Last weekend, right before the frigid weather set in, I spent some time at Georgetown’s Blue Hole Park to take photos of anglers trying their luck at catching a few of the 1500 rainbow trout placed in the San Gabriel River late last week.   While the humans were photographed,  it was a Great Blue Heron that held my attention.   At first the bird stayed pretty far away, nestled under a tree at the water’s edge, but she became interested in a 9-year-old fisherman cleaning the five trout he caught.   The youngster sensed the bird’s interest, tossing leftovers from his cleaning into the water.   The heron wasted no time finding these treats.  The youngster was too far from the bird to include in the photo.  And I didn’t want to disturb what was happening.
Even after the boy left with his family the heron remained, fishing on her own in the same cove.   I see herons all the time on daily walks in Taylor, but most of them take off as soon as a human nears.   Not this one though.   She stayed rooted to her area for over an hour.   I hope the extra food provided sustenance to help with the coming cold snap.    Fuel feeds the soul.

You’ve been warned before, right?   Windmills are a continuing obsession.   I find it hard to pass one by without stopping to record it.   Most of the two dozen or so windmills I see have been photographed multiple times, this one included.   It helps when the sky plays nice.   It did on this evening.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on this date in 1929.  He would’ve been 95 today.   Frigid weather, with threat of ice, postponed or cancelled many MLK National Holiday observances, but the City of Taylor was able to remember his legacy this morning in the auditorium at Taylor City Hall.  With temperatures still in the teens, I hadn’t expected to find attendees, but at least 50 people were inside a comfortable place.    It was good to see a diverse community coming together, adding warmth to a chilly winter day.

A homeless man finds warmth and shelter at Georgetown’s Madella Hilliard Neighborhood Center, the city’s first warming shelter on this frigid evening with temperatures in the teens.  The shelter is the work of Helping Hands of Georgetown, the Wilco Homeless Coalition and the Georgetown Health Foundation.   The cots and bedding were provided by the Central Texas American Red Cross.   Those in need were given a warm meal and a place to sleep.   The warming shelter will be available beginning at 8p.m. on Monday.   Weather conditions are postponing Georgetown’s  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration until a date in February.

This is a Taylor scene often passed, but seldom photographed.   The time after sunset Saturday was filled with serenity.   I love old fence posts, but understand the contributions of barbed wire, too.   Some of you might associate barbed wire with our part of the country, but it was birthed in the 19th Century midwest.   A barbed wire patent was issued in 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio.   The following year, Michael Kelly of Dekalb, Illinois made improvements.  And in 1874, another Dekalb resident, farmer Joseph F. Glidden, patented another version, making it accessible and efficient, but at lower cost.  At any rate, it’s a sunset photograph, but with a snippet of education.

This is an International L-160, a truck manufactured by International Harvester from 1949-1952.    I’ve admired it from a distance, but recently was given permission to photograph it up close.   It’s an elegant vehicle, an integral member of our community of farmers on the Blackland Prairie.   The license plate tells us its last active year was 1974, the year I graduated from college.   A few of us relics carry on.

Coupland, Texas is a tiny community, around 300 people, but this town just a few minutes south of Taylor is a gem.   The opening photo is their truss bridge, prominent in “Secondhand Lions,” the 2003 film starring Robert Duvall and Michael Cain.  It’s still in active use today.    Others  are just area scenes.   We had a Waxing Crescent moon tonight, at 3.7% visibility.  It’s barely visible in the last photo, a photograph taken of a light-adorned gravesite at St. Peter’s Church of Coupland Cemetery.   The  deceased died in 2023.   As growth marches on, some of us embrace what we have.

By the time I finished my morning walk today the fog had begun to lift, but thankfully it cleansed  the landscape for a while.  Fog photos are mostly taken during  walks, before the mist clears.   While driving in fog has drawbacks, during a stroll it’s nice. Although today’s walk was  seven miles, every one of these was taken in Taylor’s Bull Branch Park.   I really like that park.

Although I often chat a lot in these posts, that won’t happen this time.   Just some beautiful grain elevators along a winding country road  after sunseton the prairie.

Unpaved roads draw me in every time.   They remind us that it’s okay slow down and just feel the land and sky.   These are three from the Blackland Prairie.