On the way back to Taylor tonight, I noticed the moon was looking especially nice. The facade of Georgetown’s First United Methodist Church always looks grand, but add a moon to the picture and it becomes more grand. A Super Moon is forecast for Monday, but my feeling regarding the moon? Record it often. You never know when clouds will cover it up. Strike while the iron is hot.
On this Veterans Day I once again had the honor of attending the ceremony held today in Sun City, Texas. The photos mostly speak for themselves, but one of the moments I like a lot is from the first photo. That shows Army veteran Deleon B.L. Weston, 79, a Purple Heart recipient, taking the time to chat with 95-year-old Geraldine Knapp, a World War II veteran who served in the Women’s Army Corps. A few drops of rain fell, but not enough to put a damper on the day. I also found the intensity of Sun City resident Betty Schleder reacting as Taps was played. The post ends with Mr. Weston, donning his cap to head for home after the ceremony. It was a good day for honoring our veterans. I took these photos for the Williamson County Sun.
On Monday evening my cameras and I once again made our way to Walburg, Texas, where 
Zion Lutheran Church and School held their 45th annual Wurstbraten feast. At this year’s fundraiser, the church smoked 13,500 pounds of sausage. A couple of days before the event, church members come together to prepare the sausage. Despite a cloudy, drizzly evening, cars lined up for to-go plates, or chose to dine in Zion’s huge gymnasium. The part I enjoy documenting, however, is out back, where the sausage is smoked at several huge pits. A few years ago, during our drought, church members built a huge incinerator, where the wood was converted to coal before being placed into the pits. The sparkling thing, with a slice of moon in back, is the incinerator. Even on a chilly evening, church member Darren Almazan had no trouble staying warm as he waited by the incinerator for more coals. Inside the dining hall, young lasses wearing colorful aprons bussed tables as diners finished their meals. Among the diners was 90-year-old George Taylor, a World War II veteran, and 3-year-old Travis Mueller, with his dad, Kevin. By the time I made their photo, Travis was too full for another bite, even if it was our state’s official dessert, pecan pie. Wurstbraten is a hoot!
We’ve been getting periods of rain over the last several days. I like that because a) we need it and b) it’s cooling things down nicely. Friends in Georgia, from what I’m hearing, aren’t so fortunate. I’m hearing they’re experiencing drought conditions. I know how that can be disheartening. Hopefully, this front will mosey about 900 miles to the east pretty soon. At any rate, from tonight: an old barn along County Road 409, sitting in a very wet field, and one of my favorite places, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, in Wuthrich Hill, Texas. This election has caused much stress among friends. This is a small contribution to easing their pain.
En route to a paying assignment Monday afternoon, I stopped a couple of times to record some scenes. The stand of pecan trees, with a smattering of foggy mist, took on a different persona. I pass this spot often, but am usually not inspired to stop. Included here are both color and black and white versions. As for the color, the grass below the trees was a pleasant shade of green, but monotone treatment does an admirable job of stripping things down to the basics. Assuming you like either, both have merit. The other photo was taken just south of Walburg, Texas. The clouds above the field of hay bales worked well without the distraction of color. With the presidential race dominating our thought processes, I’m trying to add a distraction, or two. Or three.
We can get serious rain and flooding in Texas. Songs have been written about this through the years. Sunday, however, was a day adorned with what I’d call a gentle rain, beginning in the late-morning, then continuing throughout the day, dissipating a little after nightfall. I got in a little walk, toting an umbrella, which was used sparingly as the drops fell on my shoulders. With the moisture came a cold front, keeping the temperatures in the low-mid 70s. Near the end of daylight, which arrived earlier with the time change, I drove down the street to Bull Branch Park in Taylor. The added moisture created a landscape without a human soul during my time there, almost an hour. It was the ducks, geese and yours truly. I like the pattering of drops on the filling stream, and the shine on the park’s hiking path. Not satisfied, I drove downtown, thinking about the black benches there. Black is the absence of color, but there’s always a dash of tonality added from street lights, passing cars and rain drops. As election day nears in this divisive season, here’s my contribution to peaceful behavior.
This is a companion to the last post, where the photos were taken in the cloudy pre-dawn hours. These are from this evening, around 7pm. If you do the math, that makes for a long day, but one I enjoyed. The little shack from the morning post is shown here tonight. 
And I particularly enjoy the fact that clocks are set back tonight, bringing Daylight Saving Time to an end for this year. I do not, nor have I ever, liked Daylight Saving Time. It’s an attempt to manage light. That needs to be left to a higher power.
En route to Georgetown this morning, I chose to get a very early start, pulling out of my Taylor driveway about 40 minutes ahead of dawn. On this cloudy, drizzly morning there would be no expectation of a glorious sunrise, but there was a simplicity to the day’s beginning. The first two photos, both along County Road 366, give that blue tonality I like so much. You get that color at opposite ends of a day. I find it a relaxing thing to see. The first image is a little collection of trees joined by some outbuildings. I’ve always liked how they seem to fit together well, but have not made an image before. The second image, just up the road, is an old shack sitting in a farmer’s empty field. The shack is empty, too, and has been for years. The last photo, right at what would be dawn this morning, is in Jonah, a decrepit windmill standing sentry in another fallow field. It’s a day for uncluttered imagery, and just maybe quiet grace.
Texas Highway 29, the section between Taylor and Georgetown, in East Williamson County, Texas, is one of my favorite drives. I never tire of it, day or not. This one was taken last evening in Jonah, as I ambled along toward home. The light in the far distance is Taylor, not a metropolis, but big enough.
After a rain shower moved through Williamson County, Texas on Thursday afternoon, I made a drive over to Booty’s Road Park. “Booty’s” is an odd name for a park, but perhaps it’s named after someone named Booty? Although there IS a park, with a pavilion, and restrooms, I see it as a walking trail. Indeed, it’s a part of the San Gabriel River trail system, which meanders through Georgetown for twenty-something miles. Usually, on pulling into the parking lot, my cell phone signal becomes non-existent, a tiny blessing. Sometimes we need to escape the distractions and look for other inspirations. There’s a section of the trail, about a ten-minute walk from the parking lot, that I love. It has a tiny waterfall ensconced into the rock formations right next to the upper trail. When you turn around, there’s a little valley, where water flows through the plant life. I don’t know if you’d call it a creek, or stream, or whatever. My sense is that it flows into the San Gabriel River. Either way, it’s nice to see. I think of it as liquid silver, making its way through the lichen. On this trip, I noticed a little bird house on top of one of the rock formations, obviously placed there by a fan of the area. Hopefully, visitors will leave it be. This is a nice place.
