The Summer Solstice arrives Friday  in Central Texas at  9:42p.m. Central Daylight Time.   Our summers here are really about seven months long.   Heat makes its way to us in early-April, usually holding on until early-November.  Families find ways to cool off.   Splash pads are wonderful inventions.  These photos were taken on Tuesday afternoon at Taylor’s Heritage Square Park.  If splash pads had been around when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, I would’ve been a huge fan.

When not traveling excessive miles in search of prairie scenes I am drawn to the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park, very close to home.    These are from two recent outings.    Migratory birds, primarily egrets, have been coming to Taylor for years to begin new family members.  They continue to inspire.

During the decades in metro-Atlanta I often sought out unpaved roads.   When we left the area sixteen years ago, there was one dirt road I used to visit, not far from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, near Marietta.   I wonder if it’s still unpaved.   These three photographs were taken recently, not far from where we now live.   While they can be dusty (or muddy if it rains), they are charming.  This is east of Granger, south of Bartlett.   In the opening photograph you’re looking north into Bell County, Texas.   Curious cows wander here.   Before getting a photo, one of them was strolling in the middle of the road.   No worries.  Traffic is light.   And the deer?  They could be the same ones seen a few weeks ago on this same road.  

As this area continues to experience the bloat of development, the camera often turns to tiny landscapes, little things that catch my eye.   This was seen on Saturday morning in Georgetown, minutes before coverage of Juneteenth.  I am not a Master Naturalist, or even a gardener.   There’s no attempt identify this plant, only an effort to observe light’s passage.

It’s becoming unnecessary to say much regarding the photographs I’ve been posting from daily walks.   On each daily walk, mostly in Taylor, the shutter on my camera is depressed anywhere from 150-400 times.   A lot of it is junk.   Heck, maybe all of it is.  But it truly is a therapy.    If not one person ever saw one of these photos I’d still do it.  Life is tedious. This helps.  Fifteen tiny landscapes are offered this week.

The Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association held its 73rd annual Juneteenth observance today at the Georgetown Community Center.  Do your research on Juneteenth, a national holiday with roots in Texas.   There’s a lot going on in our country that divides us.   Juneteenth, formally observed on June 19th, makes  an effort to bring us together.   Hold onto that.

Just this one tonight.   A calf quietly stands in her field a little east of Thrall, Texas, with warm light near day’s end.    the finish line.

It’s been a stormy week in Central Texas, rain and wind settling in for a few days.   Sometimes, however, those clouds added to the landscape.   Of course there’s a windmill, and corn.   Windmills fit in well here.  Cornfields are tall and abundant.

A continuation of summer grasses in our area.   You might balk, but summer arrived here in April.   There are few things I like about Texas summers, but these grasses just glisten.   Deer like them, too.

Taken this evening, not far from home.  It’s at 99.9% visibility, as close to a full moon as you’re apt to see.   On Wednesday, they call it a Strawberry Moon.   It’s already here on the Blackland Prairie.