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.

Yogi tea is a favorite drink, but sometimes I grow weary of the quotes on the strings holding the tea bags.  The quote this morning, however, was a good one.   “Without the storms and rain, life would cease to be.”   We’ve got cloudy skies tonight on the Blackland Prairie.  Rain may soon come.  These photos are from the Wuthrich Hill area, including Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.

Clouds gathered over the Saul family cemetery this evening.  I make occasional stops here, as I have done since 2010.  The road it’s on is transforming into what might someday soon be a suburban corridor.   I’ve worried it might become relegated to history.   Shortly after stopping, a lady stopped by.   At first, I thought she was a photographer, but no, she’s a member of this family.   She lives in another area of the state now, but stops by to check on the cemetery when she can.   She was concerned that the grass had grown a little high, but is confident the cemetery will remain intact.    It needs to be here.  

After a long night of rodeo  in Jarrell on Friday, with an early-morning turnaround to cover a Georgetown city cleanup event near San Gabriel Park, there was enough on my plate already.  I had taken some photos for the Austin American Statesman for a story advancing the Taylor Pride Festival being held Saturday in my little East Williamson County  town of about 20,000 folks.   Nearing seven decades on the planet, pacing myself is important.  Then I started to see social media posts from area churches, planning  to come for a peaceful demonstration at the festival site, only a couple miles from home.   So I put the rodeo photos on hold for a while.   The addition of a group opposing the Pride Festival was a good reason to attend.   If I were an activist, not a journalist, I might’ve attended anyway.   This was an opportunity to represent different points of view, with a camera.  For the two hours I was there, everyone was cordial and respectful, including drag queens cooling off together at Texas Beer Company, and a grandma spraying the feet of her her 3-month-old granddaughter while mom holds her sign.   Regardless of belief systems, Taylor mostly a welcoming and caring community.  

On a very warm and windy Texas evening, I once again had the opportunity to document a rodeo, traveling to Jarrell for the 77th Williamson County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo.   This was the event held for many years in Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park until that venerable arena was put  out to pasture by that city.   Rodeo is definitely a sport, but one where the culture means as much as the action in the arena.    So there’s some action here, but hopefully a bit of the mood.  I’m glad it’s back.