Just some Texas Longhorns grazing on a hill in Beyersville for tonight, my friends.   I think this is sufficient.

A few photos taken on Halloween tonight  in Old Town Georgetown, a section of the city’s historic district.   It’s always well-attended.  And a lot of fun to see.

The Williamson County Expo Center was filled with sheep and goats from all over Texas for the Chisholm Trail Showdown on the final day of the Williamson County Fair & Rodeo in Taylor.   The county livestock show will be held here in a few weeks.   This event was a nice warmup.  I really like the little fellow in the opening three photos, showing his sheep named Pretty Girl.   When these photos were taken, he was nearing his fourth birthday on Tuesday.    He was having a blast!   The rest of the photos show the range of emotions and activities at any livestock show, including a grandfather cheering on his granddaughter.  

As with any sport, one needs to observe the culture surrounding it.   That applies to the sport of rodeo, which continues to be among my favorite things to cover.   If done properly, it’s an extremely labor-intensive thing to photograph.   The newspaper I shoot photos for would probably be fine if I just edited action photos, but I like to  deeply explore my subject matter.   While mentioned numerous times before, know that rodeo is indeed a sport.  The men and women who compete could probably tell you war stories about their injuries.  Thankfully, the dazed man with blood running down his face seemed to be okay after a fall during saddle bronc riding competition.   These folks are athletes.  I wish they were paid more for their efforts.   These photos were taken last evening at the  Williamson County Fair & Rodeo, held at the Williamson County Expo Center near our Taylor home.  Not mentioned on the program was the  night’s finale, a herd of beautiful mustang horses literally flowing through the arena.   That was nice.  Let’s not forget Mutton Bustin’ for the kids.

A member of Austin’s Mariachi Los Toros warms up on his trumpet before the  group’s performance at the Second Annual Williamson County Fair and Rodeo on Friday night in Taylor.   More photos from the weekend to come later.

So I’m standing next to my car at Taylor’s Murphy Park late Thursday afternoon when the clouds started looking really puffy, surrounded by a crisp blue sky.   My inclination was simply  to take a photo of that nice sky when a flock (herd)  of birds meandered along, northbound to who knows where.    They were quite focused on task,  with military precision.   And just the right thing to add to a nice Texas sky.

Wednesday night I attended the opening night of the Williamson County Fair & Rodeo being held at the Williamson County Expo Center in Taylor.  In addition to a cool midway, I had fun watching the fair’s inaugural stick horse competition.   That was a hoot!  Both kids and adults (yours truly included) enjoyed the petting zoo.  Sam, a 25-year-old tortoise, was noticeably shy when the petting zoo was filled with kids, but once things settled down, Sam took a slow stroll around the place.  The rodeo will be held Friday and Saturday night.   And there’s a lamb and goat show on Saturday morning.   I love county fairs.

Lilac Cemetery, in Milam County, a few miles from the San Gabriel community, has been on my mental radar since friend Deborah Hajda mentioned it a while back.   I’d seen a photo of the site, but a gate had me wondering if it  would be locked.   Once there,  all was good.  Rather than drive my car inside, I left it outside the gate.   This was a place to walk.   The surrounding countryside is idyllic.   The only activity I noticed for the hour I was there were a few cattle grazing nearby.   The land here was made available by the family of Dr. John Graves, the dentist and planter who settled Lilac in the late-1850s.   The earliest burial here was in 1870, but finding that gravesite proved elusive.   Veterans dating back to Civil War times are interred here. I was impressed to see an outhouse nestled near a fence line.    It looks well-used.   Growing up in the 50s and 60s, I recall my mother’s farm family using one.   They didn’t get indoor plumbing until the late-60s.   This is a beautiful place, one of the few reminders of what was at one time the community of Lilac.

Prairie grass, as seen this evening, marks what was once the Milam County community of Lilac, Texas.   A bit of history follows.   Dr. John Graves, a dentist and planter, brought his family here in 1858.  With the addition of a post office, it became Lilac in 1883.  The Graves family donated land for a school, Baptist church, Methodist encampment and a cemetery.  At one time, Lilac had two stores, a cotton gin and blacksmith shop.  After a devastating flood in 1921, the community declined.   1929 finished what the flood had begun.   I took this after spending time at Lilac Cemetery,  but that’s another story.  Prairie grass prevails.

Flowers aren’t something I know much about.   We see these lovely flowers start to come up every autumn after a bit of rain.   A Google search tonight seems to tell me they are Oxblood Schoolhouse Lilies, not wildflowers, but produced from bulbs.  I saw these in a vacant lot during a morning walk in Taylor.   Tonight I stopped by for a few photos.   If you care to call them something else, go for it.    As far as I’m concerned they’re just pretty.  That’s quite enough.