The Fixer-Upper

Are there any fans of HGTV's "Fixer Upper" out there?  I love the show, mostly because it focuses on a couple who renovates houses in the Waco, Texas, area.  I stumbled on this cute little Queen Anne house as I was driving through Bartlett, Texas, on one of my road trips.  It could probably be bought for a song, and I'd love to see what magic Chip and Joanna could create if they got their hands on it. Bartlett is only about 60 miles south of Waco so maybe I should tip them off that there is a jewel down on the south 40!

The Emily Morgan Hotel - San Antonio

Standing tall over the Alamo is the Emily Morgan Hotel.  When it opened in 1926 after two years of construction it was called the Medical Arts Building.  Some of the floors were used as a psychiatric hospital, thus giving rise to the many theories that the building is haunted.  Others believe that the ghosts of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, whose bodies were burned in a mass grave near the Alamo after the famous battle, walk the halls.  It later became an office building and today is a hotel.

But who was Emily Morgan?  Folklore says that a young beautiful indentured servant whose legendary "activities" during the Texas Revolution which have come to be identified with the song "The Yellow Rose of Texas" may have helped contribute to the defeat of General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto leading to Texas independence.  A link to the hotel's website gives a short synopsis of this legend, some of which may be true and some of which may be exaggeration.  Click here for the story.

San Antonio City Hall

San Antonio City Hall sits in the middle of Military Plaza in downtown San Antonio.  It was constructed in 1888.

San Antonio River Walk

The San Antonio River Walk is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River as it winds its way through historic downtown San Antonio. The 2.5-mile-long path one level below the streets, winding and looping under bridges, is lined with bars, shops, and restaurants.

The colorful river taxis take tourists for a ride through the city at all hours of the day and night.  It was too cold to spend too much time on the river during our visit. At least the cold kept the crowds away.

The walkways are lined with lush gardens and trees.  Cypress trees abound which turn a brilliant orange in autumn but look almost dead in the winter.  But even in winter they are still colorful.  During the annual Fiesta San Antonio in the spring floats of flowers form a parade throughout the city.

The historic Bexar (pronounced "Bare") County Courthouse is shown in the background.

The Orphan

This sweet little bull calf was born at my neighbor's farm in early December.  Unfortunately his mother died right after his birth, so my friend bottle-fed him for several weeks.  She is a dispatcher at the Nacogdoches Police Department and starts her shift every day at 6.  This meant she had to get up about 4:30 every morning before leaving for work at 5:30 to feed him and then of course rush home after her shift ends at 2 to feed him again.  He was beginning to think she was his mother, but luckily, for both of them, another cow, one with a dairy heritage calved about a month later and adopted him as her own and started feeding him successfully.  He is now out of the barn, in the pasture with his friends and relatives, and growing steadily.

Old Gonzales County Jail

The Old Gonzales County Jail in Gonzales, Texas, sits very near the courthouse pictured in yesterday's post.  The jail is older than the courthouse by nine years.

Today the jail houses the Gonzales Chamber of Commerce.

Another couple of interesting facts about Gonzales:
1.  It is the only city of its size in Texas which still retains its name from the days of Spanish rule.
2.  Gonzales was the only town to send reinforcement to the Alamo.  All 32 men perished in the siege by Santa Anna.

Gonzales County Courthouse (Texas No. 40)

While visiting San Antonio over the Christmas holiday I had the opportunity to sneak in a few more photos to add to my Texas historic courthouses series, and the Gonzales County Courthouse in Gonzales, Texas, proved to be one of the winners.

This 1894 beauty was designed by my favorite courthouse architect, J. Gordon Reily.  The Romanesque Revival structure is constructed of red brick and limestone.

Gonzales is a small town rich in Texas history.  It was the site of the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution in 1835 between 18 Gonzales citizens and 100 Mexican soldiers who had been sent from San Antonio, 75 miles to the west, to retrieve a small cannon which had been granted to the settlement in 1832 for protection against Indian attacks.  A few months later Gonzales contributed 32 volunteers to the defense of the Alamo in San Antonio, all of whom lost their lives.  The widow of one of the  Alamo defenders fled back to Gonzales with news of the massacre, and Gen. Sam Houston, who was in town organizing Texas forces, anticipating Gonzales would be the next target of the Mexican army, ordered the town to be burned to deny it to the enemy.  Gonzales was eventually rebuilt on the original site throughout the 1940s.

The Clock Tower

Gonzales has many Tudor Revival, Greek Revival, and Queen Anne style homes.  I think it deserves a return visit when I have more time to spend a whole day exploring this wonderful little city of 7,000 people.

Gonzales is 260 miles south of Dallas and 135 miles west of Houston.

The Alamo

My daughter and I spent several days in San Antonio during the Christmas holiday and we of course visited the city's most famous spot, the Alamo.  More than 2.5 million people come to the Alamo every year, the former Mission San Antonio de Valero.  First established in 1718, the current structure was constructed on its present site in 1724.  It is the place where approximately 200 Texas revolutionaries/freedom fighters were massacred by the Mexican Army in 1836. The defenders, all of them volunteers and among them Jim Bowie, designer of the Bowie knife, and Davy Crockett, the Tennessee frontiersman and congressman, lost their lives after a 13-day siege by over 1800 Mexican soldiers.  It is estimated that the Texans killed between 400 to 600 of their attackers.  The history of this Texas shrine is simply too long and too complicated to be explained here.  No photographs are allowed inside the Alamo because it has been designated by the State of Texas as a shrine and a place of reverence and reflection.

Many first-time visitors are surprised to see how small the structure is.  Today it is surrounded by high-rise office buildings and hotels.  We visited on the Monday before Christmas but were back downtown on Christmas Day and were astonished that nearly a hundred people seemed to be on the grounds in the late afternoon, although it was closed to the public.

The exterior walls of the compound, both inside and out, are beautifully landscaped with live oak trees and gardens.

Waiting for the Lunch Buffet

This Is What I Did Over The Weekend

Relaxing on a cold winter afternoon

When you are absent from blogging for a while, there can be some surprises when you return.  For me I see that the verification villain has return and attached himself to most of the blogs I follow and has also magically appeared on my own site.  A few blogs seem to be free of this phenomenon that so many of us considered a scourge just a few months ago.  Can anyone shed any light on this mystery and why no one seems to be upset about it?  I do notice the verification text seems to be easier to read and sometimes just checking the I Am Not A Robot box is all that's required.  What are your thoughts about it?

Minden Post Office

Minden, Texas

Texas has many tiny towns and tiny towns have tiny post offices.  In fact, I didn't even know that someplace not far from where I live was actually a town because I didn't know they had a post office until someone mentioned one day how cute it was.  I thought it was just a rural community that had a handful of houses.  It is a cute little post office, complete with an old-fashioned hitching rail, a vintage mail collection box, a hand-carved sign, and a welcoming bench where neighbors who don't see each other often can sit a spell and catch up the family news.  Minden has had a post office since 1850.  Its population currently is 250, which is an increase of 10 percent since 1900.

Phoenix Mural

I didn't take too many photos during my Thanksgiving trip to Phoenix but I stumbled across this interesting new mural on my way back from downtown one morning.

"The Gateway" is the title of a sculpture which sits in the plaza in the center of Nacogdoches as a tribute to the pioneering families who traveled west in the early 1800s on the El Camino Real de los Tejas to settle Texas.  The figures are life-sized and the sculpture is one of several sponsored by the Friends of Historic Nacogdoches, several of which have previously depicted on this blog and more are in the planning stages.  The historic trail ran from the capitol and central viceroyalty of New Spain in the present day Mexico City, winding through Saltillo, Monterrey, present day Laredo, San Antonio and Nacogdoches before ending in what is now known as Nachitoches, Louisiana.  The trail was first followed and marked by Spanish explorers and missionaries in the 1700s and was one of several "El Camino Reals, or "royal roads," that connected the Spanish possessions in North America with Mexico City.

Happy New Year - The Angel of Oak Grove Cemetery

Happy New Year to everyone.  I have obviously been absent for the past few months but I think it's time to try to get back to my blog.  I've missed blogging and all my blogger friends tremendously.  I am still extremely busy settling my mother's estate and disposing of her property.  Having lived through the depression, Mother kept everything.  She was not a hoarder but simply a saver and she often found ways to repurpose many things.  I'm slowly making my way through it all but it is going to take a while.

In the meantime I was able to spend two weeks during Thanksgiving with my daughter and grandson in Arizona and for Christmas my daughter and I met for the holidays in San Antonio where we spent five days exploring the city and simply resting, enjoying no cooking, no cleaning, room service, and the other amenities that come with living in a hotel.  So welcome back and continue with me on my travels through Texas!

Today I bring you photos of the Angel of Oak Grove Cemetery near my home here in Nacogdoches, Texas.  I live about 25 miles outside of Nacogdoches and it's our rural area's go-to place for most of what we need on a day-to-day basis.

The angel is somewhat small compared to other cemetery angels but she is the most well-known marker in this historic cemetery where four signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence lie at rest, alone with others who were instrumental in the formation of the Texas Republic and later the State of Texas.

She presides over the grave of William S. Clark and his descendants, many of whom still live in this area.  Clark came to Texas in 1829 and was an active political figure throughout his lifetime.  The angel is in need of cleaning but the environmental deposits serve to highlight and outline the beauty of the sculpture. Her nose and fingertips have disintegrated.  She is, afterall, over 140 years old.

A perpetual breeze blows the folds of her skirts.  Does anyone know why so many angel sculptures show the angel with her right hand raised with the palm turned to the sky?

The bow at her waist is also an artistic masterpiece in my opinion.  You can see in this photograph the deterioration of her fingers.