As Daylight Saving Time nears, I’m increasingly attuned to taking advantage of night scenes before the addition of more sunshine makes it harder.   Last evening,  I found myself once again in downtown Granger, a community of about 1500 (probably more) in East Williamson County, ten miles north of Taylor.  The brick-paved street downtown was added in the summer of 1912.   Thankfully, a portion of it remains.  I grew up on a brick street, and loved it. Last night was a good time to get out the tripod and do more than just  grab shots.  For whatever reason, a train was stopped, cutting down on the amount of traffic coming through, a good thing for a guy standing in the road with a camera.   If you saw the 2010 remake of “True Grit,” the Coen Brothers movie starring Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn and Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, you’ve seen Granger, used as the model for Fort Smith, Arkansas.   During filming, tons of dirt were hauled in, covering the brick street completely.  In 1870s Arkansas, a brick street wasn’t a reality.   The last photo is a mistake tossed into the mix.  While making a long exposure, a truck ambled along.  I grabbed the tripod and camera and got out of the way.  The “mistake” was interesting! 

Next weekend we return to Daylight Saving Time in Texas.   If you’ve followed these posts for a while you know I’m no fan of the time change.   Why we can’t let nature take its course is a mystery.  At any rate, tonight’s photos are a nod to our beautiful Blackland Prairie skies.    When Daylight Saving Time begins, these views will be there, but later.   I know many of you are fans of this time manipulation.   Some of us aren’t.  

“The Drag” is the area along Guadalupe Street that goes past the University of Texas campus in Austin.   I was a student there in the early-1970s.   Recently, I had an appointment near there.  Arriving early,  I strolled along The Drag.  There I met Thunderstruck, who told me his real name was Gary.  I also met Jose.     47 years ago, there were people facing challenges along this corridor, too.    Maybe they brought bad times into their lives, maybe not.   I sat down next to Thunderstruck and asked permission to take photos, the same with Jose.    There are people among us dealing with things often beyond their control.   Try to be understanding.   It’s not a perfect world.

Much of this day was spent taking photos of Stephanie Nichols’ 9th Annual Car and Vintage Plane Show at the Georgetown Municipal Airport.  Most of what’s posted focuses on cars.   There were about 450 cars (and trucks) on display this year.  The public turnout was enormous.   Proceeds from this year’s show benefit the Epilepsy Foundation.   These are a few photos from a day I enjoyed quite a lot.

An image taken tonight along the San Gabriel River as it courses through Jonah, Texas.   In an ideal world, I’d have set up a tripod and made this better.  Sometimes, however, you take what you can.   The photo was made with only a few moments to spare since I took it while stopped on a well-traveled  road.   That’s okay.  I still like the serenity this body of water provides.

While I have a fondness for autumn colors, the skeletal look of winter trees might be preferred.     This elegant example is from this week, on a dirt road in Beyersville, Texas.

Tonight’s offering are four photos taken in and around the village of Coupland, Texas, about ten miles south of our Taylor home.   Included are two distance photos, both focusing on St. Peter’s Church of Coupland, plus a Union Pacific train briefly stopped near the Coupland Volunteer Fire Department and finally the Coupland Inn and Dance Hall, a sliver of Waxing Crescent moon shining above.

Nothing to knock your socks off tonight, friends, two photos made last night and tonight.   The first photo, just outside Taylor, was a grab shot made Monday night  while standing in the road.   Thankfully, it is not a busy thoroughfare.   The second photo is from tonight in Georgetown.   I don’t often get the chance to set up a tripod for windmill photos, but did so this time.   Just this and that.

This past weekend I attended the annual Chili and Stew Supper at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Walburg, Texas.   My photos were initially pretty sedate until a beautiful lady strolled in with a huge smile on her face.  As she was leaving, still wearing that smile, she visited with friends.   As she gave me her name for the paper, Grace Bulgerin Liddell,  age 88, the name rang a bell.  She mentioned that her late husband, Carl, who died in July 2015 at age 92, was a former Williamson County commissioner.   Even though only back in Texas since 2009, Carl’s name rang a bell.  Then I recalled attending another chili supper, in February 2013 at the Jonah Community School.    My favorite photo from that evening was of Carl and Grace as they danced to “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”   It was indeed a sweet moment, included in this post.   In 2020, Grace’s smile was as wonderful as ever.    The other photo is from St. Peter’s chili supper, siblings enjoying an old-fashioned merry-go-round while their church member mom helped out with diners in the fellowship hall.   Grace’s presence was the day’s highlight though.   

These photos of a 5-year-old and his dad taken this weekend at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, Texas call to mind a memory from my days at the Atlanta Journal & Constitution.     A photo made of a little boy and his cat, sitting on a fence in Woodstock, Georgia, prompted a response from the managing editor, who didn’t like photos of  kids in a big metro daily.   Stopping me in the hallway, he said, “It bothers me that I like this photo, but I do.”   Newspaper management would do well to pay attention to the likes of their readers.    And I’m not referring to political stories.