Last week, rather than spend time out on the prairie, I stayed close to home, watching the activity at Taylor’s train yard.   It’s particularly nice at the end of the day, when the day’s final rays fall gently on the rails, rendering a golden palette.   There’s almost always activity, even if it’s just neighborhood boys as they cross the tracks on their bikes.    Twice a day, Amtrak comes through town, once about mid-morning, then again in the early evening.   Mostly, it seems to be on time.   I’d love to take a little train trip, even if it’s just up the road and back.   The last time I was on a train was near Easter in 1958.  Miss Bertha White’s first-grade class at Grim Elementary School in Texarkana found our way to the town’s Union Station and boarded a train to Ashdown, Arkansas, 19 miles away.  Once there, each of us received a colored baby chick.   Since we raised chickens, my chick fit in nicely in our chicken house.   These days, Union Station is no longer open.   At one time, I’m told, Taylor had a train depot, too.   I want to learn more about it.  In the meantime, here’s some images from last week.

Wouldn’t you think, after a few weeks, someone would claim these jeans?   When I passed by here Saturday morning, however, there they were ….. twisted a bit here and there, but still fence-sitting.    It’s an odd thing.

Sometimes I get to cover an event that inspires.   This morning was a good example.  Brittany Crosby is battling ovarian cancer.   Her husband, Rees works for the Georgetown Parks Department.  A fitness dance party was held today at the Georgetown Recreation Center, a fundraiser for Brittany and her family.  Participants, about 150 of them, showed up ready to dance…specifically the fast-moving exercise known as Zumba.    For almost 90 minutes, attendees, including Brittany and Rees at times, danced to the music.    At the conclusion of the dancing, winners of a silent auction were announced.   Everything about this morning was special.   Brittany and Rees have known each other since they were second-graders at Frost Elementary School in Georgetown.    Keep Brittany in your thoughts and prayers.  These photos were taken for the Williamson County Sun.

Brittany Crosby.

Brittany and her father, Robert Glover.

Rees Crosby, Brittany’s husband.

Brittany Crosby

Brittany with her husband, Rees.

Here’s the thing.   I hadn’t planned to howl at the moon again tonight, but on the way home from shooting some other photos, it looked kind of pretty.   This evening we had a penumbral lunar eclipse.  It’s a subtle thing, with just the hint of the earth’s shadow gracing its surface.   It’s also called a Snow Moon, but since this is south central Texas, don’t look for snow.   At any rate, these were taken a short while ago in Taylor. 

Our waxing gibbous moon, just about full, looked mighty nice here in Taylor tonight.   Last evening, while on the Georgetown square photographing the moon, I mentioned to friends that while I loved the architecture in Georgetown, the landscapes ruled along Taylor’s Blackland Prairie areas.   This evening, looking at glistening grain elevators close to Robinson Park, it came to me that we have architectural beauty, too.   More rural, yes, but just as fine.  

One of the most beautiful stretches of the North Georgia mountains is the Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway.   Depending on which end you start, it’s about 2-3 hours north of Atlanta.   These are photos I took in January 1982.   One is a lovely little church, Baptist if memory serves, nestled in the mountains.    The other photo, taken on the same drive, is just a little bit north of Helen.   I’d be willing to bet that little car is still sitting right where it was so many years ago!  Black and white photography is glorious.

I spent a warm afternoon in Georgetown today, but as I was getting ready to head home to Taylor,  a waxing gibbous moon presented itself above the town square.   Among the buildings highlighted:  the Masonic Lodge, now Gumbo’s North, and the M.B. Lockett building, where Burger University currently resides.   The last couple of photos, without the moon, are the same structures as in the moon images.  It was a pretty night to stay a little longer.   And cooler, too.

When this photo was taken this afternoon in Old Town Georgetown our temperature was 88 degrees!   Personally, I’d prefer it a little cooler, but it was quite a good day for a dad and his 5-year-old to enjoy a good time together.  

This is a tree that recently caught my eye while on one of my daily strolls in Taylor.   While I’m no expert on these things, I’m pretty sure its a cedar.    The lines and curves of its lower section was intriguing.    It’ presented at two different perspectives.  The first version adds the context of a ballfield in the distance at Bull Branch Park.  The second concentrates the subject.   Also, each is also offered in black and white.   Of the batch, I think the monotone version of the tighter closeup.    What the heck.  It’s something to do, right?

Okay, I know many of you were glued to your televisions this weekend, watching a football game played in the beautiful city of Houston, but you know what?  There were some big doings in the Austin area, too:  the state’s  2017 Special Olympics Winter Games.   My incredibly-busy and rewarding weekend was spent hopping from Mel’s Lone Star Lanes, the bowling venue, to the Round Rock Sports Center, for volleyball, and Round Rock High School, for powerlifting.    The level of determination and joy expressed on the faces of the athletes, and their coaches and families, was (insert understatement here) awe-inspiring.   A couple to point out:  the 9th photo shows brothers Brennan O’Donnell, left, a powerlifting athlete with the Hill Country Stars, getting ready for competition with his brother, John.  They are what is known as a unified team, where someone not developmentally-disabled (John) is teamed with a Special Olympics athlete.   John, an Austin police officer, is quite close to Brennan.   Another image, number 15 down, shows Georgetown’s Jared Friemel getting a kiss from his mom, Charlotte, after finishing his three games in bowling.  Jared (and mom) are well-known  in Georgetown and Williamson County, Texas.   I’m posting quite a few images from two days of coverage for the Williamson County Sun.   This post, you see, is loosely-edited.  I want to share this as much as this site will allow.