This is a Taylor scene often passed, but seldom photographed.   The time after sunset Saturday was filled with serenity.   I love old fence posts, but understand the contributions of barbed wire, too.   Some of you might associate barbed wire with our part of the country, but it was birthed in the 19th Century midwest.   A barbed wire patent was issued in 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio.   The following year, Michael Kelly of Dekalb, Illinois made improvements.  And in 1874, another Dekalb resident, farmer Joseph F. Glidden, patented another version, making it accessible and efficient, but at lower cost.  At any rate, it’s a sunset photograph, but with a snippet of education.

This is an International L-160, a truck manufactured by International Harvester from 1949-1952.    I’ve admired it from a distance, but recently was given permission to photograph it up close.   It’s an elegant vehicle, an integral member of our community of farmers on the Blackland Prairie.   The license plate tells us its last active year was 1974, the year I graduated from college.   A few of us relics carry on.

Coupland, Texas is a tiny community, around 300 people, but this town just a few minutes south of Taylor is a gem.   The opening photo is their truss bridge, prominent in “Secondhand Lions,” the 2003 film starring Robert Duvall and Michael Cain.  It’s still in active use today.    Others  are just area scenes.   We had a Waxing Crescent moon tonight, at 3.7% visibility.  It’s barely visible in the last photo, a photograph taken of a light-adorned gravesite at St. Peter’s Church of Coupland Cemetery.   The  deceased died in 2023.   As growth marches on, some of us embrace what we have.

By the time I finished my morning walk today the fog had begun to lift, but thankfully it cleansed  the landscape for a while.  Fog photos are mostly taken during  walks, before the mist clears.   While driving in fog has drawbacks, during a stroll it’s nice. Although today’s walk was  seven miles, every one of these was taken in Taylor’s Bull Branch Park.   I really like that park.

Although I often chat a lot in these posts, that won’t happen this time.   Just some beautiful grain elevators along a winding country road  after sunseton the prairie.

Unpaved roads draw me in every time.   They remind us that it’s okay slow down and just feel the land and sky.   These are three from the Blackland Prairie.   

It’s a mystery why I tend to apologize each time a windmill photograph is offered.   Windmills are divine treasures on the Blackland Prairie in our part of Texas.   Although I was raised in Northeast Texas, windmills weren’t a common sight there.   They sure weren’t in metro-Atlanta, where we lived for 29 years.   I appreciate their continued presence where we live.    While a few have disappeared since we’ve been here, others remain.   A friend even had a new one installed on his farm east of Walburg.    Not a week goes by without my camera  framing up one of these rural skyscrapers.  They’re not always posted.    Our area is undergoing a fast-paced transition.    Windmills, like other rural icons, may eventually leave us.

During a short drive to Salado today, we stopped by their Salado Sculpture Garden, an interesting place to stroll around.  Salado is a community of about 2400 in Bell County.  While admiring the sculptures I met a feline friend who was using my leg as a scratching post.   She tagged along until becoming enamored with a roadrunner sculpture.   It appeared to be just the thing  for scratching a pesky itch.   I’m sure she’d love to thank the artist.   Cats are cool little balls of fur.

This one’s just about trees, things noticed during my wanderings.   Winter light can be harsh, tedious, but also serene.   If you see things at the right time of day, they breathe life into your world.   These would likely be pedestrian scenes at certain times.  

Berry Springs Park & Preserve, a Williamson County park in Georgetown, is one of my favorite places to take a camera.   This morning I spent a couple hours walking around there.   There were quite a few people out there, including a mom and son out for a birding expedition.  It’s a good place for birders.   A Waning Crescent moon was shining above the trees.   And a hawk!  Most of the time when I see one, it’s while driving.   As soon as I stop for a photo they make a quick exit.    This hawk, which I THINK is a Red-Shouldered Hawk, was starting to get tired of the photo session, moving from one tree to another.   Since I didn’t have to worry about stopping for traffic, I followed her for about twenty minutes before she finally had enough and left.    The post concludes with some good morning light on some leaves, something simple.