One of my Saturday stops was in Walburg, where I attended the 8th Annual Walburg Invitational Barbecue Cook-Off for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.   18 teams were on hand to compete in three categories:  chicken, pork ribs and brisket.    Some lucky attendees had the opportunity to sample some of the entries.   The older folks doing the tasting are judges, but not the 19-month-old, who was making fast work of some tasty-looking ribs.   Proceeds from the cook-off this year were donated to “Food For Friends,” a Granger/Bartlett-area food pantry who serves almost 200 free hot meals every week.   

When I left home Saturday morning for assignments in Georgetown and Walburg, the fog was making its presence known in a big way.   My normal route west was a good bit slower as a result.   Seeing ten yards in front of my hood was a task.    But as I passed over the San Gabriel River, the sight of a fly fisherman squarely in its mist sure got my notice.   With a few minutes to spare before the first assignment, I pulled over and did a little bit of climbing to  address the scene and get that all-important context.   Fog, even when it’s presented in color, like these images, reveals its ability to simplify a photograph, much like black and white.  While I’ve never tried fly-fishing, everyone I’ve ever seen practicing this art seems to be getting a taste of serenity  whether or not they get a nibble.  It’s the being-there part they love.   It’s a calming therapy, or, as I like to claim, a meditation.    A few are offered for your viewing.   

On January 23, 2017, Georgetown cyclist Tommy Ketterhagen died when struck by a motorist on Patriot Way,  not far from his high school alma mater, East View High.   After the tragedy, Tommy’s cycling team,  Austin’s 787 Racing, helped make a ghost bike to honor him a reality.   Saturday morning, that team remembered him with an 80-mile ride, beginning at Mellow Johnny’s in Austin.  About halfway through the ride, the group paused at the ghost bike for a few minutes.  Tommy’s family and friends were there, including his parents, Tom and Luz Ketterhagen, his brothers and sisters, and many family friends.   Perhaps the most moving sight was after the cyclists had moved on, when Tommy’s youngest sister, 2,  spent a few minutes at the ghost bike.  She’s in the last two photos.   A few days after Tommy’s death, a young man came forward, taking responsibility.  He recently pleaded guilty.   A sentence will come in early-March, most likely a 2-year prison term followed by 10 years probation.  Hopefully, his life beyond punishment will move forward.  There are no winners here.   When you’re on the road, friends, be smart, be cautious.  

If you follow this site, you know my feelings about photography as therapy, or meditation, or a little bit of both.   Occasionally, I actually depress the shutter.  The rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park is among my favorite places to pursue a little serenity.   At this time of the year, I’m not seeing  many egrets, although there are a few.   Mostly, they arrive in spring, staying through the summer to bring new avian life into the world.   The birds mostly seen right now are cormorants.    There is one Great Egret included.  Maybe she decided she likes it here.   These photos were taken last evening, with clouds rolling in.   This post opens with one of the final shots taken, when night skies took over and the birds settled in for a fine Texas evening.

This group of three photos stay in touch with my recurring theme of windmills, plus a few utility poles thrown in for good measure.    That first windmill has obviously had a rough life, but it’s hanging in there.   I like the little light on that other one.  The Taylor Municipal Airport is not far from the lighted windmill.  My guess it’s there to warn approaching pilots.   In essence, these are just about good old prairie light.   We have an abundance.

On another of those evening forays around East Williamson County, Texas this week, I found myself on a county road seldom traveled.   Since coming home in 2009, this land of empty and open spaces has added quite a few humans.   It seems people are discovering what I’ve known for years.   So yes, even out in the boondocks, in farm country, there is “traffic.”   But I was happy to encounter a couple of donkeys sharing a field with a contented Texas Longhorn.   Coming to a stop for a few quick frames, I expected to be surrounded by cars and trucks bearing down on my Honda.   But things remained quiet, giving me a few good  minutes to spend with these sweet critters.   

012318 EAST WILLIAMSON

This swath of land and sky in East Williamson County, Texas sums up nicely the reason I like it here so much.   Granted, there are many many places I yearn to visit: in Texas, in the United States, and in the world at large, but it’s so doggone pretty here on this ocean of land and endless sky, why live anywhere else?   This blue evening scene is from earlier this week.

On Monday evening, I traveled a little north, to St. Peter Lutheran Church in Walburg, Texas, for their annual free community soup supper.  Church members brought their slow cookers to the church activity and lined them up for all to enjoy.   If we did the right count, twenty-two different concoctions were available to sample, as well as other drink and dessert items.   Each January the soup supper invites everyone into the activity center for visiting, noshing and general fellowship, but, other than an opening prayer by church pastor Philip Daniels, it’s quite low-key.   Visitors took part in a silent auction for a beautiful handmade quilt created by members of the church.    Here’s a few images from the evening. 

Earlier this evening, while I was waiting on another thing to happen for the camera, I noticed a mass of back-lit brightness in trees across the road.   It turned out to be a large gathering of birds in flight.   Are they grackles?   I make no claims to be a bird authority.  Whatever these quick-winged creatures are, they were scurrying with an obvious mission, lending themselves to a certain visual dissonance. 

The clouds were swirling above Taylor’s Bull Branch Park last night. The cypress trees juxtaposed nicely with what was going on above them.  The other images are just impressions of a pretty night at the park.   Keeping it simple tonight, friends.