The 2019 World Series continues this week, the Houston Astros taking on the Washington Nationals.  The series continues in Houston on Tuesday.   The Astros, beginning  as the Colt 45 many years ago, are giving maximum effort, as are the Nationals.    But it all begins in places like Thorndale, Texas, where these photos were made tonight during a 9-Under little league practice on a field adjacent to the town’s high school.   Thorndale, in Milam County, is a community of close to 1400.  “The Rookie,” a 2002 movie starring Dennis Quaid, was partially filmed here.  Some of the baseball field scenes were on the field directly behind this one.    Before the majors, there are fields like this one.  It starts here.  Kids learning.  Dads and moms supporting. 

This little series of photos were taken a couple of evenings ago on the lake at Taylor’s Murphy Park.   The rookery’s egret population has scaled back until next Spring, but the lake remains a nice place to observe other avian wonders.   Great Blue Herons aren’t seen in large numbers like the egrets, but they’re here from time to time.  This heron was foraging for an evening meal in the lake.   Hopefully, she found sustenance.   She’s a pretty girl.

On Friday night I photographed the annual Adults With Disabilities Dance, sponsored by Georgetown Parks & Recreation.  The couple in the first two images are indeed a couple. I remember seeing them here last year, more bonded than ever now.   The event, held at the Georgetown Community Center at San Gabriel Park, was Halloween-themed.  This inspiring event is held for adults with physical and cognitive disabilities.   I look forward to covering it each year for my friends at the  Williamson County Sun.

Anything to do with   trains, or tracks, or railroad depots?  They’re interesting to me.   This one was taken while waiting on a train to pass just west of Taylor earlier this week.   That’s my intrepid Honda in the foreground.  

As I got out of my car Thursday afternoon to cover the Georgetown Parks Department’s annual Halloween Festival at the San Gabriel Community Center, I quickly grabbed a camera to record a mama, and a pumpkin-clad pooch called Bruno, get her 5-year-old son all fixed up for the fun.   In his dinosaur costume, the little guy was almost as big as mama, who once getting the outfit just right, smiled as she took photos with her phone.  Bruno’s smiling, too.   All three proceeded inside, but an hour into the festival, I noticed Bruno’s absence.   Bruno, it seems, had to return to the car.   Thankfully, it was a very cool night so Bruno was snug and safe!   This is just one of those slice-of-life things that make community photojournalism fun.

I’m thankful for tonight’s storms that have crossed Williamson County, Texas, leaving behind much-lower temperatures.    These are photos taken this evening along the San Gabriel River and at a rain-soaked baseball field in Georgetown.   The river photos might appear to be black-and-white, but they’re not.   The light for the river photos was the result of a good electrical storm making dark things bright, if only for a moment or two.

These three photos were made a few nights ago on a peaceful stretch of a dirt road in Bell County, Texas.   A portion of the road is unpaved, slowing me down enough to take in the sights, never a bad thing.

These photos were made a few evenings back while wandering through the most eastern part of Williamson County, Texas.    Though development continues throughout our area, I can still find places where the density, so far, is low.   It was surprising to see a herd of deer.   That’s something you’re more apt to find on the western edge of the county.   Folks in Sun City, Texas, for instance, are well-versed in deer nomenclature.   There’s a loose theme in that all the pictures were made very close to each other, separated by not more than a couple of miles.   I’m continuing to document the passing of things, like the two farmhouses, which appear to have been empty for quite a while.   I’m glad their remains are there, as is the land around them, but will these farm and ranching areas eventually fall victim to subdivisions?    In my 29 years in Atlanta, I witnessed enough development to last several lifetimes, but I did find the modern home, where a gent was working outside, to fit right in.   It seems to belong.    The Blackland Prairie land might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s mine.  

The last time I posted butterfly photos a few years ago, I made the mistake of calling them Monarchs.   One of my more knowledgeable friends, however, said they were not.  Their real identity escapes memory right now, but let’s just call these butterfly photos, shall we?   I think they’re Monarchs, but will not make that error again if I can help it.    All that aside, these photos were made a few days ago at Taylor’s butterfly garden in Murphy Park.   Whatever you call them, these guys are fast!   When they decided to move, autofocus on my high-end Nikons couldn’t keep pace.   At any rate, I like these little creatures, whatever you call them.

Even though we’re still experiencing some all-too-warm temperatures (90s!) in Central Texas, the seasons are changing, apparent if you were to travel around our farm country in East Williamson County, Texas.   Fields recently filled with corn, wheat and cotton are harvested, leaving behind some of our Blackland Prairie soil, now fallow.   This barn?  Oh, it’s one of those I return to from time to time.   When this photo was made a few nights ago, the last rays of light graced both the field and that barn.