Maybe this too much Minnie Moo posting, but she’s so doggone cool.   Recently, during playtime in our backyard, she’s taught herself to sit down in a chair she’s now claimed as her own.   This is just a simple cell phone photo, but sometimes they’re handy.

The idea I had for photographing tonight’s Waxing Gibbous moon (99% visible) was derailed by a determined cloud cover.   Clouds and rain increase Tuesday and Wednesday.   So here you see what I was able to accomplish.  Do you see the airplane in the opening photo?   Tuesday’s moon is a Cold Moon, completely full.  I don’t think we’ll see much of it where we live.    These three images are okay though.

Some photos made as I took a drive through East Williamson County, Texas last evening.   Some subject matter might seem similar since these rural corridors are very much part of my prairie wandering.   For instance, the image with two trees silhouetted brings back memories of being slightly electrocuted when I got too close to an electric fence for the photo.   I didn’t make the same error Saturday night.  Twinkling lights from farmhouses gets my attention sometimes, but I don’t intrude on privacy, just try to convey a mood.   Photographer friends all over the world will often return to the same subjects many times.   Hopefully, we see a little something new each time. 

Since it was Christmas, I decided to stay close to home on Friday evening.   A natural choice was just down the street, at Taylor’s Murphy Park.   While spring and summer are busy at the park’s rookery, there’s something to offer all year long.   Included here are cormorants, a goose, ducks, a pair of Great Egrets and a small heron perched in a tree.  I’m not sure, but think that’s a Green Heron, smaller than its Great Blue cousin.   For probably 25 minutes I sat down at the edge of the lake, waiting for her to move.   She seemed to know someone was watching her, a strong-willed little bird.  When the day’s light was about gone, she hopped off her perch and took flight past the moon.   The last photo has nothing to do with birds, just some good Texas skies.

If you follow these posts,  you probably recall an offering from September, right after we brought Minnie Moo into our home as an 8-week-old puppy via  Austin Pets Alive, a great group of animal lovers.  When she came home, Minnie was about 14 pounds.   Our new family is now somewhere beyond 40 pounds.  And still growing.   From what we’ve been able to find out, Minnie is a mix of Pit Bull and Black Lab.   These photos also include Lucy, our almost 17-year-old cat, weighing in at just over 6 pounds.  Lucy came into the family in metro-Atlanta, a shelter cat one step shy of being euthanized because she’d been there past the limit.   She was an easy choice.   These are Christmas day photos of the two with their new toys.    Minnie wants to be friends with Lucy, but so far the old girl’s not having it.   At her age, she has a right to be picky. 

River Rock Bible Church held an outdoor Christmas Eve service on the Georgetown square tonight.   Although the temperature was in the 40s, perhaps 200 people gathered along Main Street.  Attendees held up their phones while singing “Silent Night” at the end of the service.   The final photo is not from the service, but rather a photo of the windows of Grace Heritage Center as they reflect holiday lights.   The center, also on Main Street, is now an events venue, but began its life as Grace Episcopal Church in 1881.   The structure remains true to its original character.

These were taken this evening as I rambled along a little east of Granger, Texas.   Winter trees still hold my interest because of  their changing appearance throughout the year.   A strong cold front blew in while I was out.   The day topped off around 80, but we’re expecting low-mid 30s tonight .  That’s fine with me.  We don’t need 80 degree days in late-December.  The effects of the weather change can be seen in photos taken at Granger Lake, where the waves made it look like a little ocean.   The other photos are just scenic things that caught my interest before moseying on home.  

Seen last evening while driving through Thrall, Texas, only a few miles east of home.   Goodness in light. 

While the 2020 autumn has been good here, I look forward each year to the transitions our trees make,  morphing from leaf-bearing splashes of color into  barren nomenclatures that are powerful..  You see things more clearly  as winter sets in.  A tree’s bones and tendons, so to speak.  Like those cormorants resting in a cypress tree at Taylor’s Murphy Park.   They utilize those trees all year long, but at winter’s arrival, you can actually see the birds.  These seven photos are all from Murphy Park.   The cormorant image was made without a tripod, but the rest take advantage of a great three-legged device.   I use one when applicable.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the first day of winter.    These photos were taken this evening at Taylor’s Saint James Episcopal Church, completed in 1893, still active today.   The moon included in some photos is in its First Quarter phase, 51.1% visible.   The last photo (I think) is the convergence of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, closer than they’ve been since 1623.   So much has been made of this event, I was compelled to include something.   Here’s the thing, friends.   I prefer the other images.