Where we live, autumn color can be subtle, but it’s here.   On recent daily walks, I’ve begun to take notice of Taylor’s Bull Branch Park, almost always a part of my long and winding route through town.    If you’ve followed previous posts you already know how much I admire this park, just a few blocks from our house.   The cypress trees have been morphing from green, to yellow, orange, and what might pass for red, providing a gentle canopy for the stream that flows into the park’s pond, then meanders on, eventually flowing into Murphy Park.   The ducks and geese usually get my attention, but not on these outings.  The first nine photos were taken in late-afternoon and early evening, on a bright sunny day of warm light.  The ninth photo, tripod-mounted, satisfies my night photo urges.   The final seven photos weren’t planned, but on Sunday morning Taylor, and the park, were layered with fog, creating a whole new palette.   It finishes up with a dad and son on the dock, catching bass.   There’s a lot of. photos here, but I was having a lot of fun, even if my editing skills were suffering.   

Honestly?  I wasn’t going to take the bait when a program I was listening to this weekend mentioned that Sunday would be the final Super Moon of 2017.   Listen, friends.  They’re all super.   If you’ve followed my nonsense for a while, tonight’s post might look similar to what I did two Decembers ago.   It’s at the same place, Taylor’s Heritage Square Park, where I found the Christmas lights, combined with the moon, made a sparkling combination.   There it is.

All these  years I thought he lived at the North Pole.   And here he is, living the good life in Taylor, Texas, air-drying his work clothes.  Rain’s in the forecast for us today, but I’m sure the big guy will take care of business.   He always does.

The Christmas Stroll in Georgetown, Texas is an annual holiday treat that includes a parade and many other family-friendly activities.  The morning parade is a big part of the fun.  All through the day there were vendors, of course, but also Bethlehem Village, created by Georgetown Church of the Nazarene.    As a Taylor resident, I was happy to see the young lady with Cuddle Quack, her pet duck.   Cuddle Quack has his own Facebook page!   This year there was a skating rink set up on Austin Avenue, too.  Note that it’s similar to an ice rink, but the surface is synthetic … and portable.   A photo I like a lot is the last one, sisters cuddling midst hula hoops older sister made as a play area.  It breaks my rule about folks looking into the camera, but sometimes that’s just fine when it works.  It does here.  These photos are for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

Lana Sue Hill, my Bartlett, Texas folk artist friend, suggested recently that if I like old churches, to take a look at a couple just down the street from her.   One that I found to be quite interesting is Bartlett First Presbyterian Church.   I have no idea how long it’s been since the sermons have stopped there, but it’s quite lovely.   According to a historical marker, the church was built in 1899.  The congregation formed in the mid-1870s as the Nazareth Church of the Central Texas Presbytery.    When taking photos, I asked a neighbor about the church.  He thinks it’s owned by someone living in New York.   I hope he/she finds a way to keep the building alive.  It seems to have good bones.

Tonight, as promised, are a few holiday-related photos taken the past few days.  The theme, other than lights, is Texas Christmas  in the country, or in the case of Holland, Texas,  lights strung on City Hall, located on West Travis Street,  the main thoroughfare through this Bell County town of a bit over 1100 people.    The tree of lights, although not that big, can still be seen a long way off, thanks to plenty of open land.  You might detect a little camera shake in that one, but the mood outweighs the motion issues.   At least for me it does.   As I wandered east toward Thrall earlier tonight, I happened on a nicely-decorated barn, well-placed in front of a farm’s stock pond.   You may well see more holiday posts.   It’s a time when people get really sad, but if they can have a little bit of light in their lives, maybe it’ll help.   

This week, with some time on hand, I took a short drive to Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park, where the San Gabriel River flows.   I’ve been here quite a few times since returning to Texas in 2009.   You know, of course, my go-to place for birds is the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park, but this place in Georgetown is mighty fine, too.  I got there about 90 minutes ahead of sunset, wandered up and down the adjacent trail, then finally settled in, near sunset and beyond, on a little bridge where I like to watch the action …. or the inaction.   Then I just stayed.   And observed.  Until the light moved on.

There’s no real theme to these photos taken earlier today at Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park. … a couple riding their bikes, birds flying past a Waxing Gibbous moon, and some interesting plant life.   Don’t ask me what the plant is because I don’t know, but I like the light.  The bike-riding photo was a booger.   Late-afternoon lighting, while good, can also be a challenge. 

About two months back, while on another one of my adventures, a family attending a high school football game in Thrall mentioned that perhaps I’d like to take my camera to Westphalia, Texas.  There I would find a church worth the short drive from Taylor.   The church is The Church of the Visitation, a Roman Catholic church  that certainly lived up to the family’s recommendation.   Westphalia was settled by German immigrants in the 1870s.   Since most were from the Westphalia Province in Germany, they dubbed their Texas home Westphalia, too.    These settlers constructed churches.  Regrettably, storms in the early 1880s decimated them.   By 1895, the church you see in these photos was built.   It’s one of the largest wooden churches in the state.   A Wikipedia listing also says that, until recently, it was the largest wooden structure west of the Mississippi River.   I can’t speak to that, but can say that the church, in Falls County, is wonderful to see and document.  I love the twin bell towers.  The stained glass windows, both inside and out, are fine to see.  And the view as I stepped outside was divine … a glorious Texas sunset rising above St. Mary’s Cemetery, here since 1883.    Many of the church parishioners are buried there.   This was surely a good visit for my camera.

Recently, I paid another visit to Bartlett, Texas, a small community about 20 minutes north of our Taylor home.   A television series is filming there, but I didn’t get a sense of that during my brief stay.  That’s okay.  The little town is charming in every sense of the word.   The opening photo is the main thoroughfare through town.  The buildings on the left are in Bell County, but when you cross to the other side of the road, you’re in Williamson County.   The light in the opening photo had the feeling of hand-tinted photos from the early 1900s.   I like it when that happens.