Sign, Signs

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I spent some time last year in San Antonio and traveled to New Waverly/Old Waverly Texas. As I remember, New Waverly is called New Waverly because the town was split in two when the railroad came to town. While I was doing research on the town, I found that there was an old cemetery that probably had some interesting (if not historic) gravestones.

Well, you know me and cemeteries...

In the rental I jumped, having just finished my fashion photo shoot with the cows just up the road.  Apparently the cemetery's a big Texas secret because I drove past it twice. I then realized that the only way I'd be able to get into the cemetery was to scale the fence.

(OK, let me stop laughing long enough to type. I'm barely five feet tall and the fence was about six feet high. That I even considered it means that I'd been out in the sun way too long without a hat.)

Extremely disappointed, I turned the car around to make my way back to the highway when I stumbled upon another smaller cemetery down a side dirt road. And this one looked accessible! I did go in, but the sign almost made me think twice:

Sometimes, the universe is not very subtle.

Retro Post 2

Here's one of my personal favorites! Enjoy! This originally posted on September 16, 2009.

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MooOOOO Cow!

Sitting here, not quite in the wee, small hours of the morning (give it about thirty minutes, however, and we're there!) fixing to do some editing. For those of you not from the South, "fixing to do" something is the step before you actually do that something you are fixing to do.

Are ya'll still with me? Good. At least one of us needs to keep up. :-)

Kind of in a reflective mood tonight. I just returned from a trip to Texas to take care of family business and to go to San Antonio to visit my husband's cousin. I also wanted to do a session with them so that they would have some special photographs. I think I captured some special moments for them. I won't post them because it's not why I did the shoot, and I don't want to invade their privacy. But I've gotta tell you - it was a great and very comforting visit.

I didn't just see family while I was in the Great State of Texas. (Yes, we're all required to say that. I know. I know.) I did make two new friends on my visit. (See above.)

I went up to New Waverly and Old Waverly, Texas, to take a look around. I'd wanted to go to Lake Conroe to take some shots, but that wasn't going to happen because the state got a much needed end to the drought and they'd locked up the park. (The rainstorm, obviously, took place after meeting my two bovine buddies.) I was making my way back to New Waverly from Old Waverly when I happened upon these two beauties.

Here is where I make a small confession. I like cows. I think they are cute. I used to say, "mooOOO cow!" every time I'd pass a pasture in the car with my parents. For years. And years and years. Here's another confession: I still do it. I even got my husband to do it. I leave you with the image of two grown, absurdly well-educated adults saying, "mooOOO cow!" every time they passed a cow pasture.

OK. Got it? Moving on...

It was a small country road with NO traffic. I parked the rental smack dab in the middle of the road and got down partway into the ditch to take the shot. I'd thought about using a fill flash for a brief minute. Here's a tip: think long and hard if you really want to use a strobe that might startle an animal at least four or five times your BMI when you are less than two feet away. Think. Very long and very hard.

So fill flash was out of the question.

Of course, as I'm taking fashion model, "you've gotta WORK" shots of Elsie and Elmer, the one person I've seen on this road in HOURS decides she wants to come down the opposite side of the road. No problem; I just shut the driver's side door. I have to tell you I wish I'd gotten a shot of the look on her face as she passed. Sort of a cross between "she's escaped from the loony bin and I need to lock the car doors" and bless her heart, she's done lost her mind!"

What can I say? I like cows.

I should also add that I'm not sure if it was Elsie and Elmer or Elsie and Eloise. I'm thinking the later, but who am I to assume?

One last thing: Borden milk is the best milk EVER, especially ice cold, and so is Blue Bell ice cream. Pecan. And the state tree for the Great State of Texas is the Pecan tree.

OK, that was three things.