Although I spent most of the day photographing activities associated with the 175th Anniversary of Williamson County, Texas, tonight I’ll just  offer photos taken during the grand finale, held on the Georgetown square.  A laser light show adorned the east side of the Williamson County Courthouse, built in 1910, opened the next year.   The last photo is my friend David Valdez, a fellow photographer who was watching the light show from a nearby window.   He contributes much to this county, and to photography.

For years I’ve admired this baseball field in the community of Granger, a town of a little over 1500 nestled in the heart of the Blackland Prairie.   It’s been especially nice to see under the lights.   Tonight, while moseying through the area, those lights got my attention. Arriving, I found a Boys’ 12U baseball team conducting a practice under the stars.    This weekend we return to Daylight Savings Time in most of the country.  These photos, taken a little before 7p.m. tonight, won’t be possible next week.   Some embrace the  time change. Remember, however, it will be pretty dark early in the morning.   I wish our country would stick with one time or the other, all year long.   This back and forth stuff can’t be good for us.  Many know this, but I’m partial to the serenity of night light. 

My last post was a serious one, something not often done, but it was an important subject that needs to be noticed.   Tonight, however, some lighter fare.   Ducks.  Taylor, our current home, notices ducks.   The high school mascot is a duck.   And our community is adorned with them, both in parks and neighborhoods near those parks.  These photos are all from last evening at Bull Branch Park.  After yesterday’s fentanyl assignment, I didn’t feel like traveling.   The park is close.   I spent an hour observing our town’s favorite birds.   New additions are beginning to pop up everywhere.   Spring is a time for bluebonnets, but also ducklings.    It was a peaceful evening with the ducks. 

This morning I was asked to cover a fentanyl awareness event/press conference at the Williamson County Expo Center in Taylor.  The session was coordinated by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.  Normally, I’d say no to this, but decided it was a crisis that needs to be covered.   A few speakers shared their stories of loss to those gathered, mostly families who’d been personally impacted.  A mom used a sugar substitute packet to demonstrate how little it takes to end a person’s life.    I wasn’t going to post this here, or on social media, but after it was over,  several attendees made a point of thanking me for bringing attention to the problem, reason enough to share it with you tonight.

For tonight’s full moon, I remembered my Circleville ranching friend mentioning how her resilient mesquite tree survived our recent ice storm.  Sure enough, it looked battered, but strong-willed this evening as the moon shone overhead.   The others are just lunar scenes from the ranch.   This one’s called a Worm Moon.

By now you likely know I’ll slow down for a barn photograph.  Last evening,  while rambling through Williamson County near day’s end, I noticed a barn never before on my radar.   With no vehicles coming behind me, I stopped to admire the golden light.   What caught me off guard was a youngster running into the field in front of the barn.  I tried a grab shot, but it wasn’t so very sharp.   The boy briefly stopped, taking in the warm scene.   That opening photo is pretty sharp, a good moment.  I wondered what caught his interest as he looked into the darkening sky.   His presence is small, but he’s there.   The second photo was the “grab shot.”  There’s a lack of sharpness and too much movement, but I wanted to include it here.    Just something quiet, even if not precise.   The barn is nice, too.

A Waxing Gibbous moon, at 94.5% visibility, is seen in two photos tonight.  Included there is (yes) another windmill, plus a scene in downtown Bartlett, Texas.  The last photo, at Taylor’s St. James Episcopal Church, gives us two dots in the night sky.   I think they’re Venus and Jupiter, but feel free to correct this!   St. James Episcopal Church was built in 1893.

If you don’t see windmills offered for an extended period, it means the photographer isn’t working hard enough.   So tonight a prairie windmill.   I thought black-and-white was appropriate this time.

Thursday was Texas Independence Day.   I’d thought about posting something, but didn’t.   Early this morning, as I was reading and enjoying a cup of coffee in my home office, morning light from an east-facing window highlighted a Christmas ornament placed on one of my year-round trees.    The rays danced across the metallic surface.   In recent years, it seems that the Texas day has become more polarizing.    For me, however, this state is about space.   After 35 years living out-of-state, we yearned for more room.   Metro-Atlanta, where we spent 29 years, was becoming a traffic nightmare.   When returning to Texas in 2009, we chose Taylor.   The little East Williamson County community wasn’t suburban sprawl.  The farm and ranch land surrounding us created a fine landscape.    Now, with Samsung Semiconductor’s impending arrival, the notion of space may again be elusive.    We’ll see.  People move to Texas for many reasons, some of them spot-on.     We came back for a simple one.  It’s home.   There are many good people here, but quite a few with an axe to grind.   That’s regrettable.    Learn to be patient.   And tolerant.   We’re all made from different molds.

During one of my walks this week, a well-dressed young lady was getting a bike-riding lesson near Taylor’s Bull Branch Park.   At first I continued my walk, but the scene just pulled me in.  Retracing my steps, I asked mom if it was okay to observe the lesson.   If she’d said no, I’d have moseyed on, but she was fine with the intrusion.   Her daughter is just 3-years-old.    Before I began toting my inexpensive Olympus mirrorless camera a while back, there was always a cell phone in my pocket.   Cell phones are quite advanced now.  Several photographer friends make  wonderful moments with their mobile devices, but, at least for now, I’ll stick with what fits my comfort zone. It weighs little more than an iPhone.    The last photo in this post is somewhat busy, but the expression on the little girl’s face was priceless!