It’s been a while since my last visit to Thorndale, Texas, a town in southwestern Milam County with a population of around 1400.   Founded in 1878, it retains a charm I like in Texas towns.  Trains go past the grain elevators pretty often here.   I think it adds to its charm.   No more words.  Just a few images taken this evening.  

With nothing much going on tonight, I spent a little time looking at the Taylor train yard.    At the right time of day it transforms nicely.  The last couple are a few miles west, but they all connect somewhere.   Just some lines tonight, friends. 

Today we commemorate  our veterans, those past and present.   I’m going to go a little backwards in this post, presenting my last photo taken day in the opening image.   It was taken at Georgetown’s Field of Honor, where 2000 flags have been flying since November 3, courtesy of the Georgetown Rotary Club.   They started to come down this afternoon, with volunteers helping things along.   The gentleman in the opening photo, a Rotarian, is more importantly, a veteran (Army) who served during Operation Desert Storm.  He’s looking into the camera, normally something I don’t care for, but here it’s okay.  The way he was gently cradling those flags was sweet.   The other photos, my main assignment for today, were taken during the annual Veterans Day observance in Sun City, Texas.  When weather cooperates, it’s held outdoors, in the Georgetown-Williamson County Veterans Memorial Plaza, a wonderful space with walls honoring veterans past, plus pavement comprised of bricks containing names of veterans.    Even though this year’s event was inside, I stepped outdoors into the plaza.  There I found a rain-spattered sunflower on the bricks, lovingly placed by who knows who.   And there was the 82-year-old Air Force veteran walking across the plaza after finding a brick honoring his father, a World War I Army veteran.   Yes, I’m going backwards here, folks.   At the end of the ceremonies, there was a couple, hand-in-hand, making their way home.  He’s a World War II Army veteran, in his early 90s.   The rest are a bit of this and that, including a lady who served as an Army nurse during World War II.   It was a good day all around.  Better yet, nobody discussed political matters at this year’s ceremonies.    

Even when the rookery at Murphy Park isn’t such an active place, there’s still enough  to get our attention.   These few photos were made several nights  ago,  when the night was clear and rather warm.    This little community, Taylor,  has many things to like.   I’m glad we moved here. 

Another themeless post, friends.   The ancient Plymouth has been resting in this field outside Taylor for quite a long time, but the addition of horses in the mix is new.    Just up the road from that Plymouth,  I noticed the light falling nicely on a field of prairie grass.   As Veterans Day nears, the last photo is of Travis, his wife Crystal and Jasper, Travis’ service dog. Jasper, a rescue,  is part Boxer, part Mastiff.     They are strolling through the Georgetown Rotary Club’s Field of Honor this morning while participating in the Georgetown Sertoma Club’s Honor Walk, an event paying tribute to veterans, and first responders.  Travis is a U.S. Army veteran.   And Crystal?  On September 11, 2001, her father, Pedro, was one of the New York City policemen responding to the World Trade Center attacks.   Pedro helped with rescue inside the towers.  Thankfully, he survived.   In fact, nearing retirement now, he’s planning to move to Central Texas.   

Responding to an earlier post this week,  good friend Joyce White  a University of Texas graduate with two journalism degrees from University of Texas, alerted me to a an old farmhouse between Bartlett and Walburg.   On a misty Thursday night, we took a drive to take a a look.   It’s an interesting place, crumbling into oblivion, but holding on.   In the little over nine years we’ve been home, it’s interesting to watch as  development takes hold.    I’m guessing the farmhouse shown here has been a part of the landscape for many years.     Perhaps it’s relegated to history, but what a history it is.

It was essentially an aimless rambling last night, but when driving down a county road south of Bartlett, Texas, the old section of the city’s cemetery got my attention.  The lights in the background  are from Bartlett proper.    The moodiness of this scene suits my own mood today.

While everyone else was getting excited (or not) about the mid-term elections Monday night, I was at Zion Lutheran Church in Walburg, Texas for their annual Wurstbraten, a celebration of sausage, friends and some really amazing smoking pits.   As in past years, church members prepared 12,500 pounds of sausage, then smoked it over coals created from some fine chunks of oak wood.    While the pits are  cool (maybe hot?), the gigantic metal thing posted here is the steel incinerator built in 2011, a year when Texas was in the midst of a huge drought.   Fire officials in the county said they couldn’t burn the wood for coals unless the fire was contained.  In response, church members built this incinerator, where the fire is kept well in control.   Included with this post are a few photos of young folks enjoying their meals in the huge church gymnasium.   One little guy, age 3, shows up in a few shots.   His expressions are priceless.   

These are a few photos taken a few weeks ago at Berry Springs Park & Preserve, just east of Georgetown, Texas.   It’s a place I enjoy visiting.  While not exactly off the grid, it often takes second fiddle to its neighbor to the west, San Gabriel Park.    Both are wonderful. These are just a few images taken after a bit of rain.   On this election night, my guess is most of you will be focused on that, but I wanted to offer something without the stress of  political discourse. 

101618 GEORGETOWN,

Another post from the Field of Honor, 2000 American flags flying at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown through November 12th.   In its second year, the Field of Honor is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Georgetown.  Two photos from Sunday’s official opening ceremonies.  In the first image, an Air Force veteran, 89, was  concerned that a flag was off kilter.   Not liking that, he paused a few moment to make it right.   While the flags were being placed the day before, a couple of veterans did something similar, a simple, but touching act.   The second photo is a member of the Buffalo Soldiers, based at Austin’s Camp Mabry.  He, along with three other Buffalo Soldiers, took part in an interfaith Blessing of the Field and Celebration of Gratitude.  The gentleman pictured, I am advised, is a Vietnam-era veteran.