My fixation with barns continues with tonight’s post.   Three are included here.  Versions of two of them have been published before.   The opening photo is an old metal barn I like a bunch, a few miles outside Granger.   Someone living nearby told me it was probably coming down soon.     It’s still here for now.   The second barn adds a windmill to the scene, just outside Thrall.    And then there’s barn cats, relaxing in the late-afternoon sunlight outside their barn south of Granger.   There’s actually five cats in this shot.   See if you can find them!  

While massive fields of bluebonnets create opportunities for sensational  landscapes, I sure like getting up close and personal with just one flower.   That’s the same bluebonnet in each of the three photographs offered here.   It was nearing sunset when these were taken this weekend.  Naturally, I had to give my aching back a workout by getting down to the flower’s point of view.   Flopped there on the ground,  it seemed like a good idea to just stay there for a while as the sun continued to go lower.   After about fifteen minutes the session was done.   I’d run out of excuses for getting up.   Ouch.    Mentioned a few times before, but it’s instructive to take one subject and study it.    Things change over time, even in the space of a few minutes.    As to which of these is a favorite, who the heck knows, but it was a good exercise.   Those colorful fields might come, but small  landscapes are nice, too.  

This afternoon I was in Georgetown to cover the 12th Annual Chase the Chief races, a 5K and Fun Run conducted by the Georgetown Police Department.   Proceeds from the even help fund grants for physical education programs at area schools.  The turnout was excellent, with approximately 1800 participants.   My favorite photograph opens this post.   It shows a 10-year-old girl taking part in the Fun Run accompanied by her mom.   She uses a walker, but gets around very very well!  And that smile is priceless.   Other photos are just general coverage, but take note of the young ladies being assisted in their 5K races.   The group is Ainsley’s Angels.   Click on the link for more about them.   There really are angels among us.   I like Cooper, a German Shorthaired Pointer getting a pet from his human after they ran the 5K event together. Cooper got his own finishers medal, too.   I don’t usually post my community journalism here, but will this time.  

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.