Those full moons are nice, but the tiny snippets, in their Waxing Crescent phase, are also beautiful.   The first two photographs are from Friday night in the Granger area, including a windmill east of town, plus one from Saints Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church.  The visibility was 8.5 percent then.   And then in Noack tonight, another visit to Christ Lutheran Church, where the moon was at 16.1 percent visibility.   The tree is on the grounds of Christ Lutheran.   I continue to be enamored by the moon.

Great Blue Herons spend time searching for food sources in a peaceful cove near Granger Lake this evening.   Full disclosure, I didn’t even see the second heron until beginning to edit tonight.   That was a gift.

“The Secret Garden” opens tonight at the Georgetown Palace.  Photos are mainly on Facebook and my Instagram pages, but here’s something to get your attention.

Much to do yet this evening, but wanted to share this first, a Waxing Crescent moon, just 3.9% visibility, peeking through a collection of clouds well past sunset tonight.

Most photographer friends have much more success taking shots of hawks.    These birds are elusive.   Most of the time I see them while driving.   When pulling over to take a photo, they slip away.   I’ll keep trying.   They’re majestic hunters.

Fog, while it sometimes brings on tricky driving conditions, continues to be a fascinating vehicle to clarify and simplify a scene.   These are a few photographs taken today in areas just east of Taylor.    Later in the day, the fog gave way to much-needed rain, something drought-laden Texas needs quite a lot.

Photos from a misty night east of Thrall, Texas, along a road I like a lot.   Near the road’s end a train came along.    Why just sit there if there’s a photo to be taken?   And a couple more along that country road.

Grain bins, sometimes called grain elevators, or maybe silos, seem right at home on the Blackland Prairie.   A few photographed this month in our area.   I’ve snapped photos of each quite a few times.    And probably will again.

Saturday afternoon was a wonderful time to photograph a Granny Basketball game at  Georgetown’s Carver Center for Families, until a few years ago home to Carver Elementary School.   The Georgetown Fire Ants were taking on members of the Georgetown Police Department  in a charity basketball game to raise funds for continued support of the Carver Center, a family resource center here.   Click on the link above to learn more about the center.   The game was held in a completely-restored gymnasium, now adorned with enough light to make any photographer happy.   The Fire Ants team began in 2014, among the first Granny Basketball teams in Texas.   Granny Basketball, however, was conceived in Iowa in 2005.   There are now teams throughout the United States.   To be a team member one must be at least 50 years of age.   One or two players Saturday were well beyond that.   I’m posting sixteen photographs here, probably less on social media.   This website surpasses anything you’ll find on social media.   Note that police officers wore oven mitts to make sure they didn’t have an unfair advantage.  From watching these ladies, however, the oven mitts weren’t needed.  The Fire Ants won the game, 78 to 34.

During those daily walks in Taylor I take many steps through Bull Branch Park, an elegant place to observe the natural world.   With winter’s arrival the park’s cypress trees transform.  This is particularly so in the evening hours.   Friday,  before calling it a day, I stopped by, with tripod in hand.   The opening photograph, a little after sunset, holds onto a bit of daylight.   When full darkness comes, it’s even more compelling.  It evolves.   Full disclosure, a little league baseball field is nearby.  A team practice was in session last night.  The lights from  the field added a special ambience to the evening.    The last photograph is my top choice.  I’m thankful for that team practice.