A little bit of rambling from last night’s venture onto the Blackland Prairie, mostly east and west of Granger, Texas.   Yep, that last one’s black-and-white. I’ll leave it at that.

Taylor’s Murphy Park is home to a colorful butterfly garden.  On Saturday morning at 10am Keep Taylor Beautiful will dedicate it to the memory of Betty Jackson, a longtime educator and ecology supporter who inspired its creation.  I stopped by there Monday evening and was fortunate to find quite a few butterflies, a bumblebee or two, some dragonflies  and some mighty fine flowers.   The garden’s center will be adorned with a Monarch butterfly sculpture created by Taylor’s First Lady, Julie Davis Rydell. 

During a visit to Taylor’s Murphy Park tonight, where I was photographing something else, this scene got my attention.   This young lady, visiting the park’s rookery, sweetly bonded with one of the park’s resident ducks.  Most of the time, when I see ducks or geese here, they’re reticent about such close contact.  This one, however, relished the attention.   Good moments while living a good life in Taylor, Texas. 

Earlier this evening, I attended a meeting at the Norman’s Crossing Community Center.   After the session was over, I ambled over to the Taylor HEB to pick up some ice cream for National Ice Cream Day.  That task completed, a trip back to the community center seemed like a good idea.  I wanted to visit with the resident horses in the pasture right behind the old structure.   Mentioned before a few years ago, but worth repeating:  the building was at one time a one-room schoolhouse.  It remains one of just a handful left in our entire state.  But this post is about portraits.  And big beautiful equestrian eyes.  In case you’re wondering, that last image is black-and-white. 

This weekend I attended the 115th Annual Celebration of the Williamson County Old Settlers Association at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.   While they meet for business purposes, the most fun thing is the music provided each year.  The Old Settlers Association includes families of the original settlers here in Williamson County, Texas.  On Friday night, I stopped by to observe and photograph their annual fiddlers contest.   Among the entrants was 12-year-old Meredith, the great-niece of Irene Michna, the association’s president.   Meredith has only been playing her fiddle for a few months, but she’s part of her school’s orchestra in Waco.  Meredith calls her fiddle a “violin.”   Meredith was a surprise entry for her great-aunt, who was overcome with a sweet happiness.  Michna, one of my Taylor neighbors, is currently in treatment for cancer, but she remains upbeat and wonderful.   It was good to see her reaction to her niece’s performance.  And there are others presented here as well, including 11-year-old Jackson, a young fellow from Austin who’s been fiddling for eight years.  And then there’s 93-year-old Joe Chovanec, still fiddling.   I did some video this time, too.  If I can figure out the editing process, it might end up here, or on Facebook.   Best wishes and prayers for Irene. 

Honestly, I try to hold back on taking too many sunrise or sunset photographs, but in the years since returning to Texas, they catapult my senses into a nice place.  This one’s a sundown not far from Coupland, Texas.  May your weekends be good, friends.

“Mary Poppins” begins tonight at the Georgetown Palace Theatre.   It’s an excellent production, directed by Ron Watson and starring Katya Welch as Mary Poppins and Ismael Soto III as Bert.   Everyone’s spot-on! This plays on their main stage, the Springer Memorial Stage every weekend through August 12th.   As usual, only a few photos here, but more on Facebook.   These photos were taken for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

The notion of laundry hanging out to dry has always been a fascination.   Like many families growing up in the 50s and 60s, we didn’t have clothes dryers, we had clotheslines.    For some, it’s still a natural way to go.   I’m posting two photos today, taken 39 years apart.   The first one was taken in September 1979, in Atlanta, Texas, the northeast Texas town where my father grew up.   Passing through town, the clothes drying in a warm Texas breeze merited a stop.   That was the case  again this week, while driving on a country road outside Granger, Texas.   I looked at the current scene in black-and-white, but the subject matter, this time, was better as I saw it.   A certainty in Texas is that we’ll have plenty of sun, and heat, to dry things the natural way.

Coupland, Texas, according to the 2014 census, has a population of 298 people.  But for such a tiny dot on the map of southeastern Williamson County, Texas, it packs in a lot of charm.   Tonight’s photos were taken over three days.  They are not photojournalistic, but perhaps they are impressions?   Maybe.  I’ll touch on a few things in this post, including the opening photo, showing the town’s main thoroughfare, with the almost 100 year-old Coupland Inn and Dance Hall on the left.   The red facade with the tree’s reflection provides another look at that same place.  And there’s the old mill area across the tracks, plus the Coupland Volunteer Fire Department, its flags flying nicely in an evening breeze.  A couple of images include Coupland’s little red caboose, being renovated with the goal of becoming a children’s museum.  Already redone, in front of the caboose, is the depot.  My odd shot of it was taken through a window.  The red at left is another view of the inn and dance hall.   And the free lending library in front of the depot.  Finally, a photo of St. Peter’s Church of Coupland, photographed earlier this evening.  There’s more, but that’s for another time.

If there’s a theme to this post, let’s just call it rural. Oh, and both were taken last evening.   Quite often, well actually most of the time, I just ramble along.   If something strikes my fancy, and someone’s not about to rear-end me, I roll to a stop.   It’s sad to think about it, but even out where we live civilization is beating a path to our doors.  And fields. And skies.   People have to live somewhere, but man do I want to see some of our Blackland Prairie’s persona kept intact.   Tonight’s photos can speak for themselves.  Or not.  Time to mosey on, folks.