someone how they think the surveillance is working.

After work I had to run downtown for something. Since I was only a few blocks from Budd Inlet I thought I'd stop by and take a few shots of the boats with their Christmas lights aglow. I got lucky. The boats were lit up and slowly cruising the waters in parade style. Not all of my photos came out. This was one of the better ones. I definitely need some practice when it comes to settings at night. I think this qualifies as my Watery Wednesday shot.

For more wet and wonderful Watery Wednesday photos click the link below.