Folks in this part of the country will tell you that summer began at the beginning of April, but the official “start” of summer was Monday.   Temperatures climbed into the mid-upper 90s.   Area residents sought out swimming pools or splash pads, but the San Gabriel River was a grand option for relief from the heat.  Some families swam in the river.   A father and son just enjoyed being close to the clear water.  By this time of the year,  water sources are beginning to be plagued by muck and algae.  Thankfully, it looked pristine on Monday evening.   The last photo was taken as the river flowed east through Jonah.  Stay cool, friends.

Rodeo is the most taxing event to cover, at least for this photographer.   These are photographs from Saturday evening, taken at the 3rd Annual Bill Pickett Youth Rodeo, held at Taylor’s Williamson County Expo Center.  While most seem to want to see the action shots, the features and candid portraits are favorites.   In this rodeo participants  can be no older than  18.

It rained almost every day this week.   Most days the umbrella tagged along.   The weekly walks.

A few photographs from this morning’s Taylor Juneteenth Parade are presented here.  This is a very hectic day, but wanted to  offer something from the town where we live.   The closeup photograph is Lessie Givens, the parade Grand Marshall.   A longtime educator, Mrs. Givens will celebrate her 100th birthday on July 9th.  

The rookery in Taylor’s Murphy Park is a place to relax without worrying about someone barreling into you while scouring the countryside.   With the foldout chair in place it was a nice time to watch the birds tonight.  The space we had when moving here years ago was nice.   The rookery was quiet.  It remains so.

Another crop begins to take shape on the Blackland Prairie.    Cotton seems to love this soil.

If you’ve followed this stuff for a while, you know about the need to observe how light falls on a subject.    Just slight variations can change the appearance of a subject.   These two were taken from basically the same spot as a large flock of birds flew back and forth over a vintage barn near Taylor.   The first photograph is the keeper, but look how the scene changes in the blink of an eye.   Some of you probably try to manipulate a subject to achieve a visual goal, but friends, nature  can do that for you.  Note that two-photo combos look awful on Facebook,  this time the lesson is (perhaps) worthwhile.   Just watch light, friends.

The friend who owns these ponds calls them tanks, but whatever name you give them, they’re nice places to visit.   A small collection of photographs from an outing there this week.  

The first two are from last evening, the closeup is from tonight.  You know what they are.

It was an okay bit of wandering this evening, but when this scene appeared close to sunset, all was good.   It’s a stream.   Not a pond, not a tank.  The crisp light was a blessing.