It’s been years since I’ve been to a movie theater.  Actually, it’s been a while since seeing an Oscar-nominated movie in any form.   If you guess I’ve not tuned into that little awards ceremony tonight, you’d be correct.    These are photos taken not long ago in downtown Bartlett, Texas, population a little over 1600.   Part of the town is in Williamson County, some in Bell County.  The main thoroughfare, shown here, resides in both areas.   This might be one of those posts nobody sees.   It is what it is.   Truth?  Maybe I’ll watch “Trip to Bountiful” again … very soon.

For coming on close to nine years, I’ve taken photos of Immanuel Lutheran Church, known around here as “The Church on the Hill.”    An image I’ve yearned for, however, has been elusive.   My first view of this church was from a distance, driving on U.S. 79 from Hutto to Taylor.   On Friday evening, however, returning from a little task in Hutto, the sun, almost down, reflected some wonderful light on Immanuel’s windows.   Those windows, even without the sun’s help, are quite nice.  Last night, they looked resplendent.    I’m including different, but similar versions here.   The original part of this old church is shown at right.  Other sections have been added, with windows, through the years.   What you see here are with, and without, those extra sections.    If you find yourself driving east, from Hutto to Taylor along Highway 79, and the time of day aligns with the setting sun, look to your right.   I think you’ll like what you see.

For quite some time I’ve argued with professional photographer friends about the use of cell phone cameras for imagery.   While still on the side of pro-quality cameras, I’m starting to look at this in a different way.   Here’s why.  For years, I’ve taken long walks most days, usually about 2 hours.   While I’ve not wanted to tote the “real” camera on these strolls, there have been times when a camera, a tool, would’ve been nice to have. Every photo presented here was taken with a phone’s camera.   And not a really fancy one, either.  It’s a low-end model that cost just a little over $100 brand-new.    Never let it be said I’m not willing to change.   These mobile devices have their places.    Because they allow more controls, I’ll stick with the “real” cameras, but am learning to appreciate other ideas.   

On this first day of March I ran some errands in Georgetown.   Driving east toward home, the setting sun by a grain elevator south of Weir looked mighty nice around 6:20pm.   Because of clouds, I hadn’t expected to see tonight’s full moon, but a little before 7, driving through Circleville, there it was, near a pair of grain elevators topped by its blue star, a bit of a night beacon, joined on this evening by a lunar beacon.   I’m glad the clouds didn’t spoil the view.  These are for my good friends at the Williamson County Sun.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking.  The actual “full moon” is on Thursday.   Let’s go back to my rule of thumb regarding moon photos, friends …. when it looks good, shoot that baby.   Tonight’s moon over the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park is in a Waxing Gibbous phase, over 97% visible.   It looked close enough to me.  By the time Thursday rolls around, it might be too cloudy to see.   Shoot the moon when you can!

Last Saturday I spent my morning at Georgetown Farm Supply, where Abby Brewer was conducting a Chickens 101 class for about twenty interested folks.  Brewer raises about 125 prize chickens at her home near Jarrell and presented the ins-and-outs of how to care for and raise chickens.  That’s a popular pastime for a lot of people these days.   I’m reminded of my own childhood in Texarkana.  When I was about 5, we had mess of chickens.  One of my jobs was to collect eggs.  The resident rooster, however, didn’t like little humans and regularly gave chase.   By the time I was 7, we had moved on past chicken-raising.   Anyway, Saturday’s session was fun, for both adults and kids eyeing up the baby chicks.  These photos were taken for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

A horse finds room to graze under a canopy of trees on a warm and peaceful late-February evening on the Blackland Prairie.  I’ll leave it at that.

Plenty of friends have grackles where they live, but I’ve not seen them in such mass anywhere else.   I do believe this Central Texas climate agrees with them.  These photos were taken last evening in our grocery store parking lot.   Grackles are smart.  They know people are shopping for groceries and have figured that out.    One of the most interesting things witnessed in this very parking area  a few years ago were a mess of these guys making fast work of bags of groceries in the back of a pickup truck.   Whoever was driving that truck should’ve known better!   At any rate, it amazes me that they don’t bump into one another more when flying so fast and so dang close!   Although the last photo has less avian presence, it’s my favorite of the bunch.

Our little town, Taylor, Texas, though small (about 16,000) has some pretty parks.  Cypress trees adorn them.   To call them visually-arresting might be understatement.  These are photos taken this month around Murphy Park and Bull Branch Park.   

There’s a photographer I friended on Facebook last year.  To my knowledge we’ve not met.   His name is Gary and he lives in New York City.   If I read his profile correctly, he’s Canadian by birth, but his photos of New York are just wonderful.   You can feel the  love for where he lives in every single photograph.   They aren’t newsy images by any means, just little testaments to his town.   That’s kind of how I feel about where we live now.   On the surface, the Blackland Prairie landscape is as different from New York as can be, but if you look deeper, you get what Gary is doing.  Hopefully, so am I.   Tonight’s photos are along a country road on my ocean of land in the heart of Central Texas.