Real life is often dully repetitious or full of anxious uncertainty. However, through the friendly medium of books and fiction, it is possible to cancel a little tedium or cure some insecurity by solving one inexplicable riddle or two.

Special to the Highlander Cody Beyer, of Burnet, qualified for Belmont University’s Fall 2023 Dean’s List. Approximately 52 percent of Belmont’s 7,338 undergraduate students qualified.

As a spectator sport, the Burnet County and Llano County livestock shows are great events. So, if you have never seen youngsters put livestock they have raised and trained through their paces, mark the dates this weekend.

Start 2024 “naturally” at Inks Lake State Park in Burnet County. In January, visitors can choose from early morning get-togethers with park staff and “Nature Craft-ivities” offered by the rangers, staff and volunteers at the 1,200-acre park on the shores of Inks Lake.

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As the 2023 holiday season began, despite inclement weather, hundreds searched for gifts or other items within local shops in Burnet that border the Burnet County Courthouse square. Many shops stayed open past their normal closing time of 5 p.m., as Christmas tree lights and other bright decorations illuminated the square Nov.

For Jean Porras, her art defined her as an artist, and her customers at Mosaic Garden Treasures agreed. Jean’s father designed stained glass and taught her how to cut glass which prompted her to teach herself mosaics, an art form that dates back to the third millennium BC.

Yadira Aguirre, Kamilya Nobles and Shelby Frazier posed under a lighted gazebo Nov. 25 on the Burnet square at the Lighting of the Square, which included the Burnet County Courthouse Christmas tree lighting ceremony. See more photos on Page 14. Photos by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

More than 35 cheerful volunteers joined together to prepare and serve more than 400 free Thanksgiving dinners Nov. 23 in Burnet at Vanderveer Church of Christ. The church is located at 102 S. Vandeveer St.