While wandering this week, in the far distance I happened to notice late-day light shining bright and golden on Union Pacific train cars on the tracks between Hutto and Taylor.  I figured the moment would’ve passed by the time I got close.   Surely the train had moved on.   But it hadn’t.  It was stopped on the tracks.   My guess is it was waiting for a train coming from the other direction to go on by.   Whatever the reason, time was on my side as this still-life fell into my lap.    I do find trains interesting.

Tonight I’ll keep the words brief.  We’re making our way toward a full moon this week.  Last evening, when the Waxing Gibbous moon was at 94.8% visibility, I stopped by Taylor’s Immanuel Lutheran Church for a few photos.   Tonight, when the moon, still in Waxing Gibbous phase, was just under 99% visibility, I traveled to Mager Cemetery in Beyersville, Texas.  The completely-full moon isn’t expected until 7:30am Thursday, but we’re expecting clouds.  And I have paying work then.   These, I think, get the point across.

Our Blackland Prairie corn crops are quickly being harvested.  Over the past few weeks I’ve tried to take a few photos of them before the stalks are gone.  These aren’t harvest photos (done that already), just portraits.   Cotton is coming soon.

Last night I had the honor of being invited to the 95th birthday celebration for Lillian Naizer, an extraordinary kolache baker for most of her life.   A few years back, covering the annual Kolache Bake Sale at Georgetown’s St. Helen Catholic Church, I met Lillian working in the kitchen as she and other volunteers put the kolaches together. She had more energy than everyone else in the room.  Really!   At last year’s sale, a friend told me  family and friends were planning a 95th birthday celebration at her home church, Saints Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in Granger, where she was raised in a strong-willed Czech family.   Her actual birthday is today, August 11th, but the big  event was last night at the Cyril & Methodius Recreation Center.   There  was food, music and dancing.   Lillian’s family is musically-inclined, too.  It showed as her sons, daughter, a grandson and a great-granddaughter took to the stage to serenade her and the gathered audience.  Saxophones and accordions are popular instruments.   The only  time I saw Lillian la little down was when her family played a favorite song of her husband, Raymond, gone from the earth for many years.   I thought it touching.   Beyond that, it was all fun, with Lillian spending time with siblings, children, grandchildren and a few of her seven great-grandchildren.   The little lady, Vivian, 4, shown in the opening photo dancing with Lillian, is one of those seven.   The youngest great-grandchild, 6-month-old Koda, got a kiss from great-grandma.  Not to be outdone on the music front, Vivian brought her harmonica along.   As I mentioned, it’s a musical family.   Happy birthday, Lillian.

While the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park is still lively, I enjoy my time there.   You’ll  almost always find ducks, geese and cormorants around the park’s lake, but  the egrets are mostly seasonal, arriving in spring, dispersing by late-September.   So I strike while the iron is hot. The birds are fascinating to watch, so much in synch with one another. Another plus, as mentioned before, is that it’s a close-in destination, about a mile from home.   In the end, I photograph it for one reason:  it’s beautiful.

This week I’m beginning to see a few actual cotton bolls in my area near Taylor, Texas.  The plants have been thriving for a few weeks, but it’s nice to  see those little fluffy bolls, isn’t it?  Most of the fields I’m seeing are still in the flowering stage, but they’ll get there soon.  A couple of farmers I know think this will be the best harvest in years.  The Blackland Prairie soil is parched and dry right now, but spring rains prepared the fields for a fine season.   Texas continues to be the number one cotton-producing state in the country.  

We need something happy after this past week, don’t we?  Maybe this will do the trick.   Today I visited the Georgetown Public Library for a kitten adoption event conducted by the Georgetown Animal Shelter.   The shelter has an overabundance of cats and kittens right now.   When I got there, the library was packed! Most of the kitties were adopted by the time things wound up early this afternoon.   Never fear, Georgetown-area folks:  the shelter will do this again Friday at the library, from 10:30am-12:30pm.   If you can’t make it there, do visit the shelter, located at 110 W.L. Walden Drive.  

Only  a couple of photos tonight, friends.  One is a long old barn I like and have documented for a few years.   That’s this year’s cotton crop coming along in front of it.   Cotton harvest is a few weeks away.   The other photo is a weathered mailbox with a good theme included.   The field in back was corn until a recent harvest.   It’s a very busy season for our Blackland Prairie farmers!

In the ten years we’ve been back in Texas, the sunsets (and sunrises) continue to bring good feelings.   With so much bad stuff going on the world, and perhaps in your personal lives, don’t you think it’s okay to offer up a bit of serenity?  I do.  This one’s from tonight.

Driving through East Williamson County, Texas, I see quite a few cornfields yet to be harvested, but in Norman’s Crossing,  Troy Boehm has begun the work on 2000 acres of corn.   It’s a busy time.  Just last week, I watched as milo was harvested on the Boehm farm.   In a few weeks, cotton will be ready.  For now, and for tonight’s post, it’s all about corn.   While mentioning it before, the cornfields you see in our area are primarily used for feed grain.  While there is some sweet corn planted here and there, it’s not the big cash crop.  The Boehm family, like most farmers, works well into the evening to get the work done.   These images are from my Sunday evening visit to Norman’s Crossing.   Going there exudes good feelings.