Simple is best sometimes. One lone tree, but one with character, a day filled with clouds on the Blackland Prairie.

The rain may have moved on from Central Texas, but the remnants remained at Berry Springs Park & Preserve on Thursday afternoon. Although there is a fishing pond at the park, what you see here are not fishing areas! The old-growth pecan trees make this a beautiful place regardless of the weather.

We’ve had a whole lot of rain today. It began late last night and continues tonight. It left many areas filled with unwanted water. This evening I visited Bull Branch Park in Taylor. It was flooded during my morning walk and continues to do so tonight, as seen in the last four photos of this post. Rain is one thing, but rain and cold? I’m not liking that, friends.

Our Texas weather can change in no time flat, particularly when what passes for winter sets in. Saturday afternoon, a cold and cloudy day, I took a drive through the community of Noack, in Southeast Williamson County. Despite the county’s rapid growth, Noack (so far) has kept its calm persona. Since the subjects were almost monotones anyway, let’s go with black-and-white treatment, shall we? Included: Christ Lutheran Church, a congregation in the area for 125 years; an old shack, or maybe a barn, overtaken by growth; a farmer uses his tractor to haul a horse trailer; finally, grain elevators, fronted by a generous helping of Blackland Prairie soil.

After a night of heavy rain leaving a few fields saturated, the sun returned to our Blackland Prairie today, this last day of 2018. Never mind fireworks. The skies where we live provided their own luster. I hope your new year brings you peace and joy, friends.

It rained quite a bit this evening in Taylor, Texas. And it was (for us, anyway) pretty dang cold. I started to forego any photos tonight, but ended up at two of our parks, Murphy and Bull Branch. Here are a few of those efforts.

Paying work is slow at this time of the year. Beginning around Halloween things get quite busy. It remains so through Christmas. And then things slow down. Perhaps that should be a concern, but it’s not. There’s more time to ramble. On a recent Friday night, I came on two scenes worthy of photos. Seeing a cotton field in late-December seems odd, but there it was, a little east of Weir, Texas. It looks neglected. The other photo, a bit west of Granger, was a field I found enchanting. After finishing the photos, I noticed a sign ahead, letting passersby know this 28-plus acres is for sale. My hope, for what it’s worth? That a developer doesn’t transform this piece of Blackland Prairie into a subdivision.

Getting up early is really nothing new. Lucy, our cat, and Star, our dog, make it clear when it’s time to get rolling. However, to get up, get dressed and head out the door well before sunrise? That can be challenging. Age has its rewards, but muscles, bones and joints don’t always relish quick starts. These photos were taken last Sunday morning. The pets were fed, my wife was sleeping soundly. Out the door I went. The first stop, thirty minutes ahead of sunrise, was at a spot overlooking the San Gabriel River. Have I mentioned just how much I adore that body of water? It’s nice. The second photo, with a field of hay bales, was kind of exciting. It was maybe 15 minutes ahead of dawn, but the sky was magnificent. A photo or two was made without any point of reference. Along came the hay bales and I knew it was just right. These early-morning skies don’t stay that way very long. This one last maybe 7-8 minutes. As I rambled along, the sunrise imminent, a good hill, and a couple of trees were a good spot to usher in the sunrise. The final image, taken perhaps 15 minutes past sunrise, includes a Waning Gibbous moon, not quite full, but close, as it neared moonset on a serene and elegant Sunday morning.

A few weeks ago I took photos of a kids’ fishing contest at Georgetown’s Garey Park on a cold December morning. In looking for something similar, I came across photos taken in August 1982 at Sweetwater Creek State Park, in Douglas County, Georgia, about 20 miles west of downtown Atlanta. The differences? While for one thing, these were summer photos. Also, the fashions of the period probably date these, too. But the similarities are more important. Despite a 36-year difference, it’s still fishing. It’s still kids being outside, not in front of electronic devices, spending time with parents and grandparents. The Atlanta Journal & Constitution was a big-city newspaper, but they allowed me to pursue the things I thought important, too. People might tend to want to refer to these images as “cute,” but really, it was, and is, about covering the slices of life we all see. The freckle-faced boy in the opening photo sums it up nicely.

A few scenes from ramblings on a stormy night on the prairie. This post is mostly about the trees I like along a certain road. That opening photo also includes a horse I’ve visited with a time or two. The second and third photos are variations from the same pasture. My preference might be the lone tree. Except for the pastures, the photos could be black-and-white. The final image? Just a vehicle motoring along a long stretch of highway outside Walburg, Texas.