>>Gallery (22 images)

A passenger jet gains altitude over Tampa against a backdrop of the setting sun. Flights around the country have seen delays this week. [DANIEL WALLACE, Times] ... Read more

Lance Campos, 9, (in front) flaps his arms while attempting to make a sand angel while playing in the sand with his two brothers Lucas Stanley (top left) and Landon Campos at Gulfport Beach Monday afternoon. "It's cloudy but it's nice, it's not as hot," his father, Dennis Rogers, said. "I love Gulfport. I come out here all the time. It's always perfect out here on this beach." [DIRK SHADD, Times] ... Read more

A flower lays on a frosted leaf Thursday in Palm Harbor during the record-breaking cold morning which began with icy windshields, grounded planes at Tampa International Airport and worried farmers. The National Weather Service said records were broken overnight in Tampa, Lakeland and Sarasota. Tampa's low was 27 degrees, with the previous coldest low for the date at 30 degrees in 1999. At 27 degrees Thursday, Lakeland broke a 1980 low record temperature of 34 degrees. Sarasota's low Thursday was 30 degrees, which broke a 1999 record of 35 degrees. [DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD, Times] ... Read more

The annual tradition of shopping til you drop commenced in the wee hours of the morning on Friday. Across the country, shoppers braved lines and in some cases, cold weather to find bargains galore at the big chains as well as the smaller stores. 

While some were finding ways to spend their money, others were making a statement about not spending their money. Buy Nothing Day is a growing tradition with people around the world trying to make a statement about their money habits. For photos from around the world, go HERE. 

To read a story about the local turnout in the Tampa Bay area for Black Friday, please go HERE. You can also see a photo gallery from St. Petersburg Times photographers HERE. 

Adam Ciccarino, left, of Manhattan, purchases Playstation 3 controllers during a temporary power outage at RadioShack in the Bridgewater Commons with the assistance of assistant manager Christopher Sanchez and sales associate Michael Byrne, as Black Friday shoppers hit the stores in Bridgewater, N.J., before dawn to take advantage of sales .(AP Photo/Courier News, Andrew Miller) ... Read more

Tampa Bay Buccaneer Byron Leftwich talks with the St. Petersburg Times during a Kickin' Back at One Buc Place. [CHRIS ZUPPA, Times] ... Read more

A fire breathing Jonathan Camp makes his way down Seventh Avenue during the Mama Guava Stumble and The Freak Show Parade at Guavaween in Ybor City on Halloween night. [MELISSA LYTTLE, Times] ... Read more

Bryanna Hudson, 14, and Marquasia Bennett, 6, spot friends on the ground while riding atop the ferris wheel at the Sacred Heart Fall Festival Wednesday. Marquasia celebrated her sixth birthday at the event, which continues through Sunday at 7809 46th Way N. in Pinellas Park. The event includes food, drinks, games, rides, entertainment and raffle prizes. Admission and parking are free. Festival hours are Oct 14-16, 6-11pm; Oct. 17 12pm-11pm; and Oct. 18 12pm-8pm. [LARA CERRI, Times] ... Read more

A rainbow decorates the dark horizon as Chase Fox, 8, wipes salt water from his eyes while snorkeling with his parents in the Gulf Wednesday evening just west of Durney Key near the Pithlachascotee River. The shallow waters offer a close-up view of pinfish, crabs, and other marine life. [BRENDAN FITTERER, Times] ... Read more

Lynn Colombo, of Palm Harbor, left, a personal trainer at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club, teaches a doggy yoga class on Thursday with Jasmine, a Standard Poodle, at the Crystal Beach Community Center in Crystal Beach. At right is Rebecca Patton, of Crystal Beach, with Max, a Shih Tzu. The practice draws on traditional yoga classes while combining massage, meditation and stretching for dogs and their human partners. "This is about bonding with your dog," Colombo said. "A lot of people who work don't have time to spend with their animals. Here we do a lot of touching and have a lot of eye contact, The dogs respond to it and it changes their demeanor, it's amazing what contact does." Colombo said the practice draws on what is natural day-to-day stretching dogs do. "Once a dog gets relaxed and into it we work on massage, pressure points, eye contact, the touching." Yoga is a series of traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India which uses sitting meditation postures and modern variations of poses which many believe can lead to the purification of the physical body and eventually the purification of the mind. The word is associated with meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. [Douglas R. Clifford, Times] ... Read more