I don’t get to North Williamson County that often, but need to remedy that.   It’s a picturesque community with a long German heritage.   Included here are two photos taken there this week as I wandered through on a chilly Texas night.   The windmill photo (hopefully) speaks for itself.   It’s a very Texas kind of Christmas scene.    The other photo is a beautiful place, St. Peter Lutheran Church.   It looked particularly nice this week.   The congregation was founded by German settlers in 1889.  Their first church was on this site.   The current building was added in 1930.  

In recent weeks, when time allows, we like to take little weekend drives around our part of Texas.   Sunday’s drive took us about 90 minutes south of Taylor, , to the community of Flatonia, a relaxing town of a bit over 1400 in Fayette County.   A longtime friend has mentioned the town many times on Facebook.   The picture she painted made this a good choice.   Since the arrival of Interstate 10 years ago, U.S. 90, which goes through Flatonia,  is a quieter stretch of road.  The railroad runs through town.    Flatonia was chartered in 1873, named for Fredrich Wilhelm Flato.  German and Czech roots run deep.   There’s the Lyric Theatre, which appears closed, but a sign on the front suggests a new life very soon.  That would be neat!   There’s the Olle Hotel, built as a private residence between 1896-1901, becoming a hotel in 1915.  It’s still open for business, with  a few nice cats around serving as greeters.  An establishment on West Main Street (also U.S. 90) sports a cowboy hat in the window.  It looks like a place for commerce.  The opening photo was taken inside what appears to have once been a hardware store.  I took advantage of an open door to step inside for a different view of town.   I like the hitching posts, once pretty useful here.  Flatonia  even has a newspaper, the Flatonia Argus.   I paid 75 cents for one straight off the rack.   It was a good afternoon.    Flatonia is a charming bit of Texas.  And America.  Thank you, Peggy, for this inspiration. 

On the way home from an outing this weekend, I had to pull over to take advantage of some really nice late-afternoon light along a U.S. highway in Fayette County, Texas.   That’s it for tonight, friends.   I’m behind on a few things.   Time to play catchup.

Some refer to the current full moon as the Beaver Moon, but for these photos taken tonight, I’m going with Holiday Moon, incorporating Christmas lights in Granger and Taylor.   I’ll leave it there.   More words would just get in the way.

As I was taking in a bit of autumn color at Berry Creek yesterday, a Great Egret entered my field of view, flitting back and forth above the water in search of sustenance.   Watching the activities of birds, any birds, is relaxing.   While snapping photos, a voice behind me mentioned that he’d recently seen a deer by the creek, in close proximity to a heron.   Turning to the voice, I met an older gentleman, wearing a cap telling me he’d fought in a particular war.   There wasn’t much traffic on the bridge so we got to chat a minute.   Before leaving, he said “You made a good choice to shoot with a camera, not a gun.”     My sense is that what he saw in battle affected the way he saw the living things in his world.    It was a good few minutes.

A few years ago, when driving through the community of Granger, a spooky sight caught my eye ….. Santa Claus staring back at me from the window of one of the town’s historic buildings. On closer inspection, it wasn’t real, but it got my attention.   Now each year as Christmas approaches, I look in that window to see if old Saint Nick is still with us.   And he is!   Truthfully, I think you’d find his visage if you looked that way in June.  It’s like seeing an old friend.   The other photos are just prairie scenes that I like.  The barn, photographed well past sundown on a cloudy evening, is surrounded by rich Blackland Prairie soil.   One of these days I’m going to take a closeup photo of this dirt.   You’ll see how the area got its name.   The last image, presented in horizontal and vertical versions, continues a fascination with prairie grass, pretty abundant right now.   Although the tree is elegant, I’m partial to the horizontal shot, where the focus is on that wonderful grass.  It’s wispy. 

I think it was 2010 (or 2011) when I took photos at Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery and Prayer    Gardens in Georgetown.    That was for an Austin American-Statesman story by a writer friend. At the time it was one of only two “green” cemeteries in the state.    Those buried here were laid to rest without embalming, allowing the remains to take nature’s course a little sooner.    Since that story, I’ve returned there many times.    While it’s a cemetery, it’s also a place for quiet reflection as you visit the pond or walk the trails.   It’s interesting to note that Our Lady is close enough to a busy toll road that you can almost always hear traffic noises.    You somehow don’t care about the distraction.  It’s just that pleasant.    As autumn winds down, I wanted to visit again while a little color remained.   These photos aren’t just about the color anyway.

This young fellow had a grand time on Thanksgiving, leaping from a resplendent and colorful tree at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, Texas.    He wasn’t jumping into river, but the camera angle may fool you.   We’re expecting rain, followed by much cooler weather.  I think our autumn color will soon be gone, but it’s been a good season! 

Except for a recent short visit, I haven’t been inside The Georgetown Palace since March, when the pandemic brought life to a standstill.    Since the mid-70s I’ve been taking theater photos.   It was nice to be inside  for last night’s dress rehearsal of “A Tuna Christmas,” opening Friday night and continuing through December 20th.   It stars only two actors, Kirk Kelso and Rick Felkins, but combined they play 20 roles in the almost two-hour production.  Whew!   Note that the theater is being very cautious for this undertaking.   Except for those attending  together, there will seats left open between attendees, only seating on every other row.  Everyone is required to wear a face mask.  There will be no concessions offered.   I’m very happy to see this production.    The community needs this.

These photos were taken a couple weeks ago while doing some work in Georgetown.   When I saw her/him sitting on a fence post by the side of the road, I figured she’d be gone by the time I grabbed a camera.   She/he was so intent on seeking out prey, the camera’s presence didn’t seem to be an issue.   I wish I knew more about birds of prey.  I’m pretty sure this one’s a hawk, but could it be a falcon?