This might be the 9th year in a row I’ve documented a Veterans Day observance at the Georgetown-Williamson County Memorial Plaza in Sun City, Texas.  Because of an impending cold front and rain, I expected it to be moved  indoors, but Mother Nature was nice, allowing a few hundred folks to enjoy an autumn morning in Texas.  Most of the photos speak for themselves, but a couple of notes if you don’t mind.    The gentleman standing up in a crowd is Ernest, 99.  He’ll be 100 in February.   He’s a veteran of both World War II and Korea.   The group of three men, plus the African-American gent, are all members of the Vietnam-era  Crusaders, the 187th Assault Helicopter Company.   The group has an annual reunion each year.  This year’s is in Austin.   About 70 of their company’s members took time away from their gathering in Austin to attend this event.   The last photo, taken after the observance is of a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. who will be 89 this week.   He’s been there every year I attended.   He’s getting a hand from his son-in-law, also an Air Force veteran.   The rain and cold had arrived when this image was made.   Things wound down in the nick of time.

The Field of Honor in Georgetown, Texas, visited in this space last evening, had its official opening ceremonies this afternoon at San Gabriel Park.   Just a few more photos from there.  1500 flags are flying throughout the week, made possible by the Georgetown Rotary Club.   The young beauty queen is admiring a flag honoring her great-grandfather, a U.S. Army veteran.  The Boy Scout is retiring worn and tattered flags in the appropriate manner, by fire.   It’s really very respectful.  He retired over 300 flags today.   The flags will remain here through next Saturday.

These photos were taken during a visit to San Gabriel Park tonight to view the annual Field of Honor presented by the Georgetown Rotary Club.  The flags honor veterans and their families.  The 1500 flags will be flying until November 17th. The young lady helping keep the flags in order is a troop member with a Georgetown chapter of American Heritage Girls.    I was fortunate to see a Waxing Gibbous moon above, 94.4% visible.    And I met Dwight, a Marine Corps veteran who purchased a flag to fly here this evening.   He’s telling me about the walking stick he made himself.  It’s adorned with Corps memories from his 30 years of service.  

November is National Adoption Month.   In Williamson County, Texas on Friday it was also Adoption Day.   I was fortunate to watch this morning as 19 children found homes with 14 families in the 425th District courtroom of Betsy Lambeth.   These are a few photos from a joyful day.

One more for tonight, friends.   The Central Texas temperature’s been dropping throughout the day, ushered along by periods of rain.   And wind, a lot of wind.   I drove to Beyersville, Texas this evening and stopped by Mager Cemetery.   The flags placed there months ago for Flag Day are holding their own.   Tattered, yes, but still standing.  

Wednesday morning I was back in Georgetown to attend the annual military inspection for the 164 Naval Junior R.O.T.C. cadets from Georgetown I.S.D.   The inspections were held at East View High School, but the program includes students from all Georgetown high schools.   An area commander for this region traveled from San Antonio to oversee inspections.   These young men and women were looking sharp and serious, focused on the task at hand.    The opening photo is  one of nine platoon leaders.  It’s my favorite.    Although it again breaks my rule about people staring into the camera, with this young lady it’s okay.  Even though the camera was two feet from her, she remained rigid and on task.   These are a few images from an interesting morning.

Even though cotton harvests have been moving along since late-August on the Blackland Prairie, I’m still seeing fields in early-November.    Hopefully the farmers will get their crops to market before the profit margin suffers.    It’s always a pleasure, of course, to document cotton whenever and wherever possible.  

Once again this year I had the pleasure of documenting the annual Wurstbraten at Zion Lutheran Church in Walburg, Texas.   Though small, Walburg is a distinctly-German community in North Williamson County.   According to a Google search “wurst” means sausage while “braten” is roasted meat.  German friends could probably do a better job of translating this.  At any rate, Wurstbraten is a celebration of sausage.  The meat is prepared in advance by church members, then on the big day it’s smoked in huge pits behind the church.  Diners can get to-go plates with all the fixings, or dine inside the large gymnasium, which usually fills up every year. This year the church smoked 12,500 pounds of sausage.  By the end of the night it was history. I love those pits, particularly when the sun goes down.   Added to the mix in the pit area is a portrait of an 11-year-old boy lighted by dim lights from above the pits as well as hot coals.   It’s thrown in here just because I like it.   In the dining area, my favorite moment was finding a little guy, about 18-months-old, enjoying his first-ever bits of sausage.   He was making good time with that meat!   Anyway, this is essentially another of those posts that (hopefully) tells you a little something about the culture of Central Texas.   Its diversity might surprise you.

Another pretty straightforward presentation tonight, friends.   Just a few tree images for you.  These four photos are from Taylor, Circleville and Thrall.  The last one, from Sunday night, presents a Waxing Gibbous moon.    While I could get wordy, nothing would be gained by that.  Let’s let these Blackland Prairie photographs do the talking this time.

There are a handful of small towns in Central Texas where I point a camera as often as possible.  One of those is Bartlett, a community on the Williamson/Bell County line.   I can’t keep track of census figures, but think it’s currently around 1,600 residents.  This community is adorned with charm.  I’m especially fond of its downtown corridor, pictured in these evening photos.   As you might know, I have an affection for night images.   Bear with me while I scratch that itch here.