A few photos taken at Sunday’s opening ceremonies for the Georgetown Field of Honor, with flags on display through November 12th behind the Hammerlun Center for Leadership and Learning. While there were speakers to photograph, my choice is just to give you impressions, perhaps share a mood. One that moved me was a tight photo of a determined face. The gentleman, 82, is a retired Army Sergeant Major. That’s a big deal, friends. 
Two mornings in a row the landscape was transformed by fog. This time I ventured a little bit out of town for photos. The San Gabriel River is included. And trees. And a spider. And a hawk. 
A few photographs from Saturday’s opening day of the 7th Annual Georgetown Field of Honor, coordinated by the Rotary Club of Georgetown. This year the display of 1400 American flags is in the beautiful Old Town area of that city, in a field behind the Hammerlun Center for Leadership and Learning, overseen by the Georgetown Independent School District. Flags were still being placed Saturday, some with photographs of those being honored. Although Saturday was the first day, there are opening ceremonies beginning at 1:30p.m. If you’re in the area, get there early. Parking could be challenging. These photos are generic scenes, but the last four highlight the U.S. Marine Corps members celebrating the its 248th birthday, complete with a cake sliced with a ceremonial sword. Included in those are a 93-year-old Marine, plus a 17-year-old cadet, a member of the Round Rock High School Marine Corps Junior R.O.T.C. program. Her group served as color guards for the ceremony. 
Photographing foggy scenes is almost always a pleasure. It can be nature’s monotone. Early this morning I stepped outside to a heavenly layer of fog in Taylor. An actual assignment was coming up in Georgetown, but I took a few minutes for a visit to Murphy Park, celebrating its 100th year this weekend. Fog can take a complicated scene and bring a feeling of serenity. And clarity. 
Georgetown’s 7th Annual Field of Honor, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Georgetown, officially opens Saturday morning, but I stopped by to see how it looked tonight. Because of ongoing construction at San Gabriel Park, the usual venue, the 1400 American flags are flying behind the Hammerlun Center for Leadership and Learning. This year’s site is smack dab in the the heart of Georgetown’s Old Town district. I think it’s a better site than the park. The Field of Honor will continue through November 12th. 
When moving to East Williamson County, Texas in 2009 I soon began to notice how trees, large and small, tend to stand out around here. They have room to breathe. Some are probably feeling down and out after the summer’s intense heat and drought. Quite a few didn’t survive, but many 
did. The opening photo is a little tree I’ve admired for a while. In early-2022 a sign on the Beyersville road where the tree rests indicated the road was closing for a development of some sort. Earlier this week, the sign was gone, leading to a drive along that nice unpaved route. I’m thankful the development didn’t put an end to this one’s life. The other four are just some trees making a go of it on the Blackland Prairie.
A few minutes after sunset tonight I was admiring the late-day light on a series of power poles east of Granger, but as I drove along this county road I noticed what appeared to be a hawk perched on a wire. Thinking she would take flight, I pointed a camera her way. Although she didn’t fly away, she did meander across the line, eventually settling atop a pole. Since the light was quickly fading, I moseyed on home, but noticed what appeared to be a star (planet?) in. the distance. She’s probably still on the pole. 
Just a few photos taken on Halloween night in Georgetown’s Old Town district. No need to add more words.
Zion Lutheran Church in Sandoval is an exceptionally photogenic place, both inside and out. This is a photo taken a few evenings back, right before our steady diet of much-needed rain. If you’ve been by here, you’ll no doubt know about the gigantic Milam County water tank placed right next to this beautiful church. I chose an angle that takes care of the unsightly thing. The cemetery, of course, is included.
The first time I saw Rosalio, in either 2010 or 2011, he was running along a county road a few miles south of Granger, keeping a close watch on his herd of sheep, accompanied by Charlie, his Great Pyrenees, a fine helper who kept those sheep on course. Each evening, after he got home from his job at a printing company, he would open the pasture gate, the sheep flowing out onto the roadside, munching on abundant grasses. Sometimes a train from nearby tracks would pass, but all was well. In years since then, I’d pass near his home, stopping just to visit, not for photos. A while back, when grocery shopping in Taylor, I ran into Rosalio. When asking how he was, he bowed his head, quietly mentioning a battle with prostate cancer, but followed this news with his gentle smile. Last week, on the way to something else in Granger, there he was, still running along that some county road, chasing sheep, now joined by Rambo, his current Great Pyrenees. Of course I had to stop. The obvious question….how was he doing? “I’m okay,” he said. After three surgeries, including one to remove an unrelated tumor, Rosalio, now 69, was back in the game, doing what he loves. He’s still working at the printing company, but now just three days a week. Soon his daughter and her family will move into a new house being built on an acre of Rosalio’s land. Being near massive development in and around Taylor, he gets inquiries about selling his acres, but this is home. During the hour spent on these photos not one vehicle passed by. I’m so glad he’s on the mend. The last photo of him and Rambo looks posed, but isn’t. They just came together in a nice way. 
