Mostly, I’m not out specifically looking for bluebonnet photos right now, but when they pop up in interesting places, who am I to turn my head from the Texas state flower?   Okay, so it’s a weed, but it’s a mighty nice weed, isn’t it?   While in the Granger area yesterday, waiting for better light for another subject, the plan was to use Brethren Cemetery as a turnaround spot.   A look to the left, however, lulled me out of the car for a few short minutes.   Cemeteries are fascinating places.   This one’s well-maintained.   You can tell that families care.    That last photo is kind of unsettling.  At least it was to me.   For many years, it was common practice to place a photograph of the departed on the gravestones.   This grave was that of a child, a toddler girl who lived  two years.   Back home, when editing images this morning,  a silent gasp escaped my breath.   The photo on the stone was of the baby post-death.   Some traditions are … words escape me.  

Now that Spring is with us (although it’s been cold for a couple days), the rookery at Murphy Park in Taylor has become more alive with activity than ever.   Egrets have been nesting, bringing new life to the planet.  Throughout the year, we can see the ducks, cormorants, cattle egrets, herons, and geese, but this time of the year the skies are the electric domain of egrets … the cattle egrets, of course, but also Great Egrets and even a few Snowy Egrets (with black bills, not orange).   These are a few photos taken there over the last few days.   I can sit there on the lake’s shore, observing.  When in the zone, someone can be standing right next to me, but the meditative state remains.   That is good.

Let’s keep it simple on this Saturday night, friends.   This is a pasture in East Williamson County passed often.  Most times I drive on by, but sometimes some fine horses get my attention, as was the case on a cloudy evening earlier this week.    A second image is offered in black-and-white, just because.  

A little late in coming tonight, but here’s a few photos taken this week during my daily strolls.  While most of these walks are in Taylor, a few in this post were taken along the San Gabriel River trails in Georgetown, just something different to whet your whistles.  I’m not sure how long this experiment with a phone will continue, but we’ll see.

The first round of the Masters Golf Tournament is underway today in Augusta, Georgia.  During my years at the Atlanta Journal & Constitution I covered it a few times.   As a kid growing up in Texas, I played golf at the local public course, a few years before learning to drive so daddy would drop me off for a few rounds.  It was great fun, no electric cart use, just slinging the bag over my shoulder and walking the 18-hole course.   While in Shreveport, I covered a few tournaments for the Shreveport Journal.  In Atlanta, it was nice to cover the Atlanta Classic and the PGA Tournament.   The Masters, however, was not my cup of tea.  Oh, I know what you’re thinking.  This is one of the world’s greatest tournaments.  The course, Augusta National, is impeccable.   The Masters is tough to cover.   Photographers are not allowed to work an arm’s length inside the ropes on the greens.   What that means is we depend on the kindness of strangers, those huge galleries, to let us in, mostly on very short notice, with lots of gear.  This is a hard ticket to get.  Many wait years to obtain that privilege.   While most attendees were agreeable to our media disturbance, I couldn’t blame them if they weren’t.    At any rate, these are photos from the 1982 Masters.   The second photo down is Craig Stadler, the eventual winner.   The final photo is a Texas fellow, Byron Nelson.  Maybe you can figure out the others?

These are some others I took on that Tuesday evening visit to Noack, Texas, just a few miles east of home.  The storms touted by the weather folks did not arrive, but at the end of the day, there was sweet light.  You know how much I admire grain elevators.   You’ve even got some wind-blown buttercups here.   And I kind of like the little metal outbuilding reflecting a bit of sunlight.   I hesitate to call it a barn, but it might be!

We’re getting a nice Spring cold front through Williamson County, Texas this evening.  It was supposed to be ushered in by heavy rain, possible hail and otherwise severe thunderstorms.   When I took this photo of Christ Lutheran Church in Noack tonight, it was pretty dry so far, but the clouds looked nice. Barely visible at the bottom are some bluebonnets.   What’s really swell  is Wednesday morning’s temperatures are expected to be in the mid-40s.   Summer will get here soon enough.  

Yesterday I covered a 100th birthday celebration at a Georgetown retirement home  for Jim,  the man on the right, for the Williamson County Sun.  While I don’t usually post birthday parties, this time’s an exception  because of these few moments observed.  The couple at left congratulating the honoree,  Joy and Rufus, were neat.   When introducing myself, I asked if they were husband and wife, to which Joy replied with a smile that matched her name “We’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”   Joy and Rufus are both 90.   Not wanting to veer coverage away from the birthday fellow, I didn’t offer the photo to the paper.  It wasn’t germane.   Maybe you had to be there, but it was a mighty sweet thing to see.  

The images posted tonight are Texas wildflowers taken over the last few days.   They were taken in Williamson, Travis and Milam Counties.  Rather than bore you with my blather, let’s allow the flowers to do the talking.   Well, except for the  last couple.   the final photo is  Coupland, Texas, just down the road from Taylor.  The church, past 100-years-old, is St. Peter’s of Coupland.   The one before that is New Sweden Evangelical Lutheran Church, close to Manor, Texas, but well into the countryside.

I’m into things floral for a while.   This evening, how about some mighty fine red poppies?   These are, of course, from Georgetown, Texas, a Central Texas city of 67,000 known for these beautiful red flowers.   They’re not wildflowers, but that’s okay.   Spring where we live means new life in many forms.   The young lady in the opening photo, now 2, was just learning about poppies during a visit to Edwards Park with her mommy and daddy.  She was enthralled.   And a lady was snapping poppy photos in the sunken garden at San Gabriel Park with her iPhone.   I noticed she was  coming in pretty close.  She indicated that her phone allows her to zoom in pretty close on those buds.   It’s got me considering some type of upgrade of my own phone for those daily walks.   Mine won’t allow close focus.   The rest of the photos are variations of poppies at Edwards Park.   These were taken for my Williamson County Sun friends.