A Brief Stop in Frankenmuth

I didn't make to Fish Point before it got dark, so I couldn't see the snowy owls I was hoping to catch.  My mom wanted to see some Christmas lights, so we headed down to Frankenmuth.

 I decided to stop to get pictures of the covered bridge.

 Across the river, there was this "Peace on Earth" sign.  I loved the way it was lit against the dark.

 Another angle of the bridge.

 Probably my favorite angle of the bridge.

 We headed through the parking lot of Bronner's.  They have some light displays there that rival some of the city light displays.  In fact, I think those cities may get their lights from Bronner's.

 A manger set up.  I thought this was pretty cool.

 Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.

Another angel.  I tried to get an angle where I could get some of the lights.

Merry Christmas Everyone

I want to take this moment to wish my readers a Merry Christmas.

The picture is a screen shot from FlightRadar24 and as you can see, Santa's sleigh is making its way here.  So I hope Santa is good to you this year.

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train Passes Belleville

A couple days ago, I read an article that said that the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train was going to be passing by.  I didn't catch it last year because I didn't see anything about it.  Nor did I catch it the year before for obvious reasons.  I almost wasn't going to catch it this year because the article said that they would be passing through Michigan with their lights off.

 I found the group dedicated to it on Facebook and people were posting updates of its location.  It was supposed to leave Windsor last night at 6:30.  I saw the post that it had passed the Michigan Central Train Station, so I decided to head over to Belleville to catch it.
I used this picture to gate the settings I would need on my camera.

 It took longer to catch it than I had planned.  We had heard that it passed Metro Airport, so I thought it would be passing soon.  And then we heard about this eastbound train passing through.  That meant the Holiday Train would have to wait on a siding for this train to pass.

 It wasn't long for the Holiday Train to appear.  You could tell it was getting close as its headlight shined on this building.

 I don't think this is a particularly good picture but I wanted to shot it because you can see the shadows of the people that were there.  There was a pretty good crowd.  I'm going to guess there was a pretty good crowd all along the route.

 And then the train appeared at an angle where I could get a picture.  I really think this is cool that they do this.  I think they have been doing this since 1999.

 Unfortunately, they have not stopped in Michigan in a while.  I don't think they own the tracks through Michigan and just used them to connect to the Chicago area.

 Maybe one of these years, they will actually stop here.  If not, I may have to just catch it in Windsor.

 The engine carries a few cares and they are all decorated.

 Just in case you forget what the train is.

 Some nice Christmas scenes.

And one more before moving on.

Christmas Decorations on Belle Isle

As I was waiting for the next ship, I decided to make a stop at the aquarium.  I didn't get pictures the last time I was there, so I decided to correct that problem this time.

 As I was going in the aquarium, I noticed this decoration.  It looks like a sleigh being pulled by some seahorses.  I'm not sure what the creature inside the sleigh is though.

 After getting out of the aquarium, I took some pictures of these decorations across the street.   The Snoopy doghouse.

 The Grinch and his dog Max.

 Frosty the Snowman.

 The Abominable Snowman from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

And of course, Rudolph.

Merry Christmas to My Readers

As 2016 comes to a close, we approach the Christmas holiday.  I couldn't figure out what to take pictures of for this post, so I decided to use the tree at work.  It is usually nicely decorated.

 And I wasn't disappointed.  It did look pretty nice although the shades in the background kind of distract from the effect.  So after a little work in Lightroom I have a better picture.

So I would like to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas.  I hope that you all have a safe and fun holiday.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas

Wow, it seems like Christmas kind of snuck up on me this year.  It doesn't seem like it was too long ago that I was posting pictures of turkeys for Thanksgiving.  So here we go.

 Because of Chessie, I don't have a Christmas tree of my own, so I decided to use a picture of the tree at work.  It's actually a pretty nicely decorated tree.  With the weather we've been having, it doesn't seem like Christmas though.  It's been way too warm for this time of year.  We had a brief cold spell and some snow not too long ago but that is now gone.

 I wish a Happy Holidays because I realize that not everyone that reads this blog celebrates Christmas.  I don't buy into the whole "Merry Christmas" thing because it seems like many of the people who offer it aren't offering it in the spirit of the holiday.   Even when you wish a happy holiday, you aren't doing some sort of politically correct thing because holiday is a derivative of "holy day" and you are acknowledging that there are several holy days at this time of year.

So I hope that my readers have a safe and happy holiday whatever holiday they celebrate.

Merry Christmas to my Readers

It is hard to believe that a year has passed.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was giving Christmas greetings to my readers last year but I guess it's been a year.

I want to use this post to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas.  I also want to use this post to thank all my readers for visiting this blog. 

Merry Christmas

It's hard to believe that another year has passed and Christmas is upon us again.  Where did the year fly anyway.  It seems like just yesterday I was looking forward to another upcoming year.

Well, I have another week for those thoughs.  But I decided to use the fence at St Clair to give a festive picture to use for this greeting.  So to all of my readers, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas may you have a joyous time with friends, family or whatever.  I would like to thank you all for coming to my blog and I hope that you continue to come to my blog.

If you have suggestions for next year, please leave them in the comments.

Thank you.

Our Work Christmas Tree

They usually do a pretty good job of decorating the Christmas tree at the office.  This year was no exception.

 Since I had the camera there, I figured I would take a picture of it.

 But I really like closeups of the ornaments.

And the other color of ornament.

Wayne County Lightfest 2013

So I decided to head over to the Wayne County Lightfest tonight.  I wish I had gone on Monday night because evidently they had reindeer that night.  Oh well.  It was still pretty cool.

 There were quite a few people there tonight and it made it pretty difficult to get out of the car for photographing but I think I had the right settings for the light.

 In case you forgot where Wayne County was.  I kind of like this one.

 Sort of a tunnel of lights.

 An actual tunnel of lights.

 I was going to try a longer exposure but that doesn't work too well where they have the "moving lights".  I'm still not quite sure what dinosaurs have to do with Christmas though.

 A manger scene.

 The flag.

 A sea serpent and lighthouse.  Needs a freighter though.

 Of course I had to take a picture of a train.

 I should have panned out a little bit because this was Santa's flying school.

 Santa's workshop.

 A cooler looking train.

 Can't be a Christmas display without Santa.

 Happy Holidays.

 And goodwill towards men.

I really like this display.