Perhaps you’ve figured out that I’m a workaholic?   Remember, folks, this photography thing is therapy and meditation.   I do what I do.   Take this morning, for instance.   If you saw the previous post, you know that I covered a memorial run in Georgetown this morning.   Since it got off to an early start, I left my Taylor home well before sunrise, a little after 6:30.   This afternoon, upon completing the memorial run photos, it seemed like a good idea to look at evening light as well.   The first two photos are from the morning,  the final four from tonight, all past sundown, with some sweet, low and ambient light to make things right.  The reflection of trees in a body of water?  That’s on a road I’ve not traveled, but I’m glad I did.   For fun, I tossed in a photo of Brushy Creek Bar, also on that new road.   That’s followed with a barn I’ve photographed a couple of times before, but the night light, combined with a bit of subtle green pastureland, made it seem right.   As I cross the tracks before heading home, I stopped briefly, too.   Now I’m a wee bit tired, but in a good way.

While on a run from her Georgetown home in January 2002, 19-year-old Rachel Cooke disappeared.  To this day what happened to her remains an unsolved mystery.   To keep Rachel’s memory going, members of the Georgetown Running Club, with assistance from Rachel’s mother, Janet Cooke, held the Rachel Cooke Memorial Run at Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park  on a very cold Saturday morning.  At race start time, the temperature was 18-degrees, but it  didn’t deter 200 hearty folks from showing up to either walk or run for a good cause.  After race expenses, funds collected from the run go to the Central Texas chapter of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.   Some advice from someone who ran regularly for 33 years:  don’t run alone if you can help it.

As temperatures are expected to dip to about 20 degrees by early-Saturday, I wasn’t initially keen on wandering along the Blackland Prairie tonight, but then again, it’s a meditation.   The first photo works better in black and white, the rest seem to need their color palette, like the plane making its approach to Taylor Regional Airport, the clouds full of density and awe.    The horse foraging in the field?  It’s another of those surprise images.  The donkeys at left weren’t even on my radar when taking the photo, but there they are.    The last photo is our Friday night traffic jam along Chandler Road, so much better than my Atlanta, Georgia experience.    Be well, friends.

On a wandering Wednesday night, I found myself in Walburg, a lovely community just a few miles northeast of Georgetown.  I’d had St. Peter Lutheran Church on the visual radar for a while, but the light wasn’t always conducive to a desired result.  Last evening, however, the church lights were on inside, giving the beautiful stained glass windows quite a glow.  As it happens, Wednesday was choir practice night.  I’m glad it was.   Before practice began I stepped inside the sanctuary, but from there, the windows didn’t have the pizazz I wanted.  At some point, I’ll return in the daytime to check that out.  The congregation was formed here in 1889 by German settlers.  The current structure replaced the original one in 1930.  Some of the windows and other treatments were carried over from the first church. Presented here are a few photos from last night.  The warm light on some of these is cast from a nearby light source.   I live in a very sweet area of Texas.

For many years one of my escapes has been reading.    When reading for pleasure I like to have a getaway place to enhance the experience.  During the Atlanta years that place was a seldom-used trail off the beaten path at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.   This is a huge, tree-laden park, over 3300 acres.   Most of the trail system there is usually filled with either hikers or runners, but there was this quiet spot where I could rest with a book and enjoy the scenery.  Here in Taylor, there’s a gently-flowing stream that courses through Bull Branch Park, meandering near the hike-and-bike trail en route to the lake at Murphy Park.   When the weather’s good, I grab my book, a fold-out chair, some drinking water … and just sit and read by that little stream.   The sound of the water is lovely to hear.  When the wind blows, the rustling trees seem to whistle their own little song, too.   My companions  are walkers, runners, cyclists, fishermen,  or ducks.  We always have ducks in Taylor.  It’s a meditation, this little oasis.    When reading there Monday afternoon, I began to read less, observing  the evolving light  a little more.   I grabbed a camera for a few photos, then went home.  A little later, I  decided to come back.  Heck, it’s only a five-minute drive!   The photos here were all taken very close together,  a few yards from one another.   The color changes as the light fades.  If you take photos at the right time, manipulation isn’t needed.  Nature does that nicely all on its own.    Everyone needs a quiet place.  This one’s mine.

What is it about squirrels?  Do they have no fear?  Or are they just plain stupid?   I’m always fascinated to see the little rodents stroll across power lines as they go from one tree to another, like this one did on Monday night in Taylor.  In our back yard, there’s a possum who apparently does the same thing.  It’s just odd.   A photo I kind of like, however, shows the waxing crescent moon, joined by a bright star, glowing in the distance along the hike-and-bike trail in Taylor tonight.    The tree, lighted by a nearby street lamp, is lovely in its leafless winter splendor.    Have a good night, folks.

On the first day of 2017, I happened on a happy 5-year-old as he traversed the creek at Bull Branch Park in Taylor in search of crawfish.  He found a few, too.   When his dad was a young fellow, he hunted crawfish in this very creek.    The little guy was well-prepared in his water-resistant duck boots.   Also along for the fun were his mom and his 18-month-old sister, who wisely stayed out of the water on this very warm first day of the new year.   That’s mom’s hand at right in the last photo.  Our little guy liked catching crawfish, but wasn’t too cool with actually having to touch them!

Whenever possible, I try to represent beginnings, or conclusions.   Tonight’s rambling got off to a late start while I assisted a young man with car trouble.   Once that was done, I wandered.   The skies?   I can never grow weary of the way they present themselves over Texas, in particular on the Blackland Prairie.    We have a waxing crescent moon tonight.   Thankfully, the little bit of cloud cover didn’t mar the view.    Thank you for visiting my site, my therapy, my meditation, in 2016.   If possible, I’ll continue the wanderings in the new year.

Clouds gathered over Taylor today.   They weren’t storm clouds, just clouds, but they were interesting to see, especially combined with trees devoid of their autumn leaves.  The final photo in this post, a little closer to sundown, or what passed for sundown, was taken in a Blackland Prairie field.   These are presented in black and white, which seems right.

On one of my Blackland Prairie  drives this week,  this pasture came into view.   I’ve passed it a few times, seeing these lovely cows, but well out of my camera’s range.   On this rambling, however, they were being quite sociable.   So I stopped for visit.   Why would I not?