I have been working in south Texas for a few months with a client's home. The drive is between 8 and 9 hours long and includes a lot of what Texas has best...diversity!
There seems to be an imaginary line around Waco, Texas that once crossed, opens up into a network of small, diverse rural towns with lots of character and history.
Close to London, Texas is an outcrop of pink granite lining both sides of highway 377, the same granite that the state capital is built from.
Go further south on highway 83 to Crystal City, Texas and you will find incredible palm trees thriving in the "border town" warmer climate.
I was working just north of Crystal City on a ranch covered in flint, limestone and river rocks....
....forty miles south of the Frio River....
....... below the "hill country" near Kerrville....
...and where cactus is the main ornamental plant!
On my "paint breaks", I would head in to town (Uvalde)to shop. I found this souvenir pincushion from the 1906 New Orleans Mardi Gras in a local antique shop .....
...and rewarded myself with a piece of Virgins, Saints and Angels jewelry while visiting on each trip!
Shopping in Central and South Texas can be diversified as well! The Herb Farm in Fredericksburg, Texas provides 5 star meals and a gift shop full of candles, soaps and lotions made from herbs grown on the grounds.
I picked up this pretty brush holder from the Artisans at Rocky Hill gallery in Fredericksburg. They are under twenty dollars and have lots on hand if you want to contact them.
If you are in the area, the Hangar Hotel in Fredericksburg is a trip back in time. Located on the grounds of the actual airport, it is a new structure built to look like a quonset hut from WWII.
The hotel staff wear military uniforms, wool blankets are at the foot of each bed....
There is much attention to detail to create the illusion of the war era.
...and everything is painted in army green or battleship grey!
Jitterbug music plays in the lobby and you can ususally hear the billiards clicking in the Officer's Club a.k.a. clubroom.
Just outside of San Antonio is the small German town of Castroville. The Old Alsatian is worth the drive for black mussels in whiskey sauce or jaeger schnitzel.
I will close with a photo from Oktoberfest this past weekend in Fredericksburg....I had painted 12 hours the day before and five hours that morning and then made the three hour trip to Oktoberfest for the evening....the point is....grab life when you can and enjoy the ride!
6 comments:
your post makes me want to visit texas! last summer,we drove all the way across the country from indiana to the west coast. ya'll had the most grand, architectural, fabulous rest stop. i will never forget it, though i can't remember exactly where it was. there were even grills in the shape of texas and star windows. unbelieveable!
oooh, and i just noticed this after i posted my first comment, but i absolutely love the OM MANI PADME HUM background behind your necklace photo. Peace!
Thanks Kitty! Texas has some pretty cool landscapes and cities.....lots of hidden treasures. The OM MANI PADME HUM is a postcard from the Virgin, Saints and Angels company.
Theresa-So interesting. I was born In San Antonio, but we only lived there until I was 6 months old, and I've never been back.
Hi Theresa. Love the pin cushion, the jewelry. Thanks for the comment @ Mme Castaing..I came across her while rifling through some old magazine clippings...now I'm really intrigued! Trish
Trish,
She pretty much sums up my comfort zone! I love her use of deterioration and imperfection.
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