Not long after returning to Texas in 2009 I visited the small community of Coupland, a ten-minute drive south of our home in Taylor.  There I found several interesting sites, including the Coupland Inn and Dance Hall, a vintage railroad depot and caboose,  a public school that opened in 1912, plus St. Peter’s Church of Coupland.   But what really got my attention was collection of wonderful stone and metal sculptures adorning the downtown area.   The work was captivating.  At the right time of day the work just glowed.   I had come upon the Huntington Sculpture Garden,  the creation of sculptor Jim Huntington.   Some years passed before I saw the sculptor, working in a cloud of dust outside his studio.   Naturally, I stopped for a visit, eventually doing a story and photos.   Jim Huntington was born in Elkhart, Indiana in 1941.   Through the years he’s lived in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  In the early-1990s, however, he sought a quieter place, settling on Coupland.   The Huntington Sculpture Foundation is a 501(c)(3) overseen by Jim and a group of admirers.  Visitors are always  allowed to walk among the sculptures at no cost.   If interested in purchasing something, reach out via his website.   In recent years, the task of working with literally tons of stone and metal has taken a toll.  Jim has returned to his early love of drawing and painting.   This little town has a lot of charm, as does Jim Huntington.

Spring will be here soon.   Our farmers are gearing up their tractors, combing the Blackland Prairie countryside in our part of Texas.   It’s a distinct pleasure and honor to document their important work.   Mentioned many times before, but please be respectful when seeing them on our roads.   What they do matters a lot.

One of my favorite places for quiet contemplation in Georgetown is Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery and Prayer Gardens.    I learned of this site about a decade ago when assigned to do photos there for a story about this being one of just two green cemeteries in Texas, meaning those buried here could choose to be interred in a biodegradable casket or shroud, no embalming fluids, no concrete or metal vaults.  Traditional burials were (and are) also offered.   Since that story, I keep returning here for the sheer beauty of the site.   There’s an elegant little pond, St. Theresa’s Sanctuary.  Native plants and wildflowers are abundant when in season.   The most striking area is an area set aside for children who died at a very early age.   Through the years families and friends began adding wind chimes in the trees overhead.   On a day when the wind picks up, it’s amazing to just stand there and listen.  Two major highways are nearby, but somehow you don’t hear the traffic.   Wildflowers will be arriving soon, but go and listen to the wind chimes.

It was windy all day, with a dull haziness for hours.  The light wasn’t really inspiring.   Nearing 6p.m. tonight I started seeing some mighty nice clouds overhead.  Those clouds might look even better accompanied by Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, in Wuthrich Hill.    This structure has been in front of my camera many times, but this time there was a nice old tractor resting in a field.   It was almost dark before I headed home.   Two angles are presented,  each offered in color and black-and-white.   Sometimes it’s fun to strip a scene down to its basics.   For the tractor photo I think color works better.   In the other, perhaps black-and-white?     I’m just glad those clouds were there.   And that tractor, too.

While on my daily walk in Taylor today, I happened on this poor hawk, obviously in some distress.   I think she has a broken wing.   If only someone from All Things Wild Rehabilitation were on hand to help!  

Even though it’s (barely) still February, I’m keeping eyes trained on the rookery at Taylor’s Murphy Park.   From the time we moved here in 2009, I’ve been fascinated by the migration of egrets to this site.   A few stay around all year long, but the majority begin showing up near the start of spring.   During my visit Monday evening I saw a few Great Egrets, but the largest population so far are cormorants,  also beautiful birds.   Cormorants make their permanent homes here, but many of the Great and Snowy Egrets arrive to start families.  By late-September they’ve usually moved on.   Last summer’s heat and drought made life here quite difficult.  I hope they come back.   For now, the cormorants rule the site, but will soon make way for the egrets.   And some cattle egrets (smaller), too.   Wandering across the sky in the last photo is (I think) a Black-Crowned Night Heron.   I’m terrible at identifying some of these herons.   Assuming the egrets make it here, I keep hoping the city will find an alternative site for their July 4th fireworks show.   Think about it, city officials.

This might be an outbuilding, but since it rests next to a vacant farmhouse, I’m adding it to my collection of barn photos.   If you follow the shaft of light to the right, that small structure most assuredly  a barn.   Another scene from the Blackland Prairie in my area of Texas.

The season for Texas Bluebonnets is brief, but if  we’re lucky, we might see them a little earlier this  year.   This little specimen stood by itself last evening, surrounded by grasses and future wildflowers.  

Spring will be with us very soon.   In our area of Texas the season brings us wildflowers, but farmers are working their fields, too.  It’s an active time for our Blackland Prairie agrarians.   Just tonight, under vibrant skies, I watched as some worked their soil south of Granger.   I hope it’s a good season for them.   The corn crop was good last year, but cotton suffered from intense heat and drought.    When thinking of spring, farmers are foremost in my thoughts.   It can be a demanding life for what they do.  

A photograph taken this evening, as a Waning Gibbous Moon, not far from 100% visibility, made  an appearance in the night sky over a windmill and trees in East Williamson County, Texas.  If it had risen much later you’d just see that moon.  Light is fleeting.