DAY 165 - No Fishing

I drove through one of the area's hoity-toity areas yesterday -- homes probably start at $500,00 and go up from there. This one is currently under construction with this huge pond in front of it.

DAY 164 - Snow's Coming??

The highway department must think bad weather's on the way -- on my way home I saw they had started to treat the 4-lane -- see those lines on the pavement -- that's a salt treatment that they put down before snow hits.

DAY 163 - One Last Holiday Photo

This is the front of the St. Thomas Catholic School, across the street from yesterday's church doors.

DAY 162 - Church Doors

St. Thomas Church

DAY 161 - ZBus

Whenever I hear the name of the local bus company -- ZBus -- I picture the little guy on Fantasy Island yelling ZPlane, ZPlane!

DAY 160 - Furniture Tent

This big tent has been set up in the parking lot of the local mall since Thanksgiving. It's from one of the large furniture dealers out of one of the Carolinas, South maybe?

Anyone for a sofa??

DAY 159 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

DAY 158 - Christmas Puppy

While taking pictures around one of the area's ritzy neighborhoods, I spotted this big guy in the window. . .

DAY 157 - Nutcrackers

Some big nutcrackers. . .

DAY 156 - Mediterranean House

This is one of the most gorgeous older homes in the area. It's a Mediterannean/Spanish style house with lovely grounds. In fact, the grounds are open to the public year round. I thought the color of the ribbons on the iron fence was odd though, it's a bronzy orange rather than the traditional red.

In the fall, the owners and their helpers plant thousands of tulip and daffodil bulbs for spring bloom. Then, get this -- after they've bloomed in the spring, they dig all those bulbs out and put them out of the sidewalks in bushel baskets for people to take, free! I've never timed it right to get some.

DAY 155 - Adornetto's Pizza Tree

This huge tree is in front of the Adornetto's Pizza Restaurant -- the pizza people come home for -- best pizza in the area from a local business. They have really gone all out this year with the decorations.

Here's the other side of the tree, with a big decorated sleigh.

And all the tall lightposts are decorated with garland and ribbon -- There must be 15-20 lightposts around the property.

DAY 154 - Old Iron Gate

I didn't notice the horse's head when I took the picture -- this is the green-shuttered house from yesterday's blog.

DAY 153 - Green Shutters

The green shutters on this old brick house in Zanesville's Putnam area make it perfect for Christmas decorating.

DAY 152 - Old Blue Doors

I journeyed to Zanesville's south side yesterday to drop some donations off at the local Salvation Army. While in that neighboorhood -- an old neighborhood, and a poorer area -- I shot some pictures of Christmas decorations on some of the homes. This poor old house had seen better days, but the Christmas spirit was still there!

DAY 151 - Sleigh Ride Anyone?

All we need now is some snow on the ground to add to this life size sleigh and horse.

DAY 150 - Iron Fence

Simple, but elegant. . .

DAY 149 - Santa's Watching

This lifesize Santa figurine is in the second floor front window of the elaborately decorated house I blogged several days ago. Here's another shot of it.

DAY 148 - Ready for Take-Off

This is on the deck of yesterday's Christmas house. . .

DAY 147 - Yardful of Decorations

I did a double take when I passed this house yesterday afternoon. Yep, I had to turn around and take some pictures. This pic doesn't even show all the decorations in their front yard; I'll post more tomorrow.

DAY 146 - View Across the Street

Our neighbors went all out this year for Christmas!

DAY 145 - John McIntire Library

Don't you just love those big, old doors. Since the library added a new wing, the doors from this old wing are no longer accessible. I'll post a picture after the holidays of the front of the building, it's really pretty!

Why wait -- here it is! The original library is now called the Carnegie Wing, funded by a grant from the Carnegie Foundation years and years ago. The new wing is barely visible off to the right.

DAY 144 - Simple Elegance

You know, all the lavish Christmas displays in people's yards are nice, but I'm still partial to the simplicity of wreaths and red bows.

DAY 143 - Colony Square Mall Decorations

Christmas displays greet visitors to the Mall. . .

DAY 142 - Hub Cap Wreath

This was one of the more unique wreaths from the Festival of Trees auction -- a vintage hubcap center.

DAY 141 - Festival of Trees

Every year at this time the large meeting room at the Tourist Center is filled with elaborately decorated Christmas trees and wreaths -- it's the Festival of Trees sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. It is a fund-raising event to raise money for Chamber activities. This year's take was over $36,000 for the trees/wreaths and their accompanying incentive packages.

Here's the link from the local newspaper if you want to read more about it:

http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20081206/NEWS01/812060329/1002/rss01

DAY 140 - McIntire Terrace Christmas

The McIntire Terrace area is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Zanesville. Several weeks ago I posted a picture of Zanes Grey's birth house, which is in the neighborhood (a rather small nondescript house). This is one of the big old houses in the neighborhood -- it's obviously been tenderly restored to its original glory.

DAY 139 - Look UP

This huge snowman sits on the roof the Muskingum County Tourist and Visitors Bureau.

DAY 138 - Christmas at Seward Plumbing

This house just looks so elegant with classic Christmas wreaths and garland.

DAY 137 - Pittsburgh Steelers Christmas

This Steeler fan just had to keep his football banner up along with his Christmas decorations.