Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts of America in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, would love today’s Girl Scouts.   And I believe she’s be proud of the spirit the girls and their families show each year as Girl Scout cookie time rolls around, too.   Last weekend was the first weekend of cookie sales.   On Saturday, I tagged along with two young ladies, a 14-year-old Girl Scout, and an 8-year-old Brownie, as they made their rounds in Georgetown, Texas.   Both girls were accompanied by their moms.   After the initial sales weekend, many troops will set up shop outside Walgreens and Wal Mart stores, even truck stops.   A few will still continue to canvass neighborhoods, too.   If you buy Thin Mints, remember to put them in the freezer!

Recently I posted foggy weather  photos, both  here and on Facebook.   Along with the images, I mentioned that if ever there was a subject that called for black and white treatment, fog was it.   Jim Lindsey, a gifted photographer and writer friend in Nova Scotia, questioned that assumption.   And you know, he may have a point.   These are some photos I took last weekend, early on a Saturday on a country road just outside Taylor, Texas.   Just for fun, I’m posted each image in both color and black and white.   The odd-looking photo where jeans are hanging on a barbed wire fence?   Maybe that needs to be color.   What do you think, folks?   The other two, I’m just not sure.  Either way may work.  

Southwestern University, the oldest university in Texas, had a football program until 1951.   In 2013, the Southwestern Pirates once again added football, as part of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.    Under the direction of head coach Joe Austin, they were undefeated in 2016.   On Saturday, the team, alums, football players, students and coaches celebrated their honor with the Pirate Bowl, held at Mel’s Lone Star Lanes in Georgetown.   For two hours, folks had fun.   For a $20 entry fee, you could bowl all you wanted.  Mel’s donated half of that to Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) of Williamson County.   That group is overseen by Coach Austin’s wife, Marissa Holcomb Austin, who joined in Saturday’s fun with her husband and their 20-month-old daughter, Reagan.   Also in attendance was Cory Tchida, the City of Georgetown’s Assistant Police Chief, a board member for CASA.    The most fun I had here was watching Coach Austin and his daughter.   As I was about to leave, Reagan decided she wanted to latch onto a balling ball.  Mom picked out a 7-pounder.  Reagan picked that baby up without too much trouble, but when she went to place it back in the rack, it slipped to the floor.  Thankfully, no toes were bruised!  

A new president was inaugurated today.  One of my paying assignments was to photograph a GOP inauguration watch party in Georgetown, Texas.  That, however, is not what you see here.   Friends, you will have plenty of stories, sound bites and images from a myriad of sources about that important event.    I won’t join in.   Know this:  I am not enamored with the 45th President of the United States.   But this is what we have for now.   Like me, you don’t have to embrace, or even like, the new guy, but perhaps we don’t want to wish for failure, either.     From tonight:  light fading near the Masonic Lodge building on the Georgetown square.  Georgetown friends would also reer to this as Gumbos North.    And a flooded field close to my Taylor home.    Stay focused, friends.  I’ll try to reciprocate.

On one of my wandering drives in East Williamson County this week, something that got my attention was Waterloo Gin, in full production.   Why is that unusual, you ask?   In South Central Texas, cotton is normally harvested from late-August through November.   Mid-January isn’t when you see our cotton gins up and running.   As it happens, an overabundance of rain this fall put a few farmers behind.   Four farms in the area are finally finishing up.   This, I decided, merited a few photos.  

After a period of heavy rain on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the Blackland Prairie fields in East Williamson County, Texas were filled with water.   By Wednesday night the skies and those fields were filled with warm blue light. 

Tonight was another of those evenings where no specific idea came to mind.   When it began to rain, I thought to wander through downtown Taylor.   The rain flowing in the street, combined with some longish camera exposures created some interesting color patterns.   Hey, it’s something to do, right?   And utilizing the tripod is good for enhancing one’s work ethic.    The second and last photos are basically the same scene, but by the time the latter was taken, the rain was really pounding.   Soon after that one, I  packed up for home.

On this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday my cameras were aimed at Georgetown, Texas, where there was a march from the town square, followed by a service at Macedonia Baptist Church.   I don’t think there’s more to be said.   The photos can do the work here.

It wasn’t my expectation to post more fog imagery, but when heading out the door for a Sunday morning errand, the fog was there, more dominant than Saturday’s.    You probably know this by now, but unless I’m doing a daily round of aerobic exercise, the camera stays with me at all times.   By that, I mean a camera, not a phone.  Not to bash those who use phones for their photos, but this is my living, my passion.  But, as usual, I digress.   These photos were taken Sunday morning in and around Taylor’s Bull Branch Park.  Included are a few ducks crossing the road, and a feisty squirrel.   All images are presented in black and white.   Fog, for the most part, simplifies and clarifies things, strips them down to the essentials.   As does black and white photography.  

A few of these are presented in black and white.  Sometimes it seems the proper way to go.  Our Blackland Prairie weather today was cool and quite foggy.  I didn’t get out to record what I saw until about 5p.m.    In this post you have a deserted farmhouse, a pair of barns, a lovely tree and its tractor.   You also have a long stretch of road, seemingly endless.  One of my mentors, Bill Clough, who grew up in the Texas panhandle, has a body of images much better than this.    On that same long road is a sturdy tank, also known as a stock pond.  Tonight there was no stock, which adds to its interest.   At least I think it does.  The state flag adorned on an outbuilding completes the misty Texas evening.