23 Apr2015
Belated Birthday
My mother’s birthday was April 20th and although she isn’t here with us physically, I often feel her presence. This was the case on her birthday Monday evening. I had been guiding photographers at the Laguna Seca Ranch Sunday/Monday and we were heading to the Jones Alta Vista Ranch outside Hebbronville for Tuesday/Wednesday. We stopped at the little church on Highway 1017 outside San Isidro and I know Mom would have loved to have seen it. I could almost hear one of her favorite hymns, “The Old Rugged Cross,” playing as I photographed that little church. The weather had been cloudy and overcast, sometimes accompanied by drizzly rain, but as we stopped to take photographs, light exploded through the heavy clouds. I noticed something I hadn’t seen when I had stopped there previously – a small decorative strip along the top of the gate. The way the strip was shaped, I could compose the photograph so that the church’s cross on the steeple fit inside of it. Some vines formed a curly-Q above the cross. When I finished making photographs, I turned back toward the MiniBeast (my Ford Expedition) and sang Happy Birthday inside my head. Be sure to click on the photo below to reveal the entire image.Tags: Church, Cross, Gate, Highway 1017, Old, Old Church, San Isidro, Sidewalk, South Texas, Steeple, Texas
Ruth Hoyt
photographer, writer, teacher and more