“Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” a musical review, has come to Georgetown’s Palace Theatre, running weekends through August 14.   This production is under the direction of Lannie Hilboldt, the Palace’s Director of Music.   That’s Lannie in the final photo in this post.   These are just a few of the photos I took during Thursday night’s dress rehearsal.  In a change of pace, there are more post on Facebook!    This is a fast-moving and fun production.

As I was leaving the Georgetown square a little after 10p.m. tonight, I noticed many folks walking around town, pointing their phones, or just staring at the things.  It seems Pokemon (accent over the e) Go is a cultural happening right now.   Go figure.

It wasn’t my plan to follow a corn post with yet another corn post, but on the way to the house tonight, near the top of a hill (yes we have a few hills on the prairie) the expansive fields got my attention.  It gives you a sense, perhaps, of the area I call home.   The other photo?  A little corn, yes, and a very shiny barn catching the last of the day’s light.

Taking another occasional drive Tuesday evening, I found myself along a  road, County Road 418, in East Williamson County, Texas.   It’s not a very long road, a little south of Granger Lake.   Most of the fields there are covered with the last bits of the season’s corn crops.   Soon, many of these fields will transition to other things, most likely cotton, easily the biggest crop on the Blackland Prairie.   But for a while, you’ll see the corn stalks, now faded to yellow husks.   Soon, the farm equipment will roll over these fields.   What remains, those errant stalks, will fly above the land, eventually spinning into non-existence.   The light was sweet last evening, as it usually is if I’m patient …. and persistent.

Last Friday my cameras and I headed to Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas for the 113th Old Settlers Celebration, sponsored by the Williamson County Old Settlers Association, a group that keeps the county’s roots intact.   The event actually spanned three days, but Friday the fiddles took center stage.   Fiddlers as senior as A.C. Bible, 97 (98, he says, in two months), showed they still had what it takes.  On the youthful end of the spectrum there was 7-year-old Brodie Orefice of Hutto, the young fellow in the last two photos.   In between there was 9-year-old Jackson Wreden of Austin (the fellow with the curly red hair), Ingrid Smith, also 9 and also from Austin, playing the fiddle she calls Fiona.  When not onstage at Old Settlers, Ingrid plays in the Austin Youth Orchestra.  When wearing that hat, Fiona becomes a “violin.”  Naturally.   And there 80-year-old Buddy Ferguson, from Mahomet, Texas.   Ferguson, who also plays a mean guitar, has played with some of the big names, Loretta Lynn among them.  Among the folks in the audience for this totally-free happening was Weir, Texas mayor Mervin Walker and his pretty bride, Tommy Louise Walker.   It was a whole lot of fun!

This afternoon Williamson County Sun journalist Joyce May and I attended a vigil held at San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in response to last week’s deaths in Louisiana, Minnesota and Dallas.   130 citizens  came together, including Georgetown’s police chief, Wayne Nero, and assistant police chief Cory Tchida.    I’ll keep the words to a minimum this time.

Texas summers can be brutal, especially in July and August.  Thankfully, Georgetown has some great places to beat the heat, like San Jose Park, where a splash pad provides wonderful, no-cost relief to families.   These are some photos taken Thursday afternoon, as the temperature climbed into the upper 90s.

I don’t have to tell you what transpired in Dallas last night.   It’s sad beyond belief, particularly for the families of the police officers who died.   My first thought was to not post anything, but I decided to share a peaceful scene, sunset tonight in Taylor, Texas. 

Driving around this evening, I wasn’t  feeling inspired, but then I saw this fellow about 15 minutes before the sun went down.   He (she) was particularly focused on that huge field of grass.   After about 10 minutes, he came my way, giving a stern look.   I decided the photo session was done.   This, of course, is East Williamson County, Texas.

Monday was a very long day, and night, as I photographed Fourth of July festivities at San Gabriel Park, in Georgetown, Texas.   Georgetown’s Sertoma Club hosts the happening each year, which begins with a hometown parade through the park in the morning, followed by folks enjoying the scene throughout the day, sometimes cooling off in a handy water spray.   It does get toasty here in Central Texas.   Once the sun went down Monday night, the highlight was fireworks, finally beginning about 9:35.  Luckily, the traffic jam I expected once everything was over wasn’t too bad!