Grain elevators, another simple post tonight.   You might call them grain bins, or silos, but they’re grain elevators to me.   The opening photograph includes some railroad  tracks, but this post isn’t about trains.  

By now you probably know I post photographs from daily walks, most from Taylor.   These few are from strolls this past week, mostly tiny landscapes, simply paying attention to light.   The Olympus camera I’m toting continues to be a satisfying choice.   During Saturday’s Georgetown Powwow I shot a few photos with the Olympus, but soon realized that the slower lenses being used for walks don’t cut the mustard when working indoors in lower light  situations.   I think if I were to completely switch, it would have to be with the top-end Olympus camera, plus faster lenses.   For now, the Nikons will be the main cameras, as they have been for 54 years.   I’m still using DSLR models until they wear out, or I get a bunch of money for Nikon’s mirrorless camera systems.    The best advice for photographers is to use what fits your comfort zone.   There’s a lot of good stuff out there.   I love Canon, Fuji and Olympus.   Many friends have migrated to Sony.     Just use something where the equipment doesn’t get in the way.    So far, I’m not enamored with smartphones, but they work just fine for many who don’t earn their living through photography.

It was a pleasure to once again take photographs at Georgetown’s Powwow, held today at the Boys & Girls Club.   The last time I documented this event, in 2019,  it was on the campus of Southwestern University.   The work offered here is mostly self-explanatory, no need for an abundance of words.   The last photograph is a 3-year-old who wrapped herself in a blanket when audience members were welcomed to the dance floor.  She took them up on their offer.  This  a great event, but also an important one.  Culture matters.

Sometimes I try to stay close to home.   For now, home is Taylor.   Trains and railroad tracks continue to hold fascination.   Although I recently posted something about trains, let’s give it another shot tonight with an opening photograph.   Steps going over tracks at the Taylor rail yard are a fine place to get in some great exercise.   The young man was zooming up and down those steps!   The fire escapes are on what was once Hotel Blazimar, at the corner of First and Porter Streets.   Depending on what you read, it opened in either 1914 or 1917.   The four-story edifice was said to be quite grand in its day, with a ballroom taking up much of one floor.   It’s been closed for a long time.  I’d love to see it recast in some way.   The McCrory-Timmerman building, at the corner of Second and Main, is quite an active place now.  When we moved here in 2009 it was vacant, in need of much work.   Thanks to Judy Blundell and her helpers, it’s been given new life.  Birds flutter around an old streetlight along 2nd Street.   And a final one is there just because I like the light.

Just random photographs from the first few days of autumn, my friends, each taken around our bit  of Williamson County, Texas.   Included are places near Beyersville,  Coupland, Granger and Jonah, where the San Gabriel River was photographed last night.  We aren’t the Texas Hill Country, or Big Bend, or the Piney Woods, or the Gulf Coast.   We don’t get knock your socks off autumns, but it’s fine country, even when summer continues through October.

Morning walk photographs are mostly tiny landscapes, or birds, squirrels, turtles, etc.  Occasionally I’ll see something else that gets my attention.   During this morning’s walk,  this young guitarist was in heaven as he strummed away on his guitar, enjoying a cooler (for Texas) early-autumn day.   I removed my earbuds long enough to hear him playing.   And it was good.   As I continued my stroll,  he bid me  a good day.   The day sure improved after this.  

On a visit to Georgetown’s Berry Springs Park & Preserve years ago, I was initially taken with its grove of old-growth pecan trees.   While those are still wonderful, other things there sometimes get my attention.   Tonight, some of those “other things.”   The park was closed for a while earlier this year.   I’m glad its spaces are again open for all to see.

The intensity of our Texas weather is immense.   The skies over Jonah, Texas tonight is one example.   As this is written, we’ve seen just a few drops of rain, but nature lets us know it’s a dominant force. 

The series focusing on barns continues tonight, friends.   Through our years back in Texas I’ve seen a number of barns cease to exist.   Some, however, are holding on.   It’s important to document them before it’s too late.  A few area friends probably know these places.  

Cotton, since it’s plentiful this year in our area, is used as my vehicle  for the transition from summer into autumn.   The photographs begin Saturday evening, meandering around the countryside east of Taylor.  Prince of Peace Lutheran Church is included.   The fields of our “Texas snow”  lovingly reflected the early-evening light.   This morning the official beginning of autumn was at 7:43 Central Daylight Time.  The photos presented were taken just minutes after the change, warm morning light enveloping an elegant field.   Just up the road, Prince of Peace is again offered, with a slightly different look.   And a few bolls to call this post complete.   We who live here will wait a while for cooler temperatures, but we know that autumn ushers in a less abusive time.  Texas summers are  combative.  We have enough of that with fellow humans.