As the days grow shorter, opportunities for night images increase.  These are some photos taken around the viaduct in downtown Taylor.   A version of the opening photo has been taken before, but  this was a good time to try out new camera gear, including a better tripod.  I like this 1883 building at the corner of 2nd and Main.   It remains vacant.  Maybe someone can breathe new life into it.   The second photo  is Vencil Mares Taylor Cafe, a venerable barbecue establishment operated by World War II veteran Vencil Mares, who died late last year at 96.   It’s closed now.  Is that because of Vencil’s passing, or the pandemic?   The third image was just enjoying the patterns and light under the viaduct.  In the daytime, it’s not so interesting, but at night it’s kind of neat.

One of the churches I enjoy photographing is Immanuel Lutheran Church, just west of Taylor.  While it always looks grand, the golden light at sunset is truly calming.   This post includes the warm light gracing its front, but includes the source of that light, too.   The last photo of the church has nothing to do with sunset.  It’s just an image I like.

I was doing a walk-around last evening in downtown Taylor, looking for night scenes.   Finishing up, I saw a bicycle loaded with trash bags and other things, resting on a bin near the viaduct.   Then a face, a man in search of whatever the bin might hold.  We visited while I made a few photos.  In his early-60s, he mentioned he was a veteran, diagnosed with depression.   I wish I’d had thought to give him something.   If we pass each other again, I’ll remedy that.   Many who follow my work in recent years may have expectations for the images posted, many of them rural scenics, landscapes, pictorials, etc.    Over the years, however, since the early-70s in Austin, I’ve tried to document people living on the precipice, beginning with photos along East 6th Street.   That work  continued  a little in Shreveport and Atlanta.   Now we’re living in a Central Texas town of  approximately 20,000.   You might not expect to see homelessness in a place like this.   It’s here.  I’ll get back to what you come here for, but won’t ignore the things I see.

About twenty minutes east of my Taylor home is Thorndale, Texas, a community of approximately 1400 in Milam County, founded in 1878.  The 2010 census estimated the population at 1336.   It’s probably more now. These are some scenes from a few recent visits, beginning with John, who stopped to chat for a few minutes.   The post concludes with turkey vultures perched on a tower just west of downtown.  It was a strange sight.

A sunset scene  along United States Highway 79, from Thrall to Thorndale.   Sunsets are nice just about anywhere.  

These were taken on a recent early morning at the beginning of dawn here on the Blackand Prairie.   While it’s common in Texas to call them tanks, my farm family in northeast Texas just called them  ponds.   Either way is okay.   Minutes after passing the pond, the skies became foggy, creating another kind of light.   When I can make it happen, I love early mornings.

Just some photos taken this evening east of Granger, Texas.   If you think you see a lot of posts from this area, you’d be right.   It’s an area that (so far) hasn’t been overrun by development.   Thank goodness for farm country. 

Consider it a given that I will regularly wander past Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, in Wuthrich Hill.  Sometimes I’ll even stop for a bit.   The church, of course, is beautiful, but so is the adjacent cemetery.  Just some impressions from a recent evening visit.

This weekend I enjoyed a few hours taking photos during the Fall Festival at Sweet Eats Fruit Farm, a few miles east of Georgetown (actually closer to Taylor).   There were pumpkins galore for families to admire and purchase.  The prices for the pumpkins are really good, too!    Sweet Eats also has  a nice petting zoo where folks can wander through a large open area and visit with goats, sheep and an alpaca named Harry. And the occasional chicken.   Other activities include a corn maze, plus horseback rides for kids.   Because of COVID-19 concerns, visitors 10 or older are required to wear face masks.   It’s a big area, making social distancing a little easier in these difficult times.  

While driving around this week, this caught my eye.  While I see a lot of hay where we live, this was different.  Is this a thing in rural areas around the U.S.? I don’t know, but it merited a photo.