An inspiring day was spent at the Williamson County Expo Center in Taylor, Texas covering the Bluebonnet Horse Expo for the Austin American-Statesman and the Williamson County Sun.   The expo is a horse adoption event coordinated by the Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.   Approximately 65 horses and one donkey (Herbie) were available for adoption today.   Included here are my visual impressions of the day, one well-spent watching horses and riders demonstrate skills in training challenges.  Beyond the obvious are just images I happen to like: the little boy chowing down on a huge grilled cheese sandwich, a young lady playing with a toy horse given to her by her grandma, and a horse called Arrow, shown in the last photo.  Arrow is a rescue resulting from the sadness of Hurricane Harvey.   I hope Arrow, and all these beautiful beings, find happy homes.  

Much of what I do  sits in files  on my desktop.   It would help if I’d clear this stuff out, wouldn’t it?    Grain elevators and windmills are go-to subjects here on the Blackland Prairie.   A few years ago, after a tornado soared through East Williamson County, grain elevators in Noack were left in ruins.   I’m happy to report their replacements are looking good.   And windmills?  I love them.    The windmill pictured in this post is a new one to add to the collection.   It’s not far from Thrall, Texas.    Just stuff, friends.

Sometimes an image is no more than a grab shot.   By no means perfect, maybe it’s worth holding onto?   This one’s busy for sure, too many elements for the eye to absorb.   While wandering through the countryside in East Williamson County, Texas near sunset last evening, looking west into a blaring sun, I saw this little scene, a mom, her daughters and the family pooch strolling and rolling into the fading day.   Because the light was exceptionally-harsh, I almost drove on, but decided to make a few frames first.  It appeared that mom and sister were giving a bike-riding lesson to little sister  on this quiet stretch of county road, cotton bundled up in the distance, a railroad crossing yet further.   Last night, I thought of just dragging the photo into the trash bin, but chose to keep it.  Maybe it has merit.

The rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park has been a magical place for me since 2009.  While I enjoy visits to the park all year long, the nesting season for egrets is coming to a close for a while.   The birds arrived in large numbers last Spring, as they’ve done every year.  They give birth and nurture the babies through the summer months.   Like clockwork, the large numbers fall off as Autumn approaches.   The park’s lake will still be full of ducks, geese, cormorants and a few herons, but egrets find new skies, new winter homes.  These are six recent photos, beginning with one taken last evening.  Note the rookery at left.  There’s a few birds there, but not like just two weeks ago when the other five photos were taken.   While I’ll continue to visit the lake, those birds make our summers more tolerable.

These two horses were photographed on the same cloudy night this week.  As mentioned before, I know little about horses, but one thing is certain:  I love observing them.  They are such intelligent beings.

Tuesday morning during my daily walk through Taylor, I was briefly caught off guard by a young woman holding and cuddling a duck in Bull Branch Park.   Taking out my headphones, I mentioned she must be a duck whisperer to get a park duck to sit with her like that.   “She’s a pet,” the lady replied.  Bubbie the duck.   This is a reason I tote my cheap little mobile phone along.   It’s not a great photo, but it is a nice slice of life.  

We had a bit of storminess tonight on the prairie.   I got to watch some of it from Coupland, the sweet little community just a few minutes south of my Taylor home.    Photographing lightning is still a challenge after all these years, but I did manage to get some images, plus a moody scene near St. Peter’s Church Cemetery.   Tonight’s weather is supposed to be ushering in some cool weather.  I sure hope so.  It was in the 90s again this afternoon.  Texas weather is strange.

A social media post made today encourages photographers, or enthusiasts,  to explore just one thing.  Dig deep into the nomenclature of it.  It might be a barn, a country road, a church, a tree, an apple.    You get the idea.  Look at it for its shape, its size, how light reacts to it at different times of day.  Really study it.   You don’t need to travel far from home.  Pick something and go with it.  With that in mind,  I present the viaduct in Taylor, Texas, the bridge that crosses over the rail yards in our downtown area.   These seven photos were taken on a few trips. Our viaduct is also popular with folks wanting to get a workout.    When you pick a subject, it doesn’t have to be done in one session.   One photo posted here might stand out more than others, but consider it an exploration.  It’s best to do this work alone.  Photography groups are fine, but they can color the end result.     Seek your own vision.

When the moonrise began tonight, earlier than expected, I wasn’t in position to record the its initial  warmth.  The lunar surface was almost immediately engulfed in clouds.   Being persistent, I found a vantage point and waited it out.  Finally, perhaps 45 minutes after the actual moonrise, I was able to capture this one.  They call this full moon a Hunter’s Moon,  preceded by a Harvest Moon.  As mentioned many times, the moon, in all its forms, is beautiful to behold.

These photos have no connection with each other other than they were both made on this Saturday.   So no, there is no theme.   This morning, while waiting on assignment in Georgetown, I came upon this couple walking their five Boston Terriers, all rescues.   The oldest, 16-years-old, has hearing and vision issues.  He rides in his own stroller during these strolls.  Their humans are good people.   The other photo was taken this evening as I wandered around Noack, Texas, in southeast Williamson County, Texas.   The church is Christ Lutheran, whose congregation began in the late 1800s.   The moon is a Waxing Gibbous version, 99.3% visible …. almost full.   On Sunday, a full moon, a Hunter’s Moon, is scheduled.   It looked okay tonight, too.