My plans to post often before Halloween took a left turn this morning.

I had planned to head out to take pictures in La Grange and Columbus today.  I read a short book about an old, really appalling murder that happened near or in Schulenberg, which is just outside of La Grange.  The murder site is under water now but the killer’s home still stands and I wanted to just go an have a look around.  After that I wanted to swing twenty miles west and head into Columbus and take pictures at the Columbus City Cemetery.

However, Bastrop County is on fire again.  One of the worst-hit areas is Smithville, and I would have had to drive right through it.  It’s bad.  Bad like evacuating the area, get the hell off the highway, it’s a disaster area, there are burning embers shooting through the air threatening homes.

I was thinking about instead going to the very historic Dessau Lutheran Cemetery and taking pictures there, but no dice.  The wind shifted and began to blow north and brought the pine smoke with it.  Outside the house smells like burning rubber and there is a haze that I am picking up with each picture I take.  Like lots of dust particles that ghost hunters would call “orbs.”

I have several other entries going but won’t have one ready in time for Thursday.  Sorry about that – picture posts are easy to put together in a way that my wordy book discussions are not.

Central Texas began this summer with fatal floods and is going into autumn burning down.  Bastrop had only just begun to recover from the 2011 fires so hopefully this won’t be as devastating.  My little slice of paradise is unlikely to be affected outside of scratchy throats from smoky wind and cars with a thin coat of soot but I remember that over 1500 homes burned to the ground in Bastrop in 2011 and a couple of people were killed.  I sincerely hope that the fires can be contained before anything that bad happens now.