“I like your photos because they’re quiet” was from someone I was just meeting a couple of years ago.    He’d been seeing some of my photography in the Williamson County Sun.   After more than five decades of making photos this was (and is) the best compliment ever received.   While every photo made  doesn’t qualify, quietude is a daily goal.    Presented here is one taken at sunrise in Jonah, Texas on Thursday.   It’s an old-growth pecan tree resting comfortably by the Jonah Community School, now finding new purpose.    The structure has been here since 1922.  It’s a guess, but that tree is a bit older.  As the winter months come the tree’s leaves go away, leaving behind a tree with very good bones.  I’ve snapped pictures of this tree a few times over the years.  Hopefully, other opportunities will come along.    For now, however, a quiet sunrise and a regal tree.

And one more tonight, photographs taken this evening during Taylor’s annual Patriot Day parade and observance held at Heritage Square Park.  This 9/11 anniversary observance has been held here since 2002.    Reverend Sela Finau, pastor at Taylor’s First United Methodist Church, gave the closing benediction.

Since 2011, first responders in Georgetown have commemorated the 9/11 tragedies with a Memorial Stair Climb, held at Birkelbach Field.  Firefighters, police officers and a few family and friends march up and down the stadium steps to page homage to first responders responding to the World Trade Center attacks in New York City.   No other words are needed.

For the past few years a visit to a cotton gin has been on my visual radar.   That gin has been Waterloo Gin, just east of Taylor.  The weather is producing some pretty good cotton this season.   Gin co-owners Clement Strmiska and David Woollett  and their crew will no doubt be busy.   If another cotton gin is operational this year I’d be glad to take a few photos there, but in the last couple or so years Waterloo has been the only one doing this  work in Williamson County, Texas.   These are from last evening, Clement resting in his truck at the end of a long day.  After the gin powered down, Rocky, the little dog in the last photo, surveyed the darkened area.

When September rolls around it’s a good bet the egrets and ibis at Taylor’s Murphy Park rookery  will move on until Spring.   With that in mind, I stopped by there for a few photographs last evening.   Once they’re gone, we’ll have plenty of year-round residents nearby, including herons , cormorants, cattle egrets, geese and ducks.    A federally-protected species, these Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets are  a visual treat.  

One of the nicest places I visit is a 189 acre farm a few miles northeast of us.  To say the property owner is a dear friend just isn’t enough.   He’s allowed me to visit  the farm anytime I like.   Hopefully, I won’t take advantage of that.   While the windmill is a joy, the rest of this space also is comforting.   And very very quiet.   You’ll see photographs from there occasionally.  

It had been cloudy all day, with no expectation of seeing even a snippet of tonight’s full moon.   But the moon did peek out for a brief spell.   Better late than never.  The last one is the moon’s reflection in a nearby lake.

Another batch of photographs taken on morning walks last week, narrowed down to fourteen this time, still too dang many.   All are in Taylor.   Countryside ramblings are usually more expansive.  These walk photos are mostly tighter, mainly because these walks are slow.  Just watching light.  You notice things at a slower pace.

We were expecting a cloud cover and rain this evening, but something else came along.   I’ve got a ton of stuff that needs doing, but decided to chase the moon for a few minutes instead.   Tonight’s moon is almost full, in a Waxing Gibbous phase at 99.2% visibility.   Three photographs from East Williamson County, Texas are offered, including Zion Lutheran Church in Sandoval, a curious Texas Longhorn and a pond reflecting the moon a little bit, encompassed by blue evening light.  We truly need the rain, but seeing the moon is nice, too.

Photographing K-9 Kerplunk is a blast.   For the past few years Georgetown Parks & Recreation has held this event at the outdoor kiddie pool at their recreation center.   The dogs love it, and so do their humans.   The dog in the first photograph is named Merle Haggard, now 12-years-old, but with an abundance of joy in him.   Merle spent the better part of an hour underneath a water spray, oblivious to everything going on around him.   It’s a joyful event.  I finally stopped when running out of lens tissue to clean the water off the lenses.