After 29 years living in the dissonance of Atlanta, we moved home to Texas in 2009, to Central Texas, but specifically to farm country on the Blackland Prairie.    The farmhouse pictured in the opening photo was one of the first things that moved me.   So free and open.  In 2020, that place continues to inspire, engulfed by endless fields of corn.  The second photo is milo (grain sorghum), another crop you might see if you visit our area.

Cemeteries.   How do you see their function in 2020?   I have been fascinated by them for decades.   Walk through one and see the history of families.   These photos were taken recently on a visit to the Bartlett City Cemetery.   People born in the early 1830s are laid to rest here.   In the late-1800s, I noticed, there were burials for little children.   Far too many, but sadly, mortality rates were higher then.   From this visit, however, I was fascinated to see a single corn plant growing by a gravesite.   Since this is farm country (so far), I can only surmise the loved one’s family pays tribute with this planting.   Many of the gravesites are are in poor shape.   Are there family members who can keep the cemetery intact?   I don’t know, but wish the best for this resting place on the prairie.

Remember, folks, this is Texas.   Our summers begin in April around here.   As we approach mid-July, temperatures reach the low-100s almost every day.   Much of this Saturday was spent around the square in Georgetown, where families could find some really good ice cream, making things a little more tolerable.   I made these photos at two popular destinations, All Things Kids and The Baked Bear.   Both do ice cream quite well!   In the opening photo, a young lady, 3, enjoys her treat while Molti, the family’s 6-month-old Bull Mastiff, waits for something to fall his way.  Dad says when he’s grown, Molti will weigh about 160 pounds.  He’s a sweet boy, as his 3-year-old well knows.   The other photos are just icing on a very hot cake.

Recently, I’ve seen more turkey vultures on the prairie, keeping their keen eyes focused on potential food sources.   This gathering was spotted recently near Bartlett, Texas.   While not received well in our culture, they have every right to persevere.  

If you live where we live, in East Williamson County, Texas, you’d be hard-pressed to go far without seeing gigantic fields of corn.   Every growing season, they get my attention.  I tell myself to pass on by.   Then I don’t.   The way this crop spreads its wispy grace across the Blackland Prairie each year sucks me into its orbit.   No harvest photos yet, just cornfields in progress.   From Granger to Noack,  just visual explorations, friends. 

Nothing special with this post, just watching the sun begin its western descent in Noack and Thrall tonight.  I’ll leave it there.

070820 EAST Williamson

You may grow weary of these posts from Taylor’s rookery, but if anything could be described as personal therapy via photography, it’s this. .   While it’s interesting to see these egrets (and the occasional heron) in their nesting areas, or in trees,  the thing that inspires me the most  is observing their aerial ballet performances.   It didn’t hurt to have some fine Texas skies surrounding them.   While the rookery is here year-round, once nesting season ends around  late-September, the population rapidly decreases.   I’ll still stop by, but for a few months, it’s really enthralling.  Since I wore a face mask, the one downside of these visits, smell, was lessened just a bit!

Although I’ve photographed this barn before, it recently merited another document, the Texas skies dimming above,  a recently-harvested field below,  made it worth another visit.   Texans are a showy bunch, but that’s fine by me.

There’s nothing complicated tonight, friends.  Just some sweet Texas skies.   One is from Granger, where the old City Hall building stands out against a colorful sunset. The other, taken on this cloudy night, shows a Fed-X plane making its way over Taylor a little before 9p.m., likely en route to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  

We still have evening haze because of Saharan dust.   I did manage to eek out a photo of tonight’s full moon, a Buck Moon.  With cows.