Let’s keep the words to a minimum tonight.  These are photos taken Saturday night at the 70th Annual Taylor Rodeo in my current home, Taylor, Texas.   You’ll find action photos, but as mentioned in a recent rodeo post, there will also be slices of rodeo culture.   One really interesting entrant at this year’s rodeo was a young man from Japan, one of the bull riding contestants.   We had a good conversation.  His command of English is near-perfect.  He’s 25, still calling Japan home.   Since rodeo is pretty much non-existent there, I asked how he got interested.   The movie “8 Seconds” had made its way to his country.   He was enamored.   Now he’s completing a circuit at several rodeos before returning home.    The rest of the photos?  This and that, friends.  Rodeo is pretty much the only sport I document these days.  Finally, a reminder, steer wrestling, also called bulldogging, was the brainchild of Taylor native Bill Pickett. 

At times when I go wandering, it’s simply to relish in the light as it gathers up an impressive golden hue.   Last night was one of those.   The subject matter is to my liking, too.   Calvary Cemetery, just west of Granger,  is one.   The cornfield beyond, the flags billowing.   Hay, too.  If you look to the left of those bales, beyond the fencing, yet another cornfield.   And then this barn a little south of Granger, surrounded by corn.   Hmm.  Maybe there’s a theme after all.

“Forever Plaid,” the 1989 musical by Stuart Ross, begins its weekend run tonight at the Georgetown Palace in Georgetown, Texas.   The play is a tip of the hat to guy groups of the 1950s-60s and focuses on a fictional group called The Plaids.   Early their career, the group is driving to the Beatles first American appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show when their car is hit by a school bus, end their lives.    The show starts in present time, when the band comes briefly back to life.   It’s a  fine show with a cast that includes Billy Gilbert as Jinx, Buddy Novak as Smudge, Sonny Bushak as Sparky and Will Tabares as Francis.   Performances on the Springer Memorial Stage weekends through August 18th.

At mid-summer on the prairie we’re seeing multiple crops at various stages.  The youngest right now is cotton.   The fields have been adorned with greenery, but in recent days we’re beginning to see them with their dainty magenta blooms.  Soon the cotton bolls will take their place, but the blooms are nice. And our cornfields may appear parched, but they’re doing okay, too.   Just because it’s there, I toss in another sunset to end this post.  

In the ten years we’ve been back in Texas, I’ve passed this scene numerous times, but didn’t pay it much attention.  Then again, last week was the first time I saw it with the addition of four-legged friends.  It merited a photo this time.   Also, I always thought this was a barn, but barns don’t have chimneys.  So there it is, friends …. a very old house and its spooky friend.   Just another Texas oddity.

Since this evening is the actual full moon, I stayed out a little later for its appearance, which didn’t show up in my East Williamson County, Texas sky until just before 9pm.   Once again, a tip of the hat to those Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first humans to walk on the surface of the moon fifty years ago this week.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock,  you know that this week marks the 50th anniversary of the first steps on the moon by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.   It’s only fitting that the moon is full.   These photos were taken along a beautiful bit of Blackland Prairie road not far from Bartlett, Texas.   The image with the sunflowers also pays tribute to long-abandoned homes.    The space program is a reason to stay positive while the earth spins on a precarious axis.

Recently, a friend mentioned a camel sighting not far from our home in Taylor, Texas.   As I wandered the area she mentioned quite often, a camel wasn’t something I expected to see.  Until last week.    Low and behold, while chasing down another idea not far from Coupland, there she (he) was, sharing a field with some friends.  One friend, however, wasn’t enamored with the camel’s curiosity.   The humped-back addition to Texas did give those horses a wide berth.   Just one of the oddities seen on the Blackland Prairie, friends.

Because it sounded like a whole lot of fun, I drove south from Taylor this morning to attend the 71st Annual Watermelon Festival in McDade, Texas.   Located about 34 miles east of Austin, in Bastrop County, the latest figures I could find say the community is around 700 folks.  Never let it be said that Texas towns, no matter their size, can put on a good show.   There were a number of activities throughout a mighty warm day, including a parade, a largest melon winner, a car show, vendors (plenty of food and drink, not just watermelon) and live music.  Among the competitions:  horseshoe pitching, watermelon eating, seed spitting, washer pitching, a riding lawnmower rodeo and an auction for the prize melon.   For history buffs, you could pay a visit to the McDade Historical Museum, a part of downtown McDade since the early 1870s.   Though warm, I had a fine time there.  If I hadn’t wanted to get this post done, I’d have stayed for more. That little guy in the last photo is one of my favorites.  His parents were helping oversee the watermelon eating contest.  He was quite comfortable and cool sitting in the midst of a trailer’s load of ice-filled melons.   He had the best seat in the house!

From earlier tonight, at the entrance to the Old Settlers Association  in Round Rock, a Texas-themed windmill made better by a Waxing Gibbous moon, 85.7% visible.