When the Anti-Matter Shields First Collapsed

The first time I remember them collapsing was in tenth grade.

I had worked hard to try out for the All Region Band. This was in the Dallas / Ft. Worth region which was suppose to be one of the hardest. The judges were to select the best musicians of the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. I was only in the 10th grade.

The competition involved playing several pieces: I don't remember how many. I was in percussion. Aside from snare drum there were "keys" such as marimba and xylophone but timpani was separated out.

The keys is an interesting connection. My mother got me into band in the first place because she didn't want me in gym class. With my trach, I can't blow hard enough for any musical instrument and our band at that time was just wind and percussion -- no strings. We had met with the principal when I was going to enter 7th grade and she had pointed out that with my piano background, I could play things like chimes. I'm not really sure why we had the meeting but in any case, I was signed up for band. Band members were not forced to take gym which was my mother's main goal.

While she did go to all of the concerts, she didn't actually support me in percussion. I eventually bought my own snare drum from money I earned from my paper routes as well as paid for private lessons. The other oddity is she never actually wanted me to take piano. Her dream was for me to learn to play the organ. What I never understood is she had talked herself into the idea that learning piano first would be a stepping stone to organ. And I remember on a few occasions she made fun of the fact I was in percussion.

In the 7th grade, I went to band and I practiced but only marginally cared. Another regular competition for band members was a yearly solo contest. The participants are not ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc but given quality evaluations: 1st division, 2nd division, and 3rd division from highest performance quality to lowest. And there were also degrees of solos with 1 being the hardest and 3 being the easiest. I know I got a 2nd division and I believe the solo was ranked 3 in hardness. My classmate got a 1 on his equally ranked solo.

In 8th grade, I slipped to a 3rd division on probably a solo ranked as a 2 in hardness. As I said, I didn't really try hard. Perhaps I was upset with getting a 3 but I honestly can't recall why but I got a spark to be better.

In 9th grade I got a 1st division and, again, I don't recall if the solo was ranked 1 or 2 in hardness but I am pretty sure in 10th grade I got a 1st division on a solo ranked 1 in hardness.

Back to the All Region Band contest, I ended up getting the last chair in the All Region Band. There were actually two bands, the first and second. The judges were suppose to pick five percussionists for each band but they ended up adding a 6th, me, into the second band. Thus I had placed 11th out of the entire Dallas / Ft. Worth region while in the 10th grade without any support from my family, paying for my own equipment and lessons. A fairly dramatic turn around from the low point in 8th grade.

You may not believe this but I was immediately immensely depressed when I heard the news that I had been selected. Now what do I do? It seemed clear that I was able to achieve anything I wanted to if I put my mind to it. But I could never think of anything that I felt was really worth doing. I ended up quitting band that year.

Nothing mattered.

Small Tribute to Jon Dee Graham

I took this image on July 18th, 2003 at around 10:30 at night in a bar called the Saxon Pub on South Congress. I met with Jon after this to share some of my images. He liked this one the most, as do I, and kept a copy.

Jon and I had a number of mutual aquantences 😉. I thought his music was extremely relatable and moving. I believe I only saw him perform that one time but I listen to his CDs often.

Jon passed away this past March. I discovered this sometime in April, went back and found this image, and it has been sitting on my desktop since. I wanted somehow to share it but I don't know anyone at this point who knew him so it just sat.

Today I decided to just post it here on this blog. I hope you enjoy the image. I hope, if you haven't already, look up and discover his music.

More Images on Jon

God bless Jon...

New Summer Tanager video -- not much else happening

I went to Devine Lake Park. I saw very few birds: Killdears and a Summer Tanager is about it.. A lot of dragonflies. It was already 82º by the time I left at 8 a.m.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher with young and various dragonflies

A lovely silhouette of a Great Egret started off the day. At the end of the day I saw a fellow photographer aiming at something for quite some time. I went and asked and it turned out to be a young Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and periodically the parent would come back and feed it.

Aside from that, just various dragonflies and, as always, the usual suspects: cardinals, mockingbirds, grackles, etc but, even at 8 a.m. there was very little activity.

Killdeer acting injured at "Wilco Park"

The park is actually called Southwest Williamson Country Regional Park. My friend drives the miniture train there and he texted me saying tht there was a bird on the train tracks eacy time he goes past. I went and found that it was a Killdeer. They do an act of being wounded to attract preditors away from the nest. So, there is a nest near by. I scanned and scanned but never saw the nest nor the mate. I did capture a nice image of him and a video of his behaviour.

I hope you enjoy them.

Purple Martins at Lakeline Park / Lake Muir

I guess birders like to have "lists" and the list I'm focused on right now are is the list of birds I've reported in 2026 in Williamson country. I've come across Purple Martins before and in 2026 but not in Williamson country so that was one of my objectives recently and I hit pay dirt today. A flock of about ten if not more were flying around. They are surprisingly big. They seem much bigger than a swallow or a swift. When I first saw them, I didn't know what they were.

They flew around. Some landed in a tree briefly, them headed over to hunt over the lake. And fairly quickly, they were gone. I got a few pictures.

Then I saw another large bird... No!!! That is not a vulture. Turns out it was a Red-tailed Hawk. Weee!!!

And finally as I was on the last leg of the jouney, I wondered where all the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were. Seriously... I did! And so one came up and said "Hi!!! I'm right here.!"

Please enjoy the images.

Lots of water from recent rains and a lot of debris to clean up

Yesterday, I first went to Chandler Park in Georgetown hoping to see some Mississippi Kites but no luck. I did see a female Summer Tananger but the photos were nothing to write home about. The park is on the north fork of the San Gabriel River. Here are some videos of its flow and a still photo showing that the river had been much higher.

Then I went to Lakewood Park. It has a flood retention pond. In the past several months, they have kept it low. There is a big controvery over it. But when I went yesterday, it was back to what I would call "normal". But there was obviously a lot of debris. The water must have been five to ten feet higher than normal.

I also got a good photo of a Scissor-tail Flycatcher and a Eastern Phoebe.