Even though Elgin is only about 20 minutes south of Taylor, it’s been years since I’ve taken any photos there.  Last evening, I drove down Texas 95 to visit the town’s historic district for a few minutes.   The latest population figures, from 2019, place it around 10,000.   If all you do is drive through there on the busy Highway 290, you’ll miss out.   In 1871, the Houston Texas and Central Railroad called the community Glasscock, named for George Washington Glasscock, an early settler who later moved to Georgetown.  In 1872, the community was renamed for railroad land commissioner Robert Morris Elgin.  By 1879, with a population approaching 400, it had a newspaper, churches, a cotton gin and gristmill.  The town is mostly in Bastrop County, a few miles east of Austin.   These are just impressions, nothing more.   Can you find the faces in the last two photos?  They’re subtle.   The last image was made on the way out of town.

it’s a night where I need windmill therapy.   These are from the last two evenings.    Like them or not.

Expect stormy weather photos for a while.  I’ve never seen so many days in a row like what we’ve experienced in May and June in Central Texas.  Granted, I like weather images, but at some point we’ll have to move on.    For now, it’s storms.  And a calf next to mama at the end. 

Earlier this week, I stopped by Taylor’s Bull Branch Park on an evening when the constant rain slowed down.    With tripod in hand, my goal was to take photos of the fast-moving creek.   I did that, but a visitor hunting for a meal appeared, seemingly unbothered by my presence.  The longest lens I had was a 70-200mm.   If you know focal lengths, you might surmise she was pretty close.   So I watched her for a while.   I’ve photographed Great Blue Herons for years, but seldom come away with  a shot of them actually catching a fish.  Luck was with me this time.  She was so focused on task, I was able to shoot a couple of these at very slow shutter speeds.  The tripod was handy.   One image was just over a second, with no bird movement.  The last photo is a five-second exposure.   You can see her head move a little, but I like the scene.  So there.

We’re still in the midst of days and days of stormy weather, but at least for a while this evening, the sunshine peeked through the clouds.   These are photos from Georgetown and East Williamson County.   Included is the spire of Georgetown’s First United Methodist Church, plus the Palace’s Doug Smith Performance Center.   Moving east, there’s a shiny road leading to some nice grain elevators, finally, a few minutes after sunset, a car passing along a field of corn.   We take any sun we can get these days.

I suppose it’s a good thing, this rain.  Are farmers starting to say it’s enough yet?  I don’t know.  Our backyard hasn’t dried out in a week.  At any rate, more scenes from rain and storms on the Blackland Prairie, including (in order of presentation) a barn in Noack, an old farmhouse east of Thrall and three wise horses north of Norman’s Crossing.  That trio belongs to some friends.  

Since coming to this area of Central Texas in 2009, an ongoing project has been documenting   the Blackland Prairie, acres and acres of farm and ranch country.   Places are disappearing from the landscape at a rapid pace.  Barns go away.   Trees are clearcut.  Farmhouses disappear.   County roads become crowded multi-lane highways.   Bit by bit, character is removed.  Thus tonight’s post.   There’s an old farmhouse, located on a dirt road in East Williamson County. Every year, it would lean a little bit more.  Humans hadn’t lived here for years.  Every few months I’d drive along that road.    On my Sunday evening drive, the house was gone, an empty space surrounded by cornfields.

We’re still living with the effects of the pandemic.  Public gatherings are handled as we go.  This year’s Memorial Day observance at the Georgetown-Williamson County Veterans Memorial Plaza  in Sun City wasn’t publicized, but a low-key gathering was held.  Normally, this event would draw a thousand people.  I was surprised to see about 200 here this morning.    These are a few images taken there.    The little girl’s eyes bore right into the camera.   The post begins with her.   The final photo was taken after the observance concluded.  Both subjects met for the first time  this morning.  Both were born in 1929.  He’s a retired Air Force Master Sgt. whose 92nd birthday is Wednesday.  She’s the widow of a World War II Army veteran, recently moving  here from California.  Memorial Day is a somber occasion, but the uplifting feel of the that last one just seems to fit.  

While I could post some more storm photos from Central Texas tonight, let’s go with butterflies.  And one little bee to begin this offering.   Butterflies don’t stay with us long.  Depending on their size, and where they live, their average life span is about one month.  Some live only a week.  Monarchs apparently can live nine months.    So tonight, let’s look at some butterflies photographed at Taylor’s butterfly garden, in Murphy Park.   I included the last photo just because I like it.  No butterflies, no bees, just flowers.

I’m not sure about other areas, but Memorial Day weekend around here is the unofficial start of summer.   These photos were taken today in Georgetown, including the splash pad at San Jose Park, also at Blue Hole Lagoon.   Friday night’s storms were a distant memory.  The young father with the reflective sunglasses is an active duty soldier based at Fort Hood.  The last photos are a grandfather enjoying Blue Hole with his 5-year-old granddaughter.