This week marked my 65th year on the planet.  To mark the milestone, I visited what I’m calling my “birthday barn.”    It’s a sweet old barn, maybe less than two miles from our house in Taylor.   For years, I’ve passed it, but never saw anyone in the farmhouse in front of it.  Needless to say, it was just something to admire from afar because I do not trespass on private property.   A few months ago, however, I spotted a couple in the front yard.  I pulled in and introduced myself.  “Would it be okay,” I asked, “if I periodically stopped by to photograph your barn?”   They were nice enough to say yes.   These photos, taken last evening, were my second visit to the barn.  The 1963 Impala that was there the first time is still there.    The son of the couple stopped by last night, , filling me in a bit more on the barn’s history.  He thinks it was built in 1901.   It’s been around a while longer than yours truly.    From time to time, maybe I’ll visit it again.  It’s not far from home.   And it has staying power.  Hopefully, I will, too.

083117 TAYLOR, TEXAS:

From time to time I sort through files of black and white photos taken along the East 6th Street corridor in downtown Austin, Texas.   They are among the images I took while studying photojournalism at University of Texas in Austin.   

For the past several years I’ve enjoyed covering the Sterling Gloves Boxing Tournament for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.   These are a few photos taken last Saturday.   Increasingly, the sport attracts younger competitors, both male and female.    While it’s never been the sport for me personally, many people get involved in it to stay in shape.  Boxers, when they’re focused, are some of the healthiest folks you’ll find.    At any rate, here are a few images. 

Tonight’s photos were taken last evening and tonight.   While Tropical Storm Harvey continues to cause Hell in Houston and other parts of Southeast Texas, the storms seem to have moved on where we live.   Three images are offered, including a jet soaring through  the clouds.  I’m guessing the plane was aiming for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  Houston Hobby and Bush Intercontinental, in Houston, are both shut down until Thursday.    This is followed by a Waxing Crescent moon peaking out through some fine clouds.   And from tonight, yet another windmill, this just a wee bit north of Hutto.   As much as possible, I’ll give you something positive.   It doesn’t minimize what’s happening to the east, but perhaps it’s calming.   I hope so.

At dusk last evening, I drove around a little of the Blackland Prairie.   While  the fallout from Tropical Storm Harvey didn’t affect us nearly as much as others, the farmer’s soil is still saturated far more than it needs to be.    Hopefully, the cotton still in the fields isn’t a total loss, but I’m no expert on these matters.   The post starts, however, with Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, east of us in Wuthrich Hill, Texas.  The rest are impressions, nothing more.   

With terrible weather occurring all over the Texas coast, and beyond, it was a blessing to attend the Georgetown Parks Department’s annual Adults With Disabilities Dance, held Friday evening at the San Gabriel Community Center.   The dance is aimed at adults with  developmental and/or physical  challenges.   I try my best, when covering this community, to be respectful and kind.  Hopefully, I’ve done that this time.   While every person pictured has a story, perhaps the most inspiring,  shown in the first three photos, is 25-year-old Gracie Kiltz, dancing with her caregiver, Mina Dyer.   Gracie was born with Down syndrome.  At age 2, she developed leukemia.   The chemotherapy treatment for her cancer led to more developmental challenges, leaving her unable to speak.   Gracie has persevered, thanks to loving parents, John and Erin Kiltz.   In 2010, Gracie was named homecoming queen at Georgetown High School.  The homecoming king that same year was Jared Friemel, a young man with Down syndrome who I have had the pleasure of knowing and photographing a few times since coming home to Texas. The clown? That’s volunteer Lt. Jonathan Gilliam, a member of the Georgetown Fire Department.   He’s a really cool guy who doesn’t mind dressing up for any occasion.  At Easter, Gilliam showed up at the annual egg hunt as a giant bunny rabbit!    Also volunteering were members of the Georgettes, Georgetown High School’s precision dance team.   It was a grand evening.   These photos were taken for the Williamson County Sun.

My wife, whose grandparents were Texas farmers, advises that our abundant fields of cotton are called Texas snow.   That sounds about right.   So far, it’s looking like a good growing  season for cotton in what is the nation’s largest producer.   While I find it lovely, when my wife was growing up, she helped pick cotton.  This was back in the days before fancy machinery did the work for you.   It was a prickly process.   As long as I’m not picking it,  Texas snow is a fine thing to see. is a wonderful thing to behold.

Tonight, after some rain, I went in search of rainbows.  Those I didn’t find, but there was this decrepit old windmill.   Despite missing a few (most) of its blades, it was standing tall and proud in front of a backdrop of fading western skies.   More heavy rain is expected, the result of Hurricane Harvey.   For now, I’ll try to post peaceful things.

With high school football gearing up all over the country, I wanted to offer up something taken during a 1977 game pitting Southwood High School against Minden High School, taken during my days at the Shreveport Journal.   Back then, I’m pretty sure I was shooting single frame because I simply couldn’t afford a motor drive.   What it did, however, was make you think about what you’re shooting … and when.   These days, I shy away from covering football.  It’s not that I don’t love the sport.  I do.  What I don’t like, however, are the concussions sustained when over-eager high school kids don’t understand when a play is over.   Still, the drama of life can be found on football fields everywhere in the United States.

When I went to Georgetown on Tuesday afternoon, the goal was to get a computer inspected.  Alas, I didn’t verify the shop’s hours of operation.   It was closed for the day.  Not one to waste a trip over, I ambled over to San Gabriel Park, pulled out my folding chair, a tall glass of ice water and a book.   It’s a nice place to read, particularly when you can find shade on a hot summer day.   After reading a bit, however, I started watching the ducks as they foraged for their evening meals.   These photos are really nothing more than light-watching, but with a few feathered friends to fill in the space between the shadows.