After an assignment in Georgetown this evening, I stopped by Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery and Prayer Gardens in search of wildflowers, and a chance to stop by the wonderful little pond that brings a sense of calm each time I’m there.   Arriving, I did see splashes of color, but something more.   Family and friends were gathered at the gravesite of someone who died less than a year ago.   Today would’ve been his 39th birthday.  Since my aim was wildflowers, a few photos were made, from a distance.  I didn’t want to interrupt.  A family member emerged from the group.  I introduced myself and he told me the family’s story.  This post gives you wildflowers and the little body of water, but a little more, too.   This was also the birthdate of my mother, who left this world in 1977 when I was 25.   She would’ve been 93 today.  

Tonight’s post focuses on barns not far from Granger, Texas.   I do love vintage barns, mainly because they have staying power, even when it looks like a strong wind will take them away.  But they remain.  The light shining on a wall of one barn comes from a farmer’s truck as he exits the pasture for the evening.   I figured that needed an explanation, but I like how it turned out.  The opening photo is on a little road well to the east of Granger, a road I drove down for the first time this week.   The late-afternoon/early-evening light falling on its surface was just the ticket.   Other images speak for themselves, but the last barn, a photo taken well into the night, had to share visual space with a nice old windmill.   Windmills, along with certain grain elevators, are our rural skyscrapers.

There’s a well-maintained cemetery, Calvary Cemetery, along a picturesque county road just west of Granger, Texas.  I have seen Calvary also spelled “Cavalry,” for what it’s worth.    Recently, on an early evening wonderfully lacking much traffic on this winding road, I pulled over for a while.   From the markers, and the words above the entrance, my guess is that this burial site is predominately Czech.   There are quite a few members of the Kaderka family.  A neighbor, who grew up in Granger, now in his 80s, is of Czech descent.   The  light was exceptional, even for Texas, where it’s always good.   I like seeing the photos on some of the gravestones.  One shows a young lady, Sabina, a lover of cameras and boots.  Texas, friends. 

Recently, looking to expand where I wander, I’ve been finding new country roads on the Blackland Prairie.   Sometimes I do a Google Maps search.   I love Google Maps, but it’s challenging to just get in the car and go.    My drives aren’t usually far from home.   That’s the idea, right?   Anyway, these three photos are on a couple of those rural pathways.    Thankfully, traffic is at a minimum there.  So far.

When we moved to Taylor in summer 2009, this old barn was an attraction I immediately loved. Just over a mile from our house, it’s situated at the confluence of two roads, one filled (for Taylor) with  a regular flow of vehicle traffic.    If I’m reading the real estate signs  correctly, the land on which this barn resides has been sold.    Does that mean its days on the planet are numbered?  Perhaps.    After a 29-year stint in Atlanta, my feelings about overdevelopment are well-honed, but I do understand that the useful life of some things come to an end.   The other evening when I stopped by, the structure was surrounded by an assortment of bright yellow weeds.  There’s a name for the weed, but it fails me right now.   If the barn goes away soon, at least I’ve made a few photos to remember it.

While much of what I do involves those pictorial/landscape scenes around my area, my professional life was (is) defined by community journalism.   With that in mind, it was an honor to spend this very long day documenting a Texas Special Olympics occasion  in Taylor, the Area 13 Equestrian Event.   That title sounds dry, doesn’t it?  Let me say this friends.  What I saw today at the Williamson County Expo Center was anything but dry.  Horses, one of my favorite photographic subjects, have an amazing ability to heal and soothe.  Although Area 13 encompasses teams throughout Central Texas, Georgetown’s Ride On Center for Kids, also known as ROCK, defines the medicinal value of horses.  While not all the photos posted tonight are ROCK participants, many are, including 12-year-old Chloe, pictured in the opening photo, followed by some well-deserved hugs from her parents.   If you’re expecting a sports-oriented post from this event, think again.  It’s about bonding, with horses, of course, but with supportive families.   These photos were taken for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

These are photos taken tonight.  While I continue to fill my desktop with images that are just setting around, when that blue evening thing kicks in, I’m all in, too.  A cloudy Saturday transitioned to a drizzly evening.   One is a lone tree in a field ready for Spring planting.  The other?  Why, that’s the state flag.  I’ve passed by this home many times, but it’s been years since posting it.   Some things bear repeating.

As it often happens, I was wandering last evening with nothing specific in mind.   While I did make a few photos before the one posted here, this one defined the night.   I’ll just leave it here, friends.  

Spring is not my favorite season.   Sinus issues beginning at birth, exacerbated by allergic reactions,  does not endear me to this season.   For friends in chillier climates, I completely understand why they’re ready to thaw out.   With few exceptions, our winters are mild.  Spring and summer, however, pretty much run together.   It’s only March 21st, but our central air is rolling along right now.   By June?  Watch out!   The best part about this season, however, are wildflowers, particularly our state flower, the bluebonnet.   I photographed this old cemetery for the first time in 2018.   Sure enough, it was already covered with beautiful blooms.    Consider this an obligatory wildflower post, friends.   There could be more.  We’ll see.

Occasionally, when I see friends living in metropolitan communities posting their moon photos, there’s a feeling that I need to be in those places, too.  Their images are beautiful.   Then again, when wandering north of Manor, Texas tonight, seeing the full moo, a Worm Moon,  rise brightly above New Sweden Evangelical Lutheran Church, I think again about where we are.  And it’s okay.   Today is the beginning of Spring, a season for which I really have little fondness (except for wildflowers), but we persevere, don’t we?  Out here in the boonies, we have our own kind of skyscrapers.  This church would be one of them.  Yes, it’s good to be here.