A few photos taken last night. We’ve had some intense skies on the Blackland Prairie in recent weeks. Although some appear to be menacing, I can assure you they were not. A rainbow even peeked out, but mostly where I couldn’t pull over to photograph it. When not hurting folks, or their property, I love storms. 
I could’ve rushed in and worked at a hot and heated pace to offer up more of our stormy skies, but you know what? That’ll have to wait. I’ve been holding onto these photos from Taylor’s rookery for about two weeks. Time to toss them out into cyberspace. Stormy skies can wait. Don’t mistake this for a news site. 
Another straightforward post tonight, friends, storm clouds forming over Blackland Prairie farm country tonight. The photos are in color, but almost come off as black-and-white images. That’s just fine. 
Just some photos from last night’s fireworks show at Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park, through which the beautiful San Gabriel River flows. Conducted for decades by members of the Georgetown Sertoma Club, the show quietly returned this year, but very low-key. No music, no vendors, just folks watching the skies. Most know I don’t embrace fireworks, but people like them. All fireworks photos were taken from the same spot, the river presenting a nice reflecting surface. Be sure to follow this post to the end. I like people photos. 
Although rain has been forecast for the weekend, conditions were just cloudy and humid this morning as I photographed Taylor’s Fourth of July Parade. Attendees lined Davis Street to take in the fun as parade participants made their way to Murphy Park. A cute pooch named Cha Cha was one of the dogs representing the Taylor Animal Shelter. Cha Cha seemed okay with the tutu! Normally I’d be at Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park for a parade, but it was cancelled this year, allowing an opportunity to document fellow Taylorites instead. Happy Fourth, friends. 
It’s one of those occasional posts where I attempt to clear files sitting on the desktop. There are three tonight. The first one are some horses photographed a few days ago just east of Taylor. The second, an outbuilding catching the evening light in Rice’s Crossing. I’m not sure if it’s an outbuilding or a barn, but it’s intriguing. That last one is a truss bridge along a county road near Thrall. Still in use, the bridge spans Brushy Creek. The marker for Paw Paw is a mystery. Who was Paw Paw? Is he buried here? Was he in a fatal accident at this site? Perhaps most interesting for this post is that the photo has been sitting on my desktop since February. It’s time to post it and mosey on. 
There are many things I don’t like about this photo of Taylor’s Immanuel Lutheran Church. The biggest distraction are the power lines. I tried a tighter version, but found that the power pole gives those dang lines a place to go. Adding to the mess is a water tower in the distance. When I move a little to one side or the other, the view of the church is impaired. The clouds, however, were reason enough to hold onto this image, which almost found its way to the trash. Note that I do not manipulate my photos by removing things via Photoshop. In my days as a working photojournalist for a newspaper, that would’ve been a firing offense. I agree with that. 
Luck was with me one evening this week as I wandered around the prairie. Driving along a favorite dirt road in East Williamson County I happened on a field of Texas longhorns and their youngsters, the calves snuggling close to their mamas. The best part was being able to take photos for several minutes without one vehicle coming up behind me. Dirt roads may be rough, but the advantages are sometimes worth a few bumps. 
Some photos taken Tuesday afternoon and evening around Taylor. We’ve had a lot of rain in our area, but we’re having a pause for a while. All bets are off for the weekend. The roads were still pretty wet in the first photo. Near dusk, the sun peered through the clouds above grain elevators in Circleville. The last two photos are in Taylor proper. Not one time since moving to Taylor in 2009 have I seen signs of activity in the little farmhouse just west of Taylor Middle School. The land where it sits has been on the market for quite a while. Last night, a good-size cloud hovered over it, a few wild sunflowers near its facade. The last photo is on the busy highway in front of the farmhouse, a shaft of light coursing through the night sky.
My computer’s desktop is getting crowded again, time to post things, file them away or delete them. These photos of prairie grass about three miles from our Taylor home were made almost three weeks ago. The way light bounces off this stuff keeps me interested for a while. Hey, they’re just weedy things, but then again, so are bluebonnets. 
