On Thursday afternoon, with Central Texas temperatures in the mid-upper 80s, I ambled over to Georgetown, with nothing planned.  A bit of the afternoon was spent enjoying the ambience of the Georgetown Public Library, a favorite respite from stress.   After a while, however, I moseyed on out the door, and loaded my cameras in the passenger seat.   Stopping at San Gabriel Park, I got out  a  book, but reading wasn’t what I needed.   Photography was my medicine.  With nothing catching my attention, I started up the car, planning to visit another good spot.  Then, under the bridge spanning the San Gabriel River, there was this young lady, enjoying the afternoon while expertly (and safely…note the life preserver) navigating her kayak through the calm water.  From a distance, I couldn’t tell how old she was.   When her craft came closer, it was clear she wasn’t old enough to drive.   A rule I try to follow is not taking young ones’ photos  without a parent, or an adult in charge, nearby.   As it happens, she mentioned her daddy was nearby, catching bait fish in a net.   I found dad and asked if it was okay.  He was fine with that.  As it turns out, the little girl is only 9, but she was paddling like an old hand!  She finally tired, taking her kayak out of the water while dad finished up his task.  

If you look at (and actually find) the community of Nix, Texas, you’ll see that it sits just about at the center of our beautiful state.    When we breezed by Nix last weekend, there wasn’t much to see, but I did find Nix Store, circa 1875.   It appears to have been closed for a while.   When I looked at the gas pump, the gasoline price was 42 cents a gallon.    So it’s been a while.  It’s good to see they had an outhouse, shown at left.   Nix is a community in Lampasas County, Texas.   According to what I found on Wikipedia, Nix, at one time in the late 1890s, reached a population of 27, but eventually included this store, a post office (inside the store) plus a combination church and school.   As of 2000, the population had dwindled to 6.     For whatever reason, I decided to put this out there in black and white.

Occasionally, it’s fun to break away from photojournalism and scenic landscapes, instead turning the lens on something small, which we may or may not notice in our hurry-up lives.   This week, during a period of afternoon rains,  umbrella in hand, I stopped by Murphy Park in Taylor, taking in in the beautiful small world of flowers and plants at Liberty Gardens.   This post ends, however, with a goose, oblivious to the rain.   In fact, I think she liked it, as did yours truly.   Tiny landscapes, folks.  Keep your eyes peeled.

We had a nice, steady rain this afternoon on the Blackland Prairie.   I actually went out and shot some photos during that period of moisture, but when I went home, it seemed liked a good idea to revisit our Central Texas skies.  Finding a rainbow made it all good.  I couldn’t choose between the vertical and horizontal version of the farmhouse..  Opinions are welcomed!   The last photo is Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, in Wuthrich Hill, one of the places I like to document from time to time.

Regency Bridge was our Sunday afternoon destination.  Named for a community called Regency, not even a dot on the Texas state map, the one-lane wooden-surface bridge, built in 1939,  is the only remaining suspension bridge still in use in Texas.   Spanning the Colorado River,  it regally sits at the confluence of San Saba and Mills Counties.    In 1999, it was given a complete makeover, but in 2003, area teenagers accidentally set a fire on its surface.  It reopened in 2005.   To get to it, from either side, you must traverse a dirt road.  You have to seriously want to find it, friends.   While we visited, a young man decided to climb the thing.   His mother exclaimed “He’s been climbing things all his life.”   The Colorado River is, of course, nice, but so is this bridge. 

We took a little drive today, meandering through San Saba and Lampasas Counties.   Tonight’s posts are from San Saba County, Texas  …. wildflowers along Texas Highway 16, between Lllano and San Saba, and another, along F.M. 500, north of San Saba, Texas.   The space we have in Texas is quite special.

Although I have some items ready to post, Easter will be soon be in the memory banks for us.   So let’s offer up some Easter egg hunts, shall we?    Today, I took photos of two hunts, both conducted by Georgetown-area churches, Main Street Baptist Church and Georgetown Church of the Nazarene.   The first four photos were taken during Main Street’s hunt, held on the courthouse lawn.   Let’s give a hearty kudos to the dad who climbed a tree to retrieve a couple of hidden eggs for his 2-year-old daughter!    The rest of the photos were taken at our local Nazarene church.  There, they not only had Easter egg hunting, they had barbecue, games for kids, hayrides and wildflowers ….. lots and lots of wildflowers.  The church has 16 acres, much of it adorned with color, primarily Texas Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush.  The really tiny kids had their hunt on the church playground, but the older kids tiptoed through the flowers.   It was grand.

Sometimes, like tonight, I keep the words to a minimum.   En route home from shooting something else, the lights of downtown Taylor, Texas got my attention.  

When I take theater photos at Georgetown’s Palace Theatre, they are mostly posted to social media, but always place a few on the site, too.   The latest offering from them is “Man of La Mancha,” playing weekends on their Springer Memorial Stage through May 7. 

About ninety minutes before sundown on Thursday night a huge mass of clouds dominated the sky above the Georgetown square.   The flag, however, held its own quite well.  The rain didn’t come, but it sure looked like it for  a while.