Mentioned a few times before, but worth repeating.  At times I like staying close to home.  A lovely park, Bull Branch Park in Taylor, is just a breath away.  In the ten years since we came home to Texas, I have probably made thousands of photos here.   “Bull Branch Creek,” where the park gets its name, winds through here, meandering around the cypress trees, briefly slowing at the pond, then continuing south to Murphy Park.   When dizzy spells take hold, it’s good to have this place nearby.  These were taken this week while waiting for the evening’s descent  into night.

090419 TAYLOR, TEXAS:

090419 TAYLOR, TEXAS:

These photos of Charlie Stickmon were made at the end of August 1975 in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he  worked as a city  street cleaner.     Charlie’s territory was along Youree Drive, a busy corridor that included many apartments.   I lived in one of those, passing Charlie often as he went about his task, regardless of the weather.    With  Labor Day 2019 in the history books, this seemed like a good time to revisit a dedicated laborer from 44 years ago.

Our Central Texas farmers are having a busy summer.   Norman’s Crossing farmer Troy Boehm  would agree, but I think he likes it that way.  Recently completing his annual corn harvest, 2000 acres, his crew is busy all week bringing in what some of us call Texas Snow.  It seems to fit.   Texas continues to be the country’s number one cotton-producing state.   Georgia, where we used to live, comes in a distant second.    Cotton is a warm-weather crop.   Friends in the northeast and midwest can only see it in photos.   Hopefully, some of them will see these photos taken  last evening.   Boehm hopes to be finished by Sunday.   I think they’ll make it.   And hopefully, get some rest when it’s over.   Farmers, of course, seldom rest. 

These are a few photos made on some recent nights in the community of Granger, Texas, only a few miles north  of our Taylor home.  I’ve said it before (and will probably do so again), but summer’s long days, with the added irritation of Daylight Saving Time means the sweet night light I crave takes forever to get to that sweet spot.   As summer winds down, the days are again shorter, with sunset just before 8pm.  These are either just before, or minutes after sunset.  That fire hydrant was just one of those oddities tossed into the mix.  

When I say “busy day,” the reference isn’t to yours truly, but to the members at Granger’s Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church as they conducted their annual fundraising bazaar Sunday.  Members  began preparing 2000 pounds of beef, pork and sausage late Saturday night in the pits behind the recreation center.  Inside, other members worked on all the fixings.  By late Sunday morning, people were lining up outside for to-go plates.  Others, many of them, filled their stomachs indoors.   For just $10, diners got huge helpings of food.   The twin sisters at the end of this post were obviously having a good time.  In addition to the food, there was also a live auction.  The jar of pickles was one of the items up for grabs.  Later that night, a dance was held here, with (or course) traditional Czech music.    I love documenting the Blackland Prairie communities where we live.

Sunday was a very busy day, but I found time to visit a couple of fields near Taylor for the opening of dove-hunting  season in our area.   The young lady in the second to last photo, now 21 and a senior in college,  has been coming our area with her dad  from their Louisiana home since she was in her early-teens.   It’s worth noting that hunters  spend quite a bit of money on their passion. .   So do professional   photographers.   I’ll stick with my cameras since people actually pay me to do this stuff.

The rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park will hopefully be here for years to come.  Activity around the park’s lake will continue throughout the year, but the abundance of egrets that arrive here every spring will lessen soon.   It’s why I spend more time here now.   There’ll be park visits to watch the ducks, geese and cormorants, permanent park residents.   We’ll visit a bit, but I’ll miss those egrets.   These were made last evening, with the additional gift of a Waxing Crescent moon, only 4.4% visible, but it certainly stood out.   I stayed until the last light had faded, but that moon shined even more in the available darkness. 

Faces tonight, friends.    The opening photo is a 13-year-old member of the Civil Air Patrol, paying close attention as his instructor goes through pre-flight checks before he ascends into the Central Texas skies to engage in flight at Georgetown Municipal Airport.  In Walburg, a young lady enjoys the music of The Walburg Boys for the first annual Walburg Fest.   Walburg is a Central Texas community filled with Germanic culture.  The last face is Priscilla,  10-years-old. She was also enjoying Walburg Fest.  It’s just faces tonight.  

“Newsies” opens tonight at the Georgetown Palace, showing weekends through September 29th.   It’s a huge cast, with 33 actors onstage in this lively musical directed by David Sray.    The play is based on the 1992 Disney movie and the Broadway musical.   As you probably know, most of my theater work is posted on Facebook and Instagram(@andybobsharp), but I like to represent it here, too.   It’s a fun production!

Whenever time allows on my ventures into Georgetown, I like to make a drive along a county road east of town to a scenic portion of Berry Creek, an occasional destination for herons and egrets as they fish for their suppers.   A few times over the years, it’s just the creek itself, no birds in sight, but that’s okay.  The stream’s sometimes enough.   This week, driving over the creek’s bridge, I found human life strolling through the shallow water on a warm late-summer evening.   Finding a place to park, I introduced myself, asking if pictures would be okay.  They were happy to oblige.  It happens that they are siblings who’ve been working on a remodeling project together near here.   Brother and sister share a keen interest in archaeology, finding little treasures.   Berry Creek was a good place for treasure-hunting as they found rocks and bone fragments, probably going back thousands of years.   In one photo, sis holds up a rock with the impression of a starfish clearly visible.  In the other detail photo, brother displays what he thinks might be a bone fragment.   As darkness neared, they found their way up a hill and back to their truck, brother toting a little bucket of  artifacts.   It was a good day.  Note that although I do quite a lot of pictorial/landscape photography in recent years, it’s still enriching to find these bits of life going on around us.   You don’t always see these stories, but they matter for someone who’s devoted most of his career in pursuit of community journalism.  Life goes on all around us if we care to see.