This is a scene documented many times, but not usually with a wider perspective.   Consider it a Taylor, Texas staple.

Although not nearly inclined to give up my primary cameras, the ones that have supported us financially for 44 years, smartphone photography has its place in my life.  As you know, I’ve railed against them for quite a while, but they’re handy to have on my daily long walks.   They have severe limitations in areas I’ve discussed before, but doggone it, they’re light.  You never know.  I might get a point-and-shoot camera which addresses some of the drawbacks of a phone camera, but for now, it is what it is.  This week’s photos were taken mostly in Taylor, but since one of my walks was in Georgetown, a few of those are included, too.   By the way, my little phone has an HDR feature, utilized on some of these images.   The last three were on the campus of Southwestern University.  

Recently, good friend Carol Fox, a Circleville writer, teacher and rancher, let me know that the Bur Oak on her land was full of Spring growth.  I have documented the tree here a couple of times, but enjoy revisiting  this amazing tree.  We were trying to decide its age, deciding it was well over 100-years-old, most likely closer to 150.   If you do your research on these trees, you’ll find out they have a lifespan of 200-400 years.   They are very hearty, loving the Blackland Prairie soil, rich and moist, helped in no small part by the nearness of the San Gabriel River.    Here’s a few photos I took last evening, some with a Waxing Gibbous moon above, others just the tree.   It’s formal name, for those interested, is Quercus Macrocarpa.   Whatever the name, it’s special. 

Just up the road a piece from Taylor is a friend’s family ranch.   I visited there tonight.   These photos, not my real focus, were pretty serene.   So here they are, friends.  A Waxing Gibbous moon shines above the ranch road.  

This is an early 1980s photo taken in downtown Atlanta on a warm day.   A group of very young kids enjoyed a field trip together.   The daycare staff, knowing how, despite best efforts, little ones can bolt pretty fast, devised a long rope, attaching loops for each child to grasp as they made their way through the busy downtown streets.  

Longhorns!   While ambling around tonight, I drove by the home of friends Debby and Mike Lannen.  This wasn’t where I was headed, but plans change.   It’s very hard for me to pass up longhorns.   That’s even more so for baby longhorns!  The younger of these two is only a week old, the other about 2 months old.  They are adorable.  The calves have different mamas, but the same daddy, a 30-year-old called Sancho.   Sancho is shown in one of these photos, overseeing the little one.   I do love where I live.  

A few evenings back, I was driving along Lake Drive in Taylor a few minutes beyond dark.   That view was so good, I decided to give it a go.  One thing that helps this night scene:  a little league baseball field a little bit east of there.   When the night lights are on, it adds just enough texture to a fine blue night.   That, plus a sturdy tripod.

Spring wildflowers come and go quickly here in Central Texas.  They arrive, elevate our senses, then get swallowed up by not-so-pretty weeds.  With that in mind, here’s a couple I shot this last weekend while covering the Red Poppy Bike Ride.  Wildflowers aren’t exclusive to Texas, but we seem to do them well. 

I wasn’t sure what Saturday morning’s weather would be for the Georgetown Sertoma Club’s 14th Annual Red Poppy Bike Ride, but all was good.  It was cloudy, sometimes drizzly, but conditions were pretty much fine.  Our Texas winds, which can play havoc on a bike, were calm. Temperatures at the 8a.m. start were upper 50s.   Nobody was complaining that I could see.  Cyclists could choose their ride lengths through the beautiful sections of East and North Williamson Counties: 100, 62, 40, 30 and 12.   These photos also give out-of-area friends a sense of the land where we live.  Or at least I hope so.

On a morning outing to get a Sunday paper, the clouds in the west looked particularly inviting.  Normally, I’d not spend much time on a landscape in broad daylight, but it’s Earth Day.  It seemed right to snap a photo.  For this scene, presented in both black-and-white and color (my preference is b/w here), this windmill, and the field in front of it, are just over a mile from our Taylor home.   I’ve photographed that windmill quite a few times, but not at this time of day, not in monotone, either.   Just something to mark the date.  Earth Day was created on this date in 1970, the Spring I graduated from high school.   Be kind to our planet, friends.