We’ve had a great deal of wet weather in our area.  While the moisture was welcomed in drought-ridden Central Texas, it proved to be a challenge for the performers at the Kelly Miller Circus, who brought their act to Granger, Texas on Wednesday for two performances, courtesy of the Granger High School student council.  It was so wet, in fact, the troupe wasn’t able to put up their big top tent as planned.  The show must go on, and it certainly did!   The ring and seat were set up, sans covering.   Attendees were treated to an open-air event, complete with a backdrop of grain elevators.   In small-town Texas farm country, it just looked right.   Nobody seemed to mind a bit.   Children had a grand time, but so did those long past childhood.   There’s nothing like a circus to bring out your inner kid!   These were taken for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

The Georgetown Recreation Center was a hopping, dribbling place to be Saturday when the Fire Ants, joined by the Old Glories, took on the Louisiana Crushers in a a fast-moving game of Granny Basketball.   To learn more about the sport click here, but in a nutshell, granny basketball is meant for ladies of a certain age who want to stay in the game, in this case on the basketball courts around the country.  Their league was founded in Iowa in 2005, but has grown, with  teams all over the country.   For Saturday’s event, the Crushers team drove 6 hours, from DeRidder, Louisiana to take on their opponents.   The Crushers prevailed, winning 49-33, but everyone had a grand time, score aside.   To join the league, women have to be at least 50-years-old, but most of the ladies I saw were well beyond that.   The Fire Ants’ oldest member is 81, for instance.   Nationally, there’s an 89-year-old taking part.   How cool is that?  Now in my sixth decade, I recall, growing up in Texarkana, girls were cheerleaders, pep squad members, or in the band, but didn’t get to take part  in organized school sports activities.   Thank God  for Title 9.  I like the last photo a lot.  That’s Crushers player Ruby Washington, getting a hug from her grand-children, including 3-year-old Darius Washington.   Ruby’s son lives just up the road, at Fort Hood.  He brought the family to town for the game.   It was a sweet thing to see.   These are photos I took for the Williamson County Sun.

Georgetown Partners in Education held their 2nd Annual Fun Day last weekend at the San Gabriel Community Center.   The kids enjoyed a great deal of fun games and got to see some interesting exhibits, like an inflatable planetarium provided by Girlstart.   The three young ladies in the opening photo are the 6-year-old  Smith triplets, Olivia, Grace and Isabella.   They’re posing for photos with signs indicating the year they’ll all graduate from high school, one of the numerous activities in which children participated.    These photos were taken for the Williamson County Sun.

The little lake at Taylor’s Murphy Park is always a spot to view the area’s avian wildlife.  Normally, however, photographing this setting can be distracting.   Near the lake are some buildings that don’t lend themselves to a pastoral setting.   So it was a pleasant surprise, when on my Tuesday morning walk, I noticed the fog had rolled in.   Those buildings, while still there, became virtually invisible to the eye.  Thus, a few photos for your perusal.

It seemed proper to find some imagery to mark Texas Independence Day.  Initially, I was not  liking the weather, rainy and cold most of the day.  But as night enveloped East Williamson County, Texas, the fog rolled in, enhancing the beautiful landscape.   Spending 35 years away from Texas causes me to have an even greater appreciation of where I grew up.   Even though I hail from Northeast Texas, in the Piney Woods part of the state,  this Blackland Prairie part of the Lone Star state has really grown on me.   When we left Georgia, I kind of longed for moving back to my tree-laden area, but economics led us here, near Austin.   It’s been the right thing.  The ocean has always been fascinating, so expansive and open.   But this beautiful farm country is my “land ocean,” and that’s okay.

It seems chickens are becoming a popular addition to yards everywhere, and not just here in Texas.   People are seeing the economic advantage of really going local when they can just step out to their hen house and gather a few nice eggs.   With that in mind, Georgetown Farm Supply held their “Chicks Gone Wild” seminar Saturday.  About two dozen people came to learn all they could from Abby Brewer as she gave some great tips on the care of all kinds of chickens.   That’s Abby in one of these photos with her prize-winning rooster, a show bird.   As I was getting ready to head out, one of the store’s staff wanted me to see Crusty, one of the two store kitties, as she demonstrated her feline curiosity to check out a cage full of bantam chicks.   Thankfully, Crusty made no progress on getting in there.   These photos were taken for the Williamson County Sun.

Wow.   The Georgetown Palace Theatre’s newest undertaking, “Anything Goes,” is a fast-moving production.  This show, on the theater’s Springer Memorial Stage weekends through March 29, marks the directorial debut of Scott Shipman, taking a spin at directing his first Palace production.   Regular visitors to Palace shows are familiar with Shipman’s acting chops, most recently in the title role of “Shrek.”   If Thursday night’s dress rehearsal is any indication, he does okay giving directions, too.   I’m no reviewer, but know what works.   And this does.   Give it a spin.   These are among the photos I did for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

One of the fun things I photograph most years for the Williamson County Sun is the annual Georgetown Bridal Show, held again this year at East View High School.  Vendors set up their booths to show off their offerings for the happy couples, like Stacey DelSignore and her husband-to-be, Joshua Gamboa, pictured in the opening shot.    Diana Eickholt and her fellow, George Jackson, were really enjoying the sleep number bed!   Before the models took to the stage for the actual show, 18-month-old Jackson Hartzog, a well-dressed little guy, romped near the rose petals adorning the stage, but not for long.  The organizers didn’t see young Mr. Hartzog as part of their show!   Good luck to future couples out there.

Rising well before the crack of dawn has always been somewhat painful, but when I am able to make that plunge, the payoffs can be sweet.  The quality of  early light, which can degrade quickly as a day progresses,  is a reward.   The Jonah School is a spot I  pass  when traveling along Texas Highway 29, between Taylor and Georgetown.   It’s an interesting structure, long and lean.   Since 1922, it’s weathered many Texas seasons.   Sometime back in the 1970s, the community of Jonah, just a lull in the landscape, incorporated their school system  with the Georgetown public school district.   Thankfully, the school building has remained, recast  as the Jonah Community Center.   I’ve wanted to represent the school here on my blog, but alas, in broad daylight, it wasn’t so inspiring.   Until Sunday morning, that is.   I was trolling along about 6:30a.m.  One lone light added just the right amount of texture to the scene.   Since another early assignment awaited, I only stopped here for about 7 or 8 minutes.   The result are the photos you see here, with no magical Photoshop devices.   As dawn neared, the blueness of the sky lessened, quickly settling on gray matter on this cloudy day.  When you can, get up early.  Enjoy what you see.

During what I call my golden years at the Shreveport Journal, I discovered a very nifty (and compact)  eating establishment downtown.   JD’s Grill was tiny, dwarfed by everything around it.   When I made these photos in August 1979, JD’s was a hopping place.   Total seating capacity was about 8 diners.    Folks in Shreveport came here in droves.   JD’s was always busy.  During down times after lunch, you were likely find a fellow sipping his coffee and reading the Shreveport Journal for the latest news.   When JD had a few rare moments, he’d enjoy his pipe.   Remember, this was back in the day when a fellow smoking his pipe was okay.    If JD is still among the living, I expect he’d be pretty old, but often wonder if he passed his little grill on to other hands?