Near the conclusion of this rather busy week in Williamson County, Texas I paid a visit to the Georgetown square on Friday evening for their annual Lighting of the Square.   If I’m fortunate enough to continue documenting this fine happening, one thing’s certain …. I will need to get there much earlier.   Even though things didn’t get underway until 5:30, when I got there, just after 4:30, almost all of the nearby parking spots were taken.   It’s a good thing I walk a lot because I sure did last evening!   What’s happening is this:  people from other communities are beginning to realize the beauty of this town square.    Anyway, I’m going on too much.  The opening photo might be my favorite.   This young lady, 3, was reacting just as the lights were switched on.   She was living in the light’s glow.  So were quite a few of us.   Returning to my car after it was all over was nice too.  My friend, the moon, added its own glow to the night.  These photos were taken for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

834 participants lined up on a chilly Thanksgiving morning in Georgetown for the Georgetown Running Club’s 5th Annual Turkey Trot, with a fun run for kids and a 5-miler for everyone else, and a few kids there, too.   The Turkey Trot raised over $13,000 for Meals on Wheels this time, and $4000-plus for Park Pals (Friends of Georgetown Parks and Recreation).  Additionally, a huge barrel of food was collected for The Caring Place.   While I find all the photos okay, I’m partial to those with dogs, like the three dachshunds running in tandem, and a big old girl named Sandy cuddling up with her human after the pair finished their run together.  

For the second year in a row, the City of Georgetown, Texas was there to make Thanksgiving a day where everyone who wanted a meal got one at no charge.  No strings attached, other than showing up.  If you couldn’t make it where the meals were being served, for health or transportation reasons, volunteers brought the meals to you.  500 meals were served by over a hundred volunteers, overseen by Alycia Tandy, owner of Do Yourself a Flavor Catering.   Community Thanksgivings were held in the 1990s, into the early 2000s, but then went away.  Tandy felt they needed to come back, leading the effort to do that in 2016.   While anyone was served, it was obvious from my visit to the community center today that some folks wouldn’t have anything if not for this group, which also included the Salvation Army of Williamson County, C.J.’s Catering, the Georgetown Police and Fire Departments and the Georgetown Public Library.   It was an inspiring day of photography for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

This wasn’t my planned offering for tonight, but when I drove around, as I’m apt to do when nothing else distracts, something pops into view.   Okay, it’s another windmill image, but this time, there’s the added dimension of  a fence that seemed to meander nicely along our beautiful Blackland Prairie landscape here in East Williamson County, Texas.    Two slightly-different versions are presented, but I’m favoring the first one.  The windmill takes precedence there, which just seems right, don’t you think?

112217 EAST WILLIAMSON

While I don’t need an excuse to visit Georgetown’s Berry Springs Park & Preserve, pecan-gathering season is good enough.   Once  the wind starts gusting and the temperatures dip, the pecans holding onto their limbs in the park’s old-growth trees begin to fall.   And families come out to take advantage of this tasty manna.    With Thanksgiving, and Christmas, just around the corner, most folks told me pecan pies were on their minds.   I don’t know about where you live, but the grocery stores are selling pecans, but they’re about $12 a pound.   With a little legwork, bending and stretching,  you can do pretty well at this park.   The family I watched on Saturday included a grandpa, grandma and three of their grandchildren, two brothers and their cousin.  Occasionally, grandpa took a rest under the trees and watched.   I love the determination of the young lady as she peels a pecan for a quick treat.  She got it done!   We love our pecans in Texas.   By the way, we pronounce it pi-kahns, not pee-cans.  Just so you’ll know if you ever visit our great state. 

Around 8pm tonight the stars came out above Taylor’s Bull Branch Park.  It’s a cool autumn evening here in Central Texas, quiet, and just a little blue in the night skies.   A tripod, of course, helped make this image work.  That streak across the center is an aircraft making its way through our Texas sky. 

It’s hard to describe just how good cool weather makes me feel.   We’re well into the month of November, but temperatures are getting to where they need to be.   It is, of course, south central Texas, but even here, on the Blackland Prairie, it’s nice to feel some sweet autumn breezes.  This post begins in Wuthrich Hill, defined by this wonderful church on a hill along County Road 417, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church.   Try as I might, it’s hard to stop recording its delicate serene beauty.   Tonight, a truck was meandering up the hill.    And the moon?  It’s in its Waxing Crescent phase, only 2.3% visible.  That’s okay, friends.  It’s still there if we look.  The night’s post concludes on a county road, well past sunset, at a pond on the prairie.  Let’s hope this sweet weather continues for a while.  

Today I spent a glorious amount of time at Berry Springs Park & Preserve in Georgetown, Texas.   My purpose for being there, however, is not the subject of tonight’s post.   What’s here came after, when I was getting ready to head home to Taylor.  There’s this old barn at the park.  The grackles, at least I think that’s what they are, were flying en masse around the structure, casting shadows, etc.  The movement fascinated me for quite a while.   I’m not sure I ever got what I wanted, but it’s posted here, in both color and black and white.   While watching the barn, however, another image came into view:  a dad manning the grill under the shade of some very nice trees.  As it turns out, his family was celebrating their daughter’s 6th birthday at the park.   That is also presented two ways.   Dad at the grill is more photojournalistic.  The other one?  The one that originally got my attention?   I’m not sure what to call that one.   More later on my reason for being at the park, but not tonight.  Forgive the color vs. b/w thing, folks.  It’s really okay either way.

Consider this a hodgepodge, folks, a bit of this, a little of that.   The rooster?  He’s a big old metal thing, standing guard over a field in East Williamson County, Texas.   It brings to mind my Atlanta days.  In Marietta, where I had an office for many years, there’s a Big Chicken.  Georgia folks know this bird.   Others?  Google this: Big Chicken Marietta.  You’ll see soon enough.   When I spotted this metal bird tonight, I fell down getting to it.  Often, when something comes into view, I stop the car and start snapping.  Thankfully, that’s mostly doable out here on the prairie.   Just up the road a piece from the metal fellow (wait for it) was yes, another windmill, this one surrounded by warm evening skies.   The last one?  Why that’s a bright red cross, glowing in a field between Taylor and Granger, Texas.   It must be the season since I’ve not seen it before last evening.  This and that, friends.  No rhyme or reason.

This evening, I moseyed a little north of Taylor, coming to this scene at Granger Lake on a night filled with gathering clouds.  And yes, some mighty fine blue moodiness.  To reiterate, I am so glad that Daylight Saving Time is history, at least for a while.   This was a few minutes past 6pm.