Lunch at Blakes Cafe...McQueeney, Texas

Blake's Cafe is a great restaurant in McQueeney, Texas, which is not far from my home base of Seguin, so my husband and I had lunch there with a group of family and friends, today. I thought that some of my regular visitors might like to see the inside of a wonderfully quirky Texas diner, so I took my camera with me.

I have to apologize because I did not read the menu, which includes a detailed history of the building which is now Blake's Cafe. I was too busy visiting. I do remember from previous visits that the building, which was built around 1900 or so, has served as several different kinds of business, so look for another post in the future with the history info as a follow up to today's post.

Meanwhile, look around at the inside of the cafe. Don't you love the decor? The blue sail fish has been hanging on the wall as long as I can remember. In the upper right of the frame, you can see a Shiner Bock advertisement. Shiner beer is brewed in Shiner, Texas, which is about 60 miles southeast of McQueeney.

 The bar fills one whole side of the cafe, and the deep, dark patina of the wood testifies to the age of the bar. It has been there for a long time. I love the vintage chandelier, but if you look above it, you can see the lighted Budweiser clock. On the counter, there are two pitchers of sweet tea, one on each side so that the servers can grab the tea on the run and refill the diners' glasses. Sweet tea is iced tea that is superloaded with sugar. Texans love the drink.

 Our server, Melissa, took really good care of our wild and crazy group. She was kind enough to allow me to take her picture as she worked. I hope she had a very good day.

By the way, the food at Blakes' Cafe is awesome, so if you ever get to visit Seguin or McQueeney, I recommend you stop in and have a meal.

Flowers in January

You can still find flowers in January if you know where to look. For several years, I have visited a wonderful local nursery (Green Gate Nursery) when I have a need to photograph flowers in the winter. They have a warm greenhouse filled with all kinds of flora, so I just check in at the front and then make my way to the greenhouse. 

Today, I was almost alone as I snapped pictures. One lady gardener was tending to the plants while I amused myself among the flowers. 

Here is one of the shots I took, today.

Texas Doors Across The Central Plains

Today, I am just posting a collection 

of some of my favorite doors 

that I have spotted

 as I roam around central Texas.

This building is located between Stockdale and Cuero. I think it is a wood-working shop, which explains the interesting use of wood for their building. However, only the great imagination and vision of the owner can account for the curves, lines, odd-ball windows and wonderfully funky architecture.

This is the courtyard of a great cafe and antique shop located just a few blocks off the center of New Braunfels, Texas. I love the adobe style stucco and the traditional Texas "Alamo" roof line. Also, the bell, cross and arched windows are reminiscent of the Spanish missions built in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. 

This is a door to one of the apartments that have been built in the old Magnolia Hotel, in Seguin. The Magnolia Hotel was built around 1840, making it one of the oldest structures in Seguin. It sits empty now, and I am not even sure this apartment is occupied, although the door of the apartment to the right has several planters sitting outside, so I think someone does live there. 

Geronimo is just about five miles north of Seguin on Highway 123. This house sits just a few feet off the main highway through town. The  single star over the door is a very common decoration in the state of Texas. After all, Texas is called the Lone Star State, you know. 

 This very elegant set of double-doors caught my eye when I went to an estate sale at this home. The house sits on the crest of a hill commanding a broad view of Guadalupe county.

Seguin's Hotel War...Fought and Won Almost 100 years Ago Today

The Park Hotel in its early years

Deep in the recesses of Seguin history,

 there is a story of a war

 fought over 

who could build the best hotel.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Seguin had two hotels of note. The Magnolia Hotel had been built in 1840. It was showing signs of its age since it was over sixty years old.

Read about it here and see some photos...  http://wildabouttexas.blogspot.com/2011/02/magnolia-hotel.html . 

The second hotel, called the Grand Central Hotel, was located on Austin Street in the building next to where the Lone Star Barber shop resides today. It is still standing, but no longer used as a hotel.

In 1916, Atlee Ayers, a noted architect, designed the beautiful Aumont Hotel, which is located on the corners of Austin Street and Mountain Street ( hence the name "Aumont"). It is located two blocks east of the county courthouse.

  

You can read about it here...  http://wildabouttexas.blogspot.com/2011/05/aumonta-seguin-architectural-gem.html 

The Aumont Hotel in its early years

Not to outdone, Leo M.J. Dielman, a German-born architect who had made his reputation designing churches, was hired to design the Park Hotel (later changed to the Plaza), which was built on the corners of River Street and Nolte Street, two blocks west of the courthouse. It was completed on January 9th, 1917, so it had it's 95th birthday, yesterday!

Here is a quote from a description of the events surrounding the construction of the two new hotels:

In 1916 the businessmen of Seguin decided they needed a new hotel. Times were good. In fact building permits were issued for $200,000 worth of buildings in just ten months. That was nearly as much as from the entire previous history of Seguin. A recent fire had taken out an entire block of buildings downtown and Seguinites were eager to rebuild. 

The proposed hotel was announced on November 12, 1915 and an artist's conception of the $50,000 building was soon placed where everyone could see it - Serger's Drug Store. Everyone was excited in the special way people always get excited about a new hotel. Everyone that is, except the businessmen who weren't included.

So three weeks later it was announced there would be a second new hotel and the people of Seguin  were again happy. But they had so exhausted themselves over the news of the first hotel, that they hired people from Gonzales to dance in the streets for them (the first and last time this was ever done).

It's still not known where the rivalry originated. It has been suggested that the two factions were divided on lines of political allegiance, ethnic origin, or simply whether they lived north or south of Court Street. It's true they were split Republican - Democrat, but they were also either "Square heads" (Germans) or "Raggedies" (English).1

The Park Hotel was completed at a cost of $75,000 and decorated with beautiful cast concrete embelleshments. Their stark and ornate grandeur are highlighted best when the deep blue Texas sky frames them.

There are a couple of architectural details that I particularly love. The first are the black wrough iron curlicue bars which support the awnings that hang over the sidewalks.

The second is the lion's head gutter spouts that surround the building.

1.http://www.texasescapes.com/FEATURES/rooms_with_a_past/Hotel_wars_Seguin_Texas.htm

Texas Water Fowl Couples

The city of New Braunfels has a nice park that is centered around the Comal River and the springs that feed it. There are many different species of water fowl that inhabit the Comal Springs area and they swim up and down the waterway that meanders through the park. It always makes me smile when I see the ducks swim in pairs, the husbands and wives of the waterfowl world.

They have their own courtship rituals, different from ours, but leading to the same result, which is the formation of a life-long union between a he and a she. Though I must say that the duck marriages probably are more binding than those between people, which is a sad commentary on the state of our own behaviors.

Are they just wired differently? Do they lack the ability to choose to dissolve their bonds? Can you imagine how different our society would be if once a man and a woman chose to become husband and wife, they would be permanently glued together for all of their lives?

Just something to think about....

Seguin's Walnut Springs Park Is Awaiting the Spring Blossoms

The city of Seguin has a meandering little tributary of the Guadalupe River running right through the heart of downtown. As a beautification project, the land surrounding the creek was turned into a public park. It has not been opened for very long and the landscaping is still a work in progress. However, I have high hopes that when the warm weather arrives in late February or early March, there will be lots and lots of flowers planted for everyone to enjoy.

The Beauty of Texas Butterflies, Skippers and Moths

I confess that I haven't had my camera out much in the last month, so I am going back through some of my files and sharing favorites from the past. Today, I would like to post a few pictures of Texas butterflies that I have taken.

This beauty is a Pipevine swallowtail feasting on springtime redbud blossoms. 

I am not sure of the identification of this butterfly. It is feeding on a bradford pear blossom.

This is a Long-tail skipper on a Texas thistle.

Here is an orange skipper on a redbud.

Finally, one last unidentified butterfly on some beautiful yellow lantana.

Remembering the Summer...A Trip to Padre Island

Now that the temperature in central Texas is dipping into the 30s, I have decided to go back and look at some of the photos from my trip to Padre Island, last summer. Of course, it was important to watch the sun rise, so Richard and I got to the beach at about 6:30 in the morning. 

There were a few other folks enjoying the early morning, including this couple who were walking along the waveline with a net.

There were also a couple of joggers out. It must have felt wonderful to run along the quiet beach as the sun rose in the sky.

The beach cabanas were empty, waiting for the later visitors.

Many folks choose to stay at one of the many hotels that line the shore. We live close enough that we can make a beach trip in one day, though we may stay in a hotel next time rather than leave the house at 3 am to catch the early sunrise.

Bob Hall pier has been my favorite destination on Padre Island, ever since I visited it in the seventh grade with my church youth group. That was many years ago (over 40 years, to be exact) and it still looks the same to me.

While I was taking pictures, Richard noticed the fish skimming along in the crests of the waves. I had never seen that before.

This fisherman was catching some of those fish....I do not know what kind of fish they were.

Someone had been on the beach even earlier than me and left this beautiful little sand castle for folks to admire.

Finally, I tried my hand at making a beach sweetheart love note to Richard. I was not real pleased with how it turned out, so I will try again on my next beach trip.

Finding a Quiet Place in the Midst of the Suburban Sprawl

Central Texas is a mixture of large farms, wide open fields, small towns and big cities. Most of the wide open fields are enclosed by some sort of barb wire fencing, so you can see the beautiful, wild landscape, but you can't walk or hike through it.

I live in Seguin, which is a town of around 30,000 people. There are planned subdivisions filled with tract housing,  there are the old houses built around the center of town, and there are larger tracts of land (anywhere from half an acre to several hundred acres) surrounding the town where people live and farm or ranch.

I do not own my own little ranch or plot of land in the country, so I have searched during my photographic ramblings for accessible sites to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature.

This little pond, or "tank" as it is called in Texas, is right in the city limits of Seguin, but hidden from view behind a very tiny subdivision. The developer of the subdivision came across me photographing some butterflies a couple of summers ago, and he graciously invited me to visit this little pond on his property.

I do not visit very often, and generally it is very early in the morning. I am thankful for this beautiful pond and for the kindness of a stranger, giving me permission to enjoy the solitude and peace to be found here.

Texas Gulf Coast at Sunrise

Texas is more than cowboys and oil rigs. If you travel to the eastern edge of the state, you will eventually arrive at the gulf coast. The Gulf coast region is one of my favorite places to visit. This shot was taken a couple of miles outside the small town of Rockport right after the sun had risen above the horizon.

Texas Hill Country....Little Hills But a Great View

Texas covers a very large area and there are seven very distinct geological regions. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife, they are:
1. The Big Bend Country
2. The Gulf Coast
3. The Hill Country
4. The Panhandle Plains
5. The Pineywoods
6. The Prairies and Lakes
7. The South Texas Plains

I live in Seguin, which is in central Texas where the Hill Country and the Prairies and Lakes meet and overlap. It is very flat in some sections, and there are very gentle, rolling hills in other sections. However, just to the northwest of Seguin, the hill county begins. The hills are not high hills, but they butt up into the sky for a few hundred feet in tight little mounds.
As you drive through the hill country, the roads wind and corkscrew, up and down.
This house was built on the precipice of one such hill just outside of Medina, Texas. The road that passes by it is so crooked and steep that cars must slow down to 10 to 15 miles per hour just to traverse it safely.
I can't even imagine the difficulty the builder had to get materials to the top of this hill.  But, I suspect it was all worth it. The view must be wonderful.