EXPLORE May 2015

MAY 2015

Welcome to Boerne

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Bluebonnet Realty HOMES FOR SALE

2.) FOR SALE - $145,800 Cibolo Crossing 2 bed, 2 ba home with large family room that could be used as master bedroom. Great price for this house near Main Street and shopping.

1.) FOR SALE - $250,000 - Great Investment! This townhome overlooking the beautiful grounds and hills at Tapatio Springs Resort has 3 bedrooms, and 3 full baths. Tri-level with bedroom and bath on each level, plus large family room with fireplace and separate dining room. Each level has a balcony or patio. This home has approximately 2254 s.f. of living are plus a 1 car attached garage. Price to sell!

3.) FOR SALE - $199,900 Recently renovated 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home on .25 acres close to downtown Boerne, shopping and schools

4.) FOR SALE - $450,000 - 4 bedroom, 2.5 baths, approx. 3095 s.f. of living area on 3.65 acres new on the market! Great Views!

PROPERTIES FOR LEASE

5.) FOR LEASE - $2300 - Garden home on golf course in Fair Oaks Ranch. 2 bed, 2 ba approx. 2245 s.f; with 2 car garage

6.) FOR LEASE - $1700 - 4 bed, 2 ba in Boerne Heights. Available now.

8.) FOR LEASE - $2000 - 4 bed, 2.5 Bath in Trails of Herff Ranch. Nice corner lot. Many upgrades.

7.) FOR LEASE - $1900 - 3 bed, 3 bath townhome in Tapatio Springs. One car garage. Golf course view!

ALSO FOR SALE!

9.) FOR LEASE - $1300 - 3 bed, 2 ba mobile on 1/2 ac in Walnut Hills. Approx.1850 s.f. of living area

MORE HOMES AVAILABLE. CALL FOR LISTINGS.

830-816-2288 • www.boernetexashomes.com

LEON

SPRINGS

LOCATION

COMING

MAY

2015

Paul Wilson, Senior Pastor Cibolo Creek Community Church

$10 OFF YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE 930 E. BLANCO, BOERNE TX

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830.443.4500

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w w w. c o m p l e t e g e n t . c o m

May

Explore what's inside this issue!

10 From the Publisher 12 Calendar 14 MUSIC

24 Community

32 Spiritual

26 CULTURE

36 Life

City of Boerne summer camps

GROAN

Operations Manager Kristine Duran kristine@smvtexas.vom

GO

art imitating life

TROUBADOUR

Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com

Chris Taylor talks art, music and life.

16 The art of

How interested are you in the different aspects of your life?

Teaching

Tally Barber describes how it’s more than feeding kids information.

Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com Assistant Creative Director Kayla Davisson kayla@smvtexas.com ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com

42 OLD TIMER

Kids and summer

Schools almost out, and Old Timer isn’t too thrilled about what’s on the horizon for the summer months.

28 Mother’s Day

EXPLORE magazine is published by Schooley Media Ventures in Boerne, TX. EXPLORE Magazine and Schooley Media Ventures are not responsible for any inaccuracies, erroneous information, or typographical errors contained in this publication submitted by advertisers. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EXPLORE and/or Schooley Media Ventures. Copyright 2015 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Ste. 200, Boerne, TX 78006

The “best” mother’s day gifts...

EVER!

20 History boerne in the beginning

How our fair city came to be.

Contributing Writers

8

Marjorie Hagy History

Rene Villanueva Music

Kendall D. Aaron Spiritual

Old Timer Just Old Timer

Paul Wilson Life & Living

MARJORIE is a bibliophile, a history nut and an insomniac, among several other conditions, both diagnosed and otherwise. When she's not working tirelessly to avoid getting a real job, she nurses an obsession with her grandson and is involved in passing legislation restricting the wearing of socks with sandals. She is an aspiring pet hoarder who enjoys vicious games of Scrabble, reading Agatha Christie, and sitting around doing nothing while claiming to be thinking deeply.

Marjorie has five grown children, a poodle to whom she is inordinately devoted in spite of his breath, and holds an Explore record for never having submitted an article on time. She's been writing for us for five years now.

Rene Villanueva is the lead singer/bass player for the band Hacienda. Having toured worldwide, hacienda has also been featured on several late night shows, including Late Show with David Letterman.

Rene and his wife Rachel live in Boerne, TX and just welcomed thier first child.

I’m just a normal guy. I’m not a theology student, I don’t preach in church, and I’ve never written a book. I’m just a normal guy that thinks, and feels, and is on a never-ending journey attempting to be the best person I can be. I fail frequently at this quest, yet each day, the quest continues.

I’ve lived in Boerne since the late ‘80s, I’ve got a most beautiful wife, three wonderful children, and just really, really love God. Thanks for going on my spiritual journey with me.

The Old Timer tells us he's been a resident of Boerne since about 1965. He enjoys telling people what he doesn't like. When not bust'n punks he can be found feeding the ducks just off Main St. or wandering aimlessly in the newly expanded HEB. Despite his rough and sometimes brash persona, Old Timer is really a wise and thoughtful individual. If you can sort through the BS.

An insatiable curiosity for life and an incurable fascination with human behavior has forged in Paul Wilson a keen interest in helping people think about wise living. As a Life Coach, Paul offers professional mentoring to clients seeking greater personal fulfillment in their life. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Cibolo Creek Community Church in Fair Oaks Ranch, a faith community he began in 1996 to serve people who didn’t really like church. As artistowner of The Paul Wilson Studio, he also creates bronze sculptures for private and corporate collections. Paul and his wife, Charlotte, who make their home in Fair Oaks Ranch, are the proud parents of two teenage sons. If you’re interested in receiving daily thought-provoking insights about life and living, follow Paul on Twitter at @paulwilsonTX or Facebook at facebook.com/ paulwilsonTX.

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

From the Publisher Dearest EXPLORE reader, For anyone that might have read this little column for enough years (going on 10 years soon – eek!), you might assign that I’m a “creative” person. I write a lot on a variety of topics, lots of talented folks pen some great prose, we focus on some engaging photos, and we package it all up in this really cool, funky format that you hold in your hands.

I’m never sure what to think of the moniker “Creative”. I think that when I hear that, people must assume that I sit around all day in a disorganized office, writing inspirational quotes on the walls while I search for my next muse. I’m of course broke (as all “creative people are”), and I have absolutely no concept of business or management operations. After all, I’m “creative”, not focused, or driven, or enterprising, or any other slew of descriptors you could apply to a person.

Despite some of the things that people might assign to myself or the magazine as a whole, in the end, it is one of CREATION. But here’s the deal with creation: it’s a big sloppy mess most of the time. When you think of your favorite writer, blogger, or author, I think that we all make the assumption that, via a stroke of brilliance, they pen something that resonates with us. They hit on a topic that causes us to focus on the words, and by the end of it we are in tears at the sheer power contained in the words.

A creative person has created something.

What gets so lost in these flattering discussions about “Oh my goodness, I so appreciated that article about x, y, and z” is that the creation might have literally taken years for that simple little column you enjoyed so much.

This particular column is a good example. When I was in college, I used to write music. Some of it was horrendous, but every once in a while, I would write a song that I would read again and again and just smile knowing that I wouldn’t change a single word. If you fast forward 20, you would have seen me sitting on my bedroom floor last night, guitar in hand, trying to write a song. I would scribble a line, scribble it out, and ultimately decide that it just wasn’t with me on this night. No matter how hard I tried, my words were sophomoric and simple, immature and meandering.

The whole thought I was trying to convey was completely lost, and the exercise in frustration was deemed over.

And so over the years I’ve thought about these Publisher letters and how they have become something that is created out of not only the desire to create, but also the desire to perfect. You see, I practiced and practiced at songwriting and got to a point of mediocrity. Then I hung it up for 20 years, returned, and had digressed to comical levels. But with these letters, I have banged one out to the tune of 12 a year, and it’s been a forced honing of my skills. Am I saying that I’m really good at writing now? Oh, hell no. If you had any idea the number of drafts and revisions, the number of ideas I scrap, and the whole articles that I simply delete upon completion, you would know that I will never achieve perfection. I’m ok with that. Remember, I’m just “creative”.

But as I mentioned, this particular subject is one that has bounced around my head for years and years and one that I may never truly unpack successfully.

But my thesis is this: If you desire to create, do it. You will be bad at it, and enjoy your struggles. You will never figure out what doesn’t work until you try it at least once.

Wasn’t it Edison that said, “I haven’t failed at making a light bulb, I just found 1,289 ways that won’t work.” I firmly believe that every human soul has an in-borne desire to be creative, in every way imaginable. Writing, film, photography, painting, sculpture, woodworking….the list could go on forever. We’ve done articles on men that express their creativity in pool design and stonemasonry work. The list is TRULY endless.

But you want to create. I know you do, because you have a heart that is beating inside of you. Just like me. So am I “creative”? Nah. I’m just human.

So you’re sitting here thinking “I don’t like to paint” or “sculpting looks complicated” or perhaps “I haven’t written anything since high school.” But I think that you just told yourself a few of the things that your heart is calling out for.

Embrace it. Again, take it slow and be prepared to stumble and struggle. Try to learn from others. Give yourself the room to just make a mess of things before you begin to make progress. Try, and then try again.

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It could be restaining your deck…but if you took it as the opportunity to be creative, you might surprise yourself.

Life is a living, breathing work of art, and it exists all around you. Take some time to sit, watch, and examine things with new “creative” eyes. Something will strike you, and a direction will form. Don’t stop it; embrace it, even if it wasn’t what you had in mind.

Back to me and writing – never, in a million years would I have said that writing would be something that I would ever pursue. NEVER. But one day in the fall of 2007, I sat down to write one of these columns, and I’ve been doing them ever since. Some are atrocious, some have been ok, and some I just finish and smile. My creation has occurred.

I know you have it in you – hell, we all do. I just want to have one person tell me that they took the plunge; they sat down one day with a sketch pad and a pencil and started drawing. They will laugh and tell me that their drawing was terrible, but I will smile knowing that the seed has been planted. In a short time, progress will be made with the mastery of their sketches, and ultimately, a void will be filled. A void they didn’t even know they had was filled by being “creative”.

And that is yet another reason to EXPLORE, to dream, to wish, to cry, to laugh, to think, and to CREATE. Welcome to May. Smiling,

ben@hillcountryexplore.com

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

May 2015

www.hillcountryexplore.com

11

MAY

Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country!

The most comprehensive events calendar.

Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com

May 1 Fredericksburg First Friday Art Walk Fredericksburg

Tour fine art galleries offering special exhibits, demonstrations, refreshments and extended viewing hours the first Friday of every month.

May 1-3 Luckenbach Hill Country Run Motorcycle Rally

May 9-10 Boerne Boerne Market Days

Hundreds of festive booths display everything from collectibles and nostalgia to modern innovations.

Also enjoy food and live entertainment.

May 11 Boerne SHILO HARRIS

May 21-June 7 Kerrville Kerrville Folk Festival

This Texas Hill Country-based international music festival features more than 100 songwriters and their bands. Includes concerts, music workshops, arts and crafts, kids’ concerts, food and camping.

May 22-24 Fredericksburg Fredericksburg Crawfish Festival

Enjoy scenic rides through the hills, live music, a cowboy breakfast, the brew ‘n’ ‘cue and more.

Wounded Warrior Shilo Harris will speak and sign copies of his book at RANDOM. Live music after.

Food trucks and drinks will be on site. Doors open at 5pm. No cover.

May 8-9 Fredericksburg Texas Gran Fondo Bicycle Tour

May 10 Johnson City Art, Wine and Live Music

May 23 Bandera Funtier Days

May 14 Gruene Come and Taste It

May 23-24 Johnson City Market Days

May 15-16 Brady Armed Forces Day Fly-In

May 23-24 Kerrville Kerr County Market Days

May 15-17 Fredericksburg Fredericksburg Trade Days

May 25 Fredericksburg Memorial Day Observance

Cycling enthusiasts are invited to discover the Texas Hill Country on unparalleled road courses of 35, 56 or 95 miles.

May 9 Bandera Lakeshore VFD Spring Fest

Enjoy barbecue, an auction, games for children and other family activities.

May 9 Boerne Second Saturday Art and Wine Enjoy complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres with fantastic art in local galleries.

May 9 Boerne Art in the Park

School-aged children and their grownups take part in an action-packed program of creative expression inspired by nature. This annual event encourages kids to team up with adults to be creative in the performing and visual arts with make-and-take projects and hands-on activities. Professionals and students lead participants in music, painting, sculpture, and other arts and crafts. These experts also present live performances in theater, dance and storytelling at the Cibolo Nature Center and Farm.

May 9 Wimberley Second Saturday Gallery Trail

More than a dozen galleries offer wine, snacks and art displays from 4-7 p.m.

12

Enjoy local art and wine. Takes place 1:30-4 p.m. on the second Sunday of every month.

Eleven wineries and craft brewers are showcased on the patio and garden of a popular tasting room.

Complimentary tastings are offered of the craft beer and three wines. Hours are 5-8 p.m.

Join aviation enthusiasts at this event with historic aircraft and military equipment, re-enactments, a hangar dinner and dance.

Shop with more than 350 vendors or relax in the biergarten while listening to live music.

May 15-16 Kerrville Kerrfest

Includes pro rodeo action, barbecue and chili cook-offs, live music, a street dance, children’s activities and vendors. Hours are 6 p.m.-midnight Friday and 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturday.

May 16 Boerne Random’s 2nd birthday bash

This festival dedicated to music, entertainment, food, beverages and fun is inspired by all things Cajun.

Shop with more than 75 vendors on the courthouse square. A parade is Saturday.

Enjoy food, artisans and other vendors in the heart of Texas Wine Country on the fourth weekend of each month. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

Old-fashioned market on the square features handmade crafts, artwork and homegrown plants & produce. Hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

A ceremony to honor all of those who have lost their lives serving in the United States Armed Forces.

May 30 Bandera Cowboy on Main

Cowboys, steers, horses, wagons, strolling cowboy musicians and gunfighter re-enactments are all part of the Western-themed action on Bandera’s Main Street.

Come enjoy live music, food and drinks at RANDOM’S 2nd birthday party. Car show on site.

Entries welxome.

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

r a B k c a J t o o B t a h y 30t l

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bal e s a B l o o h c igh S H n o i p m a h C Benefitting

p m i r h S • e g a s u a S • h s i f s w e a o t Cr a t o P • n r o C • s m o o r h s !

Mu e r o M d n A c i s u Live M

BOOT JACK BAR

MONDAY - SATURDAY 2PM-2AM • SUNDAY 3PM-11PM • 21 & OVER

T E L : 210 - 8 61 - 0 0 74 1 F M 3 5 51, S T E . 10 0 • B E R G H E I M , T X • J U S T S O U T H O F 4 6 & B E H I N D T H E VA L E R O

By Rene Villanueva

“There are always problems... s*** inevitably falls apart on you all the time... when you don’t expect it man. You know right when you think you can’t handle one more thing, just one more thing... you get this little push to see, just to see if they can bend you a little bit farther.” He lost his thought again and began biting at the corner of his pinky nail like he was taking off part of the cuticle. “But I keep going man, I always keep going.”

The street was near empty. The building’s vacant and locked. He’s standing at the edge of the circle of light hovering over me and I’m wondering when it got so dark, why I’m alone, and why I decided it was a good idea to leave the club.

We were only parked a few streets away at the end of a business strip filled with a printing company, an office supply store, and a discount carpet warehouse.

Somehow I’d walked into a conversation with the only other person for miles.

He was homeless. Nearly twice my size with one eye unnaturally bulging out like he had been in a bad fight and never healed right. Or maybe the injury was too severe to ever completely fix. The eye really stood out because he had real thin brows and was bald.

He had the beginnings of an old tattoo on his neck that peaked out when he looked around, hidden under the collar of his grey sweater.

His teeth slanted out to the left and were stained from smoking, though his skin was incredibly smooth and he kept his nails short and clean despite how hard it must be for him to find a place to keep up appearances. And though he looked alright, it was the smell that gave his situation away. The smell from his clothes. The smell from his breath. Like an invisible cloud of sour-musky sweat hung a few feet around him in every direction.

“Hold, hold a sec man,” he said clutching both hands tightly to his stomach and walked into the alley.

I quickly opened the van door and grabbed my bag.

‘I came here for a book. I had wanted to read... That’s what it was that brought

14

me out here? To read and be alone.’ I’d left my current road read, probably Drumtaps, under the middle bench and it was still three hours till the show started.

Stores, restaurants, this whole half of the city was shut down for the night and our hotel was three hours south. So that left hanging out at the venue or reading.

Sometimes, I see the whole caravan together, the other bands, our band, the crew, and I just can’t make myself have a conversation. Even on the road, I get in these bad funks where I still feel like an outsider. Like I did when I was a fifteenyear-old senior in high school and couldn’t go to parties cause I didn’t even have my learners permit yet... Maybe I’m just more comfortable alone. I did spend my entire teens in the library. This isn’t a pity story. It was all fine with me, I wasn’t too interested in hanging out with my with classmates anyway. I much preferred poetry and beach boy records to whatever they were up to, but on the road, I wish I was more outgoing. These are supposed to be my people. Musicians I know I have stuff in common with. People who understand what being an outsider is, but there I am with nothing to say and a flood of words stuck inside my head. I have hours of conversations with myself, and nothing to give to others. I just stand silently, listening, taking. Thinking of words I’ll eventually write but never say. Even when the homeless man was talking I only gave a lot of smiles and shrugs. Though he wasn’t always forward with me either.

“I hate to ask you know,” he said when I had first walked up to the van. He held one hand out, keeping the other tight across his stomach.

“Sorry man,” I said with a guilty look from wanting to help but knowing the five bucks I had left was going to be for my dinner.

“It’s aight, it’s aight, just asking man, it’s aight cause I always keep on going man.

I never let it stop me.” And he kept talking while I feel guiltier than ever, and wondered if it was too late to give him the five, and wishing I had smaller change.

‘I would’ve definitely given him a couple of dollars.’

And not just cause I was a little scared of him.

Bands do a lot of work out of the public eye, the places where we load in and

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

out, if not play, are usually tucked out of vies. We frequent the cheapest places to eat or sleep when you’re on tour budget, the quickest routes between cities, the dark sides of the country, small roads, corners, alleys, truck stops, across the tracks and under the bridge where most people often forget to look, or try to ignore... And in every on of these places there are people who live so differently than the rest. Either by circumstance or choice, they ended up on the fringe. Now that I write it, it sounds a lot like being a musician.

It’s not a secret the US as a whole has a big problem about how we care for each other, how we interact with each other, and how we try to understand people that live differently. Yes there are the really good people, and the really horrible ones, but as a whole I think we have a turn-a-blind-eye mentality that prevents us from solving the issue of kindness.

I want to be kind. I want to be understanding and helpful. I want to live in a world where good people look out for each other. I want to look at the man and see the person he is and not a reflection of my own fear. He’s got enough to deal with without me throwing anything on him.

So I waited for him to come out of the shadows. And he eventually came back from the alley with a small backpack over one shoulder. One hand still clutched tightly to his stomach, and I realized I hadn’t seen that hand. It’d been hidden under the end of his sweater the whole time.

“Just getting my things man... gotta move tonight. You know man? I bet you guys are always driving right? Always moving.” He threw his eyes to our van.

“Yeah, we do,” I said, “Just got in and have to drive tonight too.”

He sighed.

And the air was cold. The buildings looked so unwelcoming when they are closed up. I could hear the highway a few streets away in the distance as a few cars passed. It felt like we were the only two in the city. And he’s staring down the dark road, waiting for the courage to move, knowing he inevitably will. He had to.

May 2015

There’s nothing for him there. If ever there was a place that felt less inviting, less nurturing, less accepting, less helpful than this street, I don’t want to know it.

“Hey man,” I said as I opened the van again and grabbed an unopened bottle of water from under the bench. “Here ya go.”

And he nearly fell right there, his eyes fell, his arm that was clutched to his stomach fell low, and he reached the other hand out grabbing the bottle.

“Thank you man,” he said. Stuck the bottle in between his fallen arm and his body and used the other hand to open the cap.

A little water dripped onto his sweater as he grabbed the bottle with the same hand, and chugged. The bottle crumpled, as he emptied it in one go, but I was only looking at his arm. Motionless at his side.

I have heard some people make more money begging than I ever do playing a show. Maybe that’s true, but this man was thirsty. From his body to his soul, he was thirsty. And he was drinking like this was the first and last water he was ever going to get. He was drinking like he needed it.

“Lost it overseas,” he said catching me staring, catching his breath and I felt a little embarrassed. I could see him watching me.

“Iraq. I mean I still got it here, but it don’t... I mean I can’t...” He gave the limp arm a pat and lifted the sleeve. His fingers were cramped up together, stuck tightly pinky against thumb. The other three pushed in between.

I was at a loss for words, and went back into the van and gave him the last five bottles we had.

He smiled again as he tried to fit them in his bag, “Water, man,” he said capping up the empty bottle and throwing it in a near by street can. “Water’s always good.

Keeps ya going. Ya know. Always keep going. Always.”

www.hillcountryexplore.com

15

THE ART OF

16

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

BY KRISTINE DURAN

From the invention of sugar cubes to the soft contact lenses you use daily, native Czechoslovakian pioneers have made quite the impact worldwide for a country not much bigger than Rhode Island. Now longtime Fair Oaks resident and Czech-born chef, Denise Mazal of Little Gretel Restaurant has created her own stir in Boerne with the introduction of home-cooked Central European cuisine. The kind of cooking that cannot be taught and comes directly from the memories.

With a chef for a mother, Denise remembers being the little helper in the kitchen. “By just holding this, stirring that, and reading recipes because my mother didn’t have the best eyesight, everything came very naturally to me,” Denise says. Once she defected from Czech Republic to France, her mother advised her to never work in the restaurant business. But without any money, she knew that cooking was the only thing she would be able to do to support herself.

“I basically learned how to cook by taste and smells, not by recipes,” she says. “That’s where the creativity comes from; by knowing how things are supposed to taste. It’s working in memories, knowing what comes together. Rather than reading recipes, I write them. I cook from memories of taste and smells.”

She quickly found a job working at a restaurant in Paris, before moving on to Hilton Corporations in Munich, Germany. Denise’s natural talent was only amplified by the opportunities she had to create beside some of the most talented people in the food industry. Although she did not attend culinary school, she says she was taught by life and being exposed to different trades. “Trades meaning that there’s a difference between baking and being a chef. Baking is more scientific and math oriented because it’s all about precision. There are also sauciers and fish cooks,” she explains.

Her own brand of cooking heavily relies on the artistic concept of layering flavors. Like a painter blending paints to create the ideal color on canvas, Denise blends a series of tastes to achieve the perfect flavor.

“When you’re cooking, it’s all about combining the right herbs. It’s really then up to you to come with a dish that will have that highly-prices umami taste,” she begins. “It’s the deep layers of flavors. It’s not just taking water, adding some bases, and throwing in a potato and viola you have a soup. It’s maybe making those potatoes on the side with their own flavor, making the stock by first roasting the bones, roasting tomato paste, and all of these seasoned layers go into a pot or dish. I really do have those layers of flavors which you can taste in my sauces.”

In Denise’s eyes, even the most studious culinary student still has things to learn. “It’s more important to experiment and eat different cultures’ food. That is what is dying with the new generation. There are no taste buds. They are used to food that has been prepared somewhere prior to actual serving.” So Chef Denise makes it a rule in her restaurant that the young employees must always be tasting and smelling; utilizing their senses to get the full effect of the dish. But don’t get her wrong, continuous education is key in this art form, even for a pro like her.

“School might not teach you how to make complex, layered food, but you have to learn how to get to those layers. You have to learn how to use those tools to your advantage. Also, the history about food is phenomenal. It’s very important to know who your godfathers of cuisine are.” And Denise is consistently sharing the history of Czech cuisine when she can; a cuisine that has been as highly-sought as French cuisine over the years.

May 2015

While in Germany, Denise was invited to work as a chef and housekeeper for a Belgium ambassador in Colorado, where she met her husband and began a family. The chilly climate was too much for the outdoorsy couple, bringing them to sunny Fair Oaks in 1983.

In 2000, Denise finally built a restaurant for lease next to her needlework and gift shop in hopes that someone would do it how she had always envisioned. Doing it herself was out of the question, as it would be against her mother’s wishes. She says, “Customers would always ask about Central European cuisine in our town and nobody offered that. I knew I could do it, but I was just hoping somebody else would do it.”

But Denise’s mindset was sent off kilter when her mother called in 2005 to say she wanted to start a new life in America. After Denise asked what she would be doing here, the 90-year-old replied, “Bake kolaches and sell them in your store.” Denise was taken aback by the idea, but made the plans to get her mother to America. Unfortunately, two weeks prior to her leave, her mother passed away.

After they lost their last tenant in 2008, Denise’s daughter approached her about starting their own restaurant in the building. “It just kind of clicked right away. My mom saying that she wanted to start a new life baking kolaches gave me the green light to do what I wanted to do.” In 2009, the mother-daughter entrepreneurial team opened Little Gretel Restaurant in the heart of Boerne.

On owning her own restaurant, Denise says, “You know how that is, forbidden fruit tastes the best.” I bet! Since it’s opening, Little Gretel has earned awards and recognition from publications and organizations near and far. “We have our ups and downs, but it’s more ups than downs and that’s what’s important.”

One huge up: kolaches. She can bake as well as she cooks and her nationally recognized kolaches are proof of it! She has brought authentic, round Czech kolaches to the forefront of the kolache craze, making it onto the delicious Kolache Trail of Texas. “Our kolaches have made a little earthquake in the United States so far, and I hope it’s going to become a big one,” she says with a smile.

Even through all of the hype, she has managed to stay humble and continues to strive to do better. “Maybe yesterday it was excellent, but today it can be even better,” she says. “It’s not just about the recipe, but it’s also about the atmosphere. The sun, the humidity, the soul of a person affects their cooking. You really are putting your whole soul into daily routines, trying to make everything better than yesterday.”

Denise’s current goal is to bring Czech students to America to cook in her restaurant to expose them to cooking in other countries, bringing traditional Czech food to U.S. cities. Also, to find someone that she can pass all of her knowledge onto, to continue her legacy. “One day, I’m going to be old and I’m not going to have the strength to do these things. That person has to really learn to do the layers and the smells. It’s nothing you can just learn out of books, you have to be next to me and be exposed to Central European cuisine.”

For now, she will continue celebrate the Czech nation through food.

“If I can use my kolaches as wheels on a vehicle to teach people about this little country, I really would like to enhance people’s lives with the beautiful art of cooking.”

www.hillcountryexplore.com

17

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FACT: With good oral hygiene and regular professional care, your teeth are meant to last a lifetime! However, if left untreated, periodontal (gum) disease can lead to tooth loss. It is the primary cause of tooth loss in adults 35 and over.

Master in the Academy of General Dentistry

30 YEARS EXPERIENCE

806 N. Main St. • Boerne 830-249-7870 www.drchethawkins.com

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

HISTORY

By Marjorie Hagy

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

THIS IS THE THIRD OF A SERIES ON THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF BOERNE.

It started out with a time machine theme, but now I’ve dropped that because I keep forgetting it and it’s served its purpose anyway. In March we looked at the founding of Tusculum in 1849 and Boerne in 1852, and in April at two of our first citizens, Dr Ferdinand Herff and George Wilkins Kendall, and if you missed those and want to check them out you can do that at www. hillcountryexplore.com under the archive tab. It’s taking me a little while to unwind, but my goal is to tell you simply everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Boerne and a whole bunch of other stuff you never thought to ask. We’re at the beginning of the 1860s, when the Civil War is about to break like a long-gathering storm.

By the end of the 1850s, beginning of the ‘60s, Boerne was starting to fill out a little, but it was still a little bitty village in the wilderness, clustered mainly around the Cibolo Creek, from Rosewood Avenue on South Main Street down to River Road and West Theissen Street back to where the Frederick Creek meets the Cibolo. Ten years after it was founded, there were still only about ten houses in town but people were starting to carve farms out of the wilderness all around town and those people came to Boerne to trade. There was at least one store – Staffel’s – and William Dietert’s saw and grist mill, and that was doing a brisk business because the big source of income around here was making cypress shingles. The cypress trees were all over the place in the virgin forest and a wagonload of a thousand shingles brought five dollars in San Antonio, a three-day round trip from Boerne by ox- or horse-drawn wagon. Five bucks in 1860 would be a little over a hundred bucks today, with an acre of land going for $2 to $10 and town lots fetching $100 or so, and houses renting from $4 to $10 a month. Farmers were also growing cotton and tobacco, cattle, and of course sheep after George Kendall turned this part of the world sheep-crazy. A private school was established in 1857, although not much is known about the arrangement, but the first teacher was a man who went by the title of Professor Karl Dienger.

School was held in a log cabin schoolhouse that still stands in the Flats, at the corner of Irons and Lott Streets, rented out as a home, unmarked and unprotected by any historical designation.

Dr Ferdinand Herff, whom we met last month, was busy making a name for himself in medicine in San Antonio, and one of his specialties was treating tuberculins, and not entirely by choice- tuberculosis was far and away the number one killer in those days. Herff along with many of the most progressive physicians of the time, believed in the ‘open-air’ method of treatment. This cure involved plenty of good, clean air, good food and lots of rest, and mostly that good, pure air. ‘The more abundantly the former can be given,’ stated a doctor of the time, ‘the greater and faster will be the progress towards recovery.’ Good Dr Herff had happened to notice about his adopted second home in the hill country, that he had never seen so much as one case of consumption among the residents of Boerne. Theorizing that the absence of tuberculosis in this alpine village was due to the abundance of clean mountain air, Dr Herff began to recommend Boerne to his lung patients, and they began to trickle in to try the air cure here. And some of them stayed at the Kendall House inn on the south bank of the Cibolo Creek.

Aha, you may be thinking (if I know you, and I think I do), the Kendall House on the Cibolo, gotcha. I know exactly where you’re talking about. Only...you don’t. This Kendall House predates the place you’re thinking about, and started life as an adobe building on the east side of the military road ‘as it entered Boerne from San Antonio’.

This military road was, as we talked about last month, the Camino Viejo, spur of the Pinta Trail and artery to Fort Concho and Ben Ficklin and all points west, the future route of Texas Highway 9, then Highway 87 and Main Street. Fella by the name of John G O’Grady set up business there in 1859, supplying feed to the government teams hauling freight along the Camino Viejo, and built the adobe inn and boarding house to serve travelers and the handful of consumptives who were starting to trickle into town on the advice of Dr Herff. O’Grady was an Irishman who’d served in the US Army at Fort McKavett in Menard County, Texas, who’d come to the new town of Boerne with his wife and eight children when the fort closed in 1859. He fell in love with his new town and lived here the rest of his life, writing about Boerne and the county for the Texas Almanac; he was the second postmaster of Boerne (after August Staffel of Staffel’s store fame), signer of the petition to create Kendall County and that county’s first District Clerk when it was finally formed.

He was described as a red-headed, loud and jolly fellow, and his boarding house quickly grew to include several smaller cottages on the property. It was in one of those cottages, in 1860, that Robert E Lee reportedly stayed on his last tour of duty for the United States before he took command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the bloody Civil War. A sign still marks the cabin in which Lee slept, the last vestige of O’Grady’s first hotel in town. Interesting footnote: two of John and Katherine Cahill O’Grady’s eight children owned and operated the Argyle Club in Alamo Heights for fifty years and one of them, Robert O’Grady, became the first mayor of Alamo Heights in 1922.

So this is how things were in the brand- new village of Boerne built along the military road from San Antonio as the 1860s opened- folks farming and ranching, making shingles and reaping corn, tobacco, and a little cotton; a school (conducted in German) for the families so inclined and an inn for visitors; the stagecoach making irregular stops; horse and cattle trading in the village square. But clouds had been gathering in the rest of the troubled United States for years now, and the ominous, faraway rumbling of thunder that meant a big storm coming was about to rumble much closer as that storm broke all around those first citizens of Boerne.

A million books have been written about the American Civil War and it’s not my place to retell that story again here, but to just give you an idea of how things stood here in our neck of the woods. To start with, the German-Texans were overwhelmingly opposed to slavery. Now, remember, the people who came to settle Boerne weren’t the same folks who settled Sisterdale and our little neighbor commune of Tusculum, the idealistic, socialist Fortiers and the Freethinkers, but they were still immigrants from Germany who’d left their homeland, in part, in order to live their lives freely, according to their own lights and not in thrall to the leader of whatever duchy in which they happened to live. Those who left Germany for new lives in Texas tended to be more forward-thinking, more educated and more liberal-minded, and they also tended to be staunchly anti-slavery. Also, when they immigrated, it was the

May 2015

United States that took them in, and a lot of them felt that it was the United States to whom they owed their loyalty.

Of course, these German ex-pats weren’t the only people in Boerne, although they made up the vast majority- there were also people from other countries, like John and Katherine O’Grady from Ireland, Adeline (Mrs George) Kendall from France, and those who’d moved to Texas from other states - mostly slave states in the southern US. And some of those others did own slaves, right here in fledgling Boerne. There were also Tejanos, Texans of Mexican and Spanish descent, and while they also tended to oppose slavery, they also had a few issues with the United States, which now had title to a great big chunk of land that until pretty recently had belonged to Mexico, and they had that bone to pick. In the years leading up to the Civil War, it stands to reason that all of these folks in Boerne were keeping a weather eye on the increasingly tense and potentially explosive situation in the rest of the country as the storm clouds gathered and drew closer.

According to Judge August Siemerling, founder of the San Antonio Express News, ‘an uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty started creeping on all who opposed slavery, like the feeling preceding a thunderstorm of the worst kind.’ You see, they must have known, those German-Texans who’d come here with their high ideals and their dreams for a new life in a free land were about to be swept up on the wrong side of a fight. They must have sensed that they were in the middle of a very big state that was about to make a very bad decision.

In 1860, the State of Texas voted on the issue of secession. Now remember, in 1860 there was no Kendall County yet. A year earlier, Boerne and Sisterdale residents had petitioned the State legislature for a new county, but in the year of the secession vote we were still part of Bexar and Kerr counties. Kerr County, which was a mix of Germans, Tejanos and Anglos (the contemporary term for Texans from other US states), voted for secession by a very narrow margin (75-57). In Gillespie County, where the population was more than three-quarters German, they voted it down flat, by a vote of four hundred to seventeen. Texas went on ahead seceded, of course, but the officials of the new Confederate State of Texas kept a very close and suspicious eye on those Germans in the Hill Country who’d let on with that vote just which way their sympathies lay.

And so the storm broke, and in April 1861 war started in the land. A year later, at the urging of now General Robert E Lee- who’d stayed so famously at O’Grady’s Kendall House inn- the southern states ratified the Confederate Conscription Law, which required all men between the ages of 18 and 35 to volunteer for and serve in the Confederate States Army, and this law was wildly unpopular all over the South, and especially in the German-Texas Hill Country where most of them didn’t believe in the war anyway. These were people who had been subject to military inscription back in Germany and had left in part because of that, and going off to fight for a cause they believed to be evil also left their homes on the frontier open to attack from Native

Americans who took full advantage of their absence. There was loud protest in the Hill Country to the conscription laws, which were later broadened to include all men between seventeen and fifty, and that brought down more notice from the Confederates in charge.

In 1861 in Gillespie County, several of the town’s leading citizens got together secretly to organize what would be known as the Union Loyal League, an organization variously described as a militia organization formed in order to protect the people of the Hill Country from Indian raids and Confederate ‘actions’. Another writer said ‘the League’s real purpose was to thwart Confederate conscription and to attempt to maintain Union loyalty within the Hill Country German communities.’ These men wrote insurrectionist letters, established an underground communication system between themselves and the Union forces, and ‘intimidate[d] anyone who supported the Confederacy. They...earned the title of traitors and insurrectionists from secessionists.’ Which probably didn’t hurt their feelings any. This was a secret society, remember, and as much as the CSA officials must have suspected the existence of such an organization, they had no proof.

www.hillcountryexplore.com

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The CSA did respond, though, to the protest to the hated conscription laws, and responded with an iron fist. On May 30, 1862, General Philemon Herbert, commander of the Confederacy’s Military Department of Texas, issued an order putting the state of Texas under martial law.

Provost guards were appointed to force the reluctant into the army, and their powers increased rapidly and soon grew to include the confiscation of whatever private, personal property they deemed necessary to the welfare of the CSA. The situation was ripe for abuse and it was, in fact, wildly abused by unscrupulous men who exploited their positions to rob and violate their subjects. The so-called ‘Home Guard’ was hated all over the South, and they made life miserable for the Germans in Texas, and in Boerne. Wagons, oxen, mules, horses, foodstuff, crops and livestock, were all swept up and disappeared into the black markets and into the pockets of these corrupt officials. ‘The administration of the law,’ stated one report, ‘became ruthless.’

Somewhere in there, in 1862, the legislature granted the petition for the new county, and Kendall County, named for George Wilkins Kendall, was born.

And then certain letters were intercepted by the Confederates, connecting the Union League with actual members of the United States Army. It was the flap of the butterfly’s wing that set off the tornado, and hell rained down on the Hill Country, and over the young town of Boerne. General HP Bee, commander of the CSA forces in South Texas, declared Gillespie, Kerr, Kendall, Medina and Bexar Counties to be ‘in open rebellion’, and war was effectively declared on them.

Fredericksburg got the worst of it- it was occupied by Confederate troops under the command of a Captain James Duff, a ‘gruff, brooding Scotsman’ who had been dishonorably discharged from the United States Army but was somehow deemed fit for service in the CSA. He was a vicious, merciless man, called the most brutal Confederate commander in the Hill Country, and would soon and forever after be known as ‘the Butcher of Fredericksburg’. Soon after declaring himself provost in the occupied Fredericksburg, Duff wrote in a letter: ‘The goddamn Dutchmen are Unionists to a man...I will hang all I suspect of being anti-Confederate.’ This in a county which had voted against secession four hundred to seventeen. They were almost all anti-Confederate. It was a time of terror in Fredericksburg and all over the Hill Country, as midnight raids ensued, young men were snatched from their beds and made to watch as their parents were hanged and their homes burned for their crime of refusing to fight for a cause in which they did not believe. It came to be known as the time of the Hangebund- the Hanging Band. In Fredericksburg people would flee their homes at dusk to hide in the mountains and forests to escape the Hangebundtwo thousand people disappeared into the nearby hills to avoid the bands of murderers known as the Home Guard. Some of the German-Texans left the state

permanently; the Latin colony at Sisterdale emptied out, many of the Freethinkers left Comfort, and the last of the Fortiers disappeared from Texas forever.

And in August of 1862, sixty-eight men from Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr and Mason Counties, set out to join up with the United States forces keeping the blockade at the mouth of the Rio Grande. They were sixty-three Germans, one Tejano and four Anglos, and on the night of August 9, 1862 they were camped on the West Fork of the Nueces River in Kinney County, Texas when they were ambushed and

massacred by the Confederate forces under the command of Lieut. CD McRae, who himself was under the command of the hated Duff, the Butcher of Fredericksburg. Duff gave the orders to track down the ‘deserters’, and told McRae, ‘he didn’t want to hear any word about any survivors of any conflict that might ensue.’

Thirty-six of the Unionists were killed in all, either in the initial assault or later, in October as they were still trying to get to the US forces in Mexico, or individually as they were tracked down. Some of the dead even included the wounded prisoners of that first assault: one of the Confederate soldiers who’d been chasing the escapees returned to the campsite at Nueces Creek and gasped at the scene: ‘It can’t be possible that they have murdered the prisoners in cold blood!’ And was answered: ‘Oh yes, they’re all dead, sure enough, and a good job, too.’

When news of the massacre got back to the Hill Country, there was fresh hell, there was rioting, there were ambushes and there was more hanging, and that time became known as the Bushwhacker War, the war between the Confederate home guard and the United States loyalists. The Bushwhacker War created animosity between all these people, all Texans, many neighbors in the same small towns, and the bad blood has continued between some families through all these years, a century and a half later. When I was a child there was an old, old lady in my church who couldn’t stand a certain family from Comfort, and all of Comfort by extension, and who voted against sending aid to that town’s people after the floods of 1978. I asked my dad why and he said something about the Civil War and I just thought he was making a joke about her (advanced) age until I found out about this history, all these years later. She was probably in her 90s, but even her parents couldn’t have been alive, or much more than babies, during the Civil War, but she had been raised on that history.

In a Dallas Morning News article from 2011, a Comfort historian recounted how a Center Point barber refused to cut a customer’s hair when he found out he hailed from Comfort, calling him a ‘damn Comfort Unionist.’ There’s a tombstone near Fredericksburg with the inscription ‘Beaten to death with bullwhips by Capt. Duff’s men’. There are wheels within wheels, and stories we’ll never know anything about, and very strange, dark things that drive us, sometimes. Some things happened that happened a long time ago cast their shadows in front of them many years, and sometimes we walk through those shadows and still feel the chill for a moment.

The bodies of those slain United States loyalists weren’t buried, their kinfolk were barred from access to them until after the bloody war was over, and on the third anniversary of the massacre Henry Schwethelm, second-in-command of the doomed party, led a group back to that riverside to gather the bones of those heroes. Animals and the elements had been at work on the remains but Schwethelm and his men gathered what little was left and took them back to Comfort, where the relics of those men were buried on a little hill on the middle of town. The next anniversary they dedicated a monument atop the remains - the Truer der Union statue, one of only two Union monuments in Texas besides national cemeteries.

It was a terrible time for the people of the Hill Country, these people who had risked everything to immigrate to a whole new world for the freedom promised there, as it was a terrible time all over the battered United States. The things that the German-Texans had so painstakingly built out of nothing - their homes and barns and crops, their towns and lives and relationships among neighbors and friends- so much had been laid to waste in those bloody, terrible four years. Some folks were gone forever, lost to war and the brutal occupation, so many dreams were finally lost, so many ideals passed away in the harsh glare of real life in those worst hard times. But those remained do what people will always do, each time a terrible storm sweeps over and destroys everything in its path - they set to work, started over, and rebuilt the things that were lost as best they could. thefam2001@yahoo.com

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR

SUMMER

May is the last full month before your little angels try to forget everything they’ve learned over the past 9 months.

They’re going to be home for the next 3 months complaining about how bored they are. Or that it’s too hot. Or that there’s nothing to do. Blah blah blah. Instead of shipping them off to military school until they’re of voting age, take the cheaper route. The City of Boerne offers some great programs over the summer to keep those darling young ones out of trouble 60% of the time. What happens to them the other 40%? Well, that’s for the courts to decide.

WEEK 5 • JULY 13-17 NEW SIMPLY SUMMER ART CAMP 8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

NEW BIENVENIDOS! SPANISH CAMP FOR KIDS 9:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 6-10

LEGO CRAZY ACTION CONTRAPTIONS NOON -2:00 PM • AGES: 8-12

WEEK 1 • JUNE 8-12 SUMMER TENNIS CAMP JUNE 8-18, 9:00-11:00 AM • AGES: 6-16

NEW SUMMER JUNIOR GOLF PROGRAM JUNE 8-JULY 27, 11:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 8-17

WEEK 6 • JULY 20-24 NEW CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION CAMP 8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

NEW MY ART STARS: PAINT WITH THE MASTERS 9:30 AM-12:30 PM • AGES: 6-12

WEEK 2 • JUNE 15-19 NEW REALLY BIG ART CAMP

WEEK 7 • JULY 27-31

8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

NEW REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLED ART CAMP

NEW ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SURVIVAL CAMP

8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

8:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 8-13

NEW SNAP CIRCUITS: INTRO TO ELECTRONICS

BASICS OF SKATEBOARDING LESSONS

9:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 5-10

9:00 -10:00 AM • AGES: 5-12

NEW BRINGING BOOKS TO LIFE

NEW SPACE EXPLORATION CAMP

NOON -2:00 PM • AGES: 6-10

10:00 AM-NOON • AGES: 6-13

WACKY SCIENCE CAMP 12:30-2:30 PM • AGES: 5-13

WEEK 3 • JUNE 22-28 NEW CONTEMPORARY ART CAMP

WEEK 8 • AUGUST 3-7 NEW ALL AROUND THE WORLD, ETHNIC ART CAMP 8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

NEW FAIRY TALE ENGINEER 9:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 6-10

8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

NEW STEM THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

NEW STAYING ABOVE WATER

NOON -2:00 PM • AGES: 8-12

8:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 8-12

SUMMER TENNIS CAMP

WEEK 9 • AUGUST 10-14

JUNE 22-JULY 2, 9:00 -11:00 AM • AGES: 6-16

NEW WOW WORDS!

BASICS OF SKATEBOARDING LESSONS

9:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 8-12

9:00-10:00 AM • AGES: 5-12

NEW ZOOM WITH ZOOB

ME AND MY DOG

NOON -2:00 PM • AGES: 5-10

9:30-10:30 AM • AGES: 8-18

WEEK 4 • JULY 6-10 NEW CLASSICAL ART CAMP 8:00 AM-3:00 PM • AGES: 7-12

NEW PARK-A-DAY 8:30-11:30 AM • AGES: 6-12

NEW AROUND THE WORLD IN 5 DAYS 9:30 AM -NOON • AGES: 5-13

NEW THE INCREDIBLE HUMAN BODY 12:30-2:30 PM • AGES: 6-13

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

$3,850,000 | 35 Old San Antonio Rd | Boerne | 78006 14+ acre Retreat in Boerne. 8,000 + living sq. feet. 2 main houses (one is a 1890 renovated stone paradise), 2 guest cottages, pool, out door entertaining, century-old oaks, and a workshop with RV storage. Commercial Potential. Do not miss out on this masterpiece.

MLS #1101206

$450,000 | 106 Northview

4 bedroom, 2.5 baths, approx. 3095 s.f. of living area on 3.65 acres new on the market! Great Views!

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C 210.912.8221 | P 830.816.2288 F 830.816.5903 angela@smvtexas.com www.boernetexashomes.com

Bluebonnet Realty

CULTURE

By Kristine Duran

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

typical work week for the average person consists of the nine to five daily grind, where the workload is often met with little reward and passions are left on the backburner. That book still hasn’t been published, that mountain still hasn’t been climbed, and that handmade picnic table is still just a blueprint in your mind. Such a lifestyle is foreign to visual and musical artist, Chris Taylor.

Chris’ day begins by waking up with his wife and kids at 7am and helping them all get ready for work and school. Once everyone is off, he is left in his bohemian humble abode to create. That is his job. He works on his next album or painting, all the while preparing for his next local gig or art show. This peaceful life Chris has built for himself is one that can be traced back to an old movie theater in upstate New York.

His older sister managed the 1940’s movie theater when he was a kid. “It had a grand stage and a plush backdrop and lights, so you could have a little bit of a production in there,” Chris remembers. “My sister would take me to the theater super early, before anyone was there. I would be able to go up on stage and I would envision myself singing and playing even though I couldn’t sing and couldn’t play.

With me, it started as a visual thing. Even at a real young age, I knew that’s what I wanted to do; be on a stage, doing something.”

Around 1985, Chris moved to Texas and met a likeminded friend with whom he began experimenting with sounds. “He had a 4-track recorder; I had never seen anything like it. It was this little machine that you put your cassette tape in and you can record four different tracks at four different times and you could build a little song. I thought, ‘this is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!’” Still, Chris couldn’t play any instruments, but what he did have were multiple journals littered with lyrics and poetry. The two began using this technology to construct songs, with Chris singing over the music played by his friend. “They were horrible songs,” he says, laughing. “But they’re very endearing to me because they were my humble beginnings, but when I look back on it I’m like, what was I thinking?” But it was those evenings at his friend’s house, making noise that solidified his passion. “That’s when I knew this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I’m going to take silence and turn it into something – sound or vision or whatever. And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”

There are droves of kids that dream of becoming a musician, but usually that phase passes and they move on to more practical career fields. Whether it’s through societal pressures, personal preference, or the inability to pay the bills off of an artist’s salary, it just happens. Except in Chris’ case. In the last two decades, he has recorded more music than most major label bands have in their complete discography, even working with Dave Stewart of the Eurhythmics. So how does he still find material day in and day out?

“My sound is always changing because I get so bored of myself. My main instruments are guitar and harmonica and I sing, but that’s not all I hear in my head. I hear orchestras and wild rock bands. I have a cast of characters that keeps rotating in my head. It can be a blessing or a curse.” His ever-changing sound is his tactic of keeping himself interested enough in his craft to do this forever because, as he stresses, others may never listen to it. “Every time I start a project, I say, ‘What am I going to do now and why am I going to do it?’ And it’s not for money or fame. I’m 45 and I have not had any of that! Then it boils down to you doing it because you’re passionate about it. It’s always a good thing to challenge yourself. If you can mix your passion with a challenge, then you’ve got something going.”

May 2015

Chris’ last album entitled Daylight was released last year followed by a tour around the U.S. playing coffee houses and house shows; his favorite kind. “There’s something really special about doing house concerts and these real intimate shows. Instead of just a bunch of people talking amongst themselves and drinking beer, to be in front of 40 or 50 people and you can hear a pin drop.” Most of these sets end with more sales and new friends than he would’ve had at a larger venue.

Although Chris has been a solo singer-songwriter since 1997, he finds a greater sense of comfort in playing and performing with a band. But not just any band. “Lots of bands will just get any guys that can play and play with them, and it’s just kind of like a noise.

The older I get, the more I really want to make a specific kind of noise.” Chris is now focusing on creating music that doesn’t sound like anything else and needs the right guys by his side to do it. “Even more than that, sometimes the gigs are like four hours long and when you’re by yourself, four hours seems like eight hours,” Chris laughs.

It was that boredom and awkwardness Chris felt on stage as a solo performer that led to the introduction of his artwork at his live shows. He would take one of his large paintings on canvas and duct tape it to the mic stand, to give the audience something more aesthetically pleasing than watching a guy with a guitar on a stool. “People started asking me, ‘Are these your paintings?’ and ‘Are they for sale?’ I just made up a price in my mind and people started paying it.” Years later, Chris has upped that price as the demand for his contemporary paintings has grown. It was a happy accident that surprised him more than anything. He didn’t even know what an art show was until recently, when he was asked to participate in one.

“It’s super cool to stand back and watch somebody watch your art and really soak it in. You can tell their wheels are turning and you’re just praying they don’t ask you any questions about it,” Chris jokes. For him, visual art is a complete stream of consciousness. “I paint pictures but they all have this innocence of a little kid. I like the idea of keeping that innocence. There are so many great artists that paint so technically. They’ll paint a picture of you and it’ll look just exactly like you. I’m not that guy. I’m the guy that sort of captures your essence, but it’ll look like the person you would be if you were in a cartoon world. That’s the kind of guy I am.” Chris’ home walls are strewn with these jovial, cartoonish paintings. It’s hard not to find one that intrigues you. He is currently working on commissioned pieces like album artwork and pet portraits, among other interesting requests.

His creativity keeps him busy, but not too busy to be involved with his family. “It is a little bit of a challenge, but anything is a challenge. It’s a challenge to be away from the house from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., where you don’t even see each other. I don’t know how people make that work!” Chris looks at standard “living” as strangely as many looks at his “alternative” lifestyle, except with a greater respect. “The money is not always there, but there’s something really rewarding about waking up and saying, ‘I get to do t-shirt designs today’ or ‘I get to finish my album today’. That is the ultimate reward, because you live a short time on this earth and you don’t want to look back and say, ‘I worked my whole life doing something I hated to provide.’ It’s a really awesome thing if people can do that, but the sad thing is that they spent their whole time brushing off everything they’re really passionate about just to get them through the day.”

Between recording an instrumental album, touring, and painting, his main focus is to stay as busy as possible. “The older I get, the illusions I had when I was younger – fame and fortune – they all fade away. For artists, it’s always a struggle because we don’t have health insurance or a guaranteed paycheck coming in. We can let all of the pressures and the stresses of life get to us, because we need X amount of dollars by this day. The only way I know how to make money is to make art.” Inspired his lifestyle, Chris created a series of paintings called Fight Fear Make Art. Every painting in the series sold.

And it doesn’t look like he’ll be running out of steam any time soon. When asked where he sees himself 15 years down the line, he replied, “Doing the same exact thing, with a long white beard and hopefully I’ll be dressing better. I just want to stay very busy and inspire people along the way to do what they’re passionate about.” christaylorworld.com • christaylor.bandcamp.com • twitter.com/realchristaylor

www.hillcountryexplore.com

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1

Scented Jewelry Classy enough for a fancy dinner at Chili’s. Casual enough to blend right in at Dairy Queen. Moms all over the world love jewelry. What they dream about is jewelry they can where anywhere, for any occasion. And the fact that it’s scented is a subtle yet constant reminder to mom that those real pancakes aren’t going to make themselves.

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Personalized Bobblehead

Vacuum Cleaner

This present is great for Mom on so many levels. On the one hand you’re giving her a constant reminder of how beautiful you thinks she looks molded out of low quality plastic from a blurry photo you took as she stumbled in the house from a girl’s night out. On the other hand we can all use a little positive affirmation. And when she’s late for work blowing down I-10 at 90mph because she asked you change the clocks in the house and you got distracted by the HALO 5 trailer, all she’ll have to do it look at her dash and her Mini Me will be nodding right back at her.

Because YES that was a State Trooper back there.

This is a no brainer. What mother doesn’t love to vacuum? When in doubt for what to get mom your default options should be 1. Vacuum 2. Chocolate 3. Dustbuster.

In that order. End of discussion.

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Dustpan & Broom Slippers

Lip Plumper

Cleavage Pillow

How many times have you seen mom have to bend WAAAY over to the floor to sweep up some dust? Or slave away on her hands and knees as she tries to clean up the cereal you so lovingly dumped on the floor. Now there’s a way to save her from the arduous, back breaking labor of cleaning up your crap. With broom and dustpan slippers your mom can simply walk up to the mess and with a few flourishes of her feet, the floor is spick and span clean.

This will also help her practice her balance as she gets older. Because, let’s face it, if mom falls and breaks a hip, who’s going to clean up you? Dad? HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

For some reason this is a thing now. Ladies, and by extension we have to assume moms, want big giant lips. We think they’re modeling this trend off Angelina Jolie, and hey, she’s a mom. Mom could get surgery, but… expensive. And she’ll look like she was stung by an entire subcontinent of bees or she misplaced her epipen after eating a PB&J. OR, she could go the completely natural route and suck those lips into poofy beautiful oblivion. Whether she’s in church or a crowded lobby waiting to meet with a client, any time is a good time to make her kisser visible from outer space.

Let’s face it. Our meek human bodies are never going to triumph over the mighty Goliath that is gravity without a little help. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of options out there to combat this force of aging evil. You could hop aboard a rocket and live out your days at the International Space Station. Pretty expensive. Or there’s the ever popular cosmetic surgery. Definitely less expensive, but certainly not chump change. Ladies and especially mothers are confronted with this question every day of their lives.

And let’s face it, sleep gives no solace as parts just don’t lay the way they used to. This handy little contraption is an affordable stop gap option until you can save up enough to blast mommy dearest into low Earth orbit. When your mom opens this gift she’ll be speechless. But don’t worry.

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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SPIRITUAL

By Kendall D. Aaron

I’ve been going through a lot lately in my own personal life, none of which is really good. Over lunch, a friend and I spoke at length about my troubles, and while there is no conclusion to my troubles on the horizon, we both tried to be as positive as possible, even if I only halfheartedly believed it. I finished my lemonade and told my friend that I had to get back to the office so that I could work on my article, and she looked at me with sad eyes and said, “You’re probably not feeling very spiritual today, are you?”

As I got up, I dropped my napkin, said “Nope” and walked off.

I was just being honest. I’m NOT feeling spiritual. I’m not feeling happy, energized, or even loved. I just feel beat to pieces. I have no great inspiration for this article, no great prayer I feel like praying, and no intense desire to give God praise. I’m tired, and sad, and wore out, and smashed. Today, I’m just human.

How preachers can get up every single week and speak the Gospel is beyond me, because my human nature makes me sometimes not want a whole lot to do with the Gospel. Sometimes I feel so cheated, so deceived, so exhausted…that the last thing I want to do is to get up and sing my praises.

Because really, do we ALWAYS feel like singing praises? You’re lying if you said “yes”.

But here I sit, grumbling my way through something that I should be exemplifying the most Christ-like attitude I can muster, but I just can’t seem to do it. It makes me nervous to do this, as I hope that it doesn’t destroy your confidence in my writings, but instead, I do hope that it adds a bit of authenticity to them. Yes, I’m just like you and can throw a pity-party just as good as anyone. And boy, am I having a pity-party right now.

And so I just groan and type. Romans 8:26-28 says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought

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to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.”

The Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans…obviously I’m not the first person to ever just smack my head on my desk and groan out to God. This verse is perfectly fitting for those of you out there, like me, that might just not be feeling it today. Not only does He decipher your wordless groans, but then He searches your heart for what you need. You don’t even have to pray it. You can just grunt it. This verse makes me smile because it is written by a God that really, really LOVES us. He pats you on the head when all you can do is whine, searches your heart for what you’re TRYING to say, and nods approvingly. And then, He continues his works for the good of those who love Him. So am I feeling spiritual right now? Nope. But do I have confidence that God understands, is hearing my groans, and patting me lovingly on the head? Yup. I think that oftentimes we allow ourselves to move AWAY from God due to nothing more than our own attitude. You’re mad, sad, broken, frustrated, and straight-up just pissed off. God can’t be near to all of that, can He? Actually, yes, He’s still right there beside you. In fact, you can’t run far enough around the world to get away from Him. Let Him hold you.

Cry out that what ails you is something you cannot handle and that you would rather He handle it for you. Whatever you need to do, open you heart to Him and allow Him to do “His thing”.

As for me, I’m going to conclude this article by simply placing my head on my desk and just groaning.

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

LIFE

Four runners take their position at the starting line of an 800 meter race. That’s two laps around a regulation track in what has now become a sprint even among amateur athletes. It is one of the most grueling running events in the world of track & field.

All four athletes possess essentially the exact same aptitude and ability. When it comes to physical fitness, mental acuity, natural talent and athletic skill, they are virtually identical. All four have enjoyed top of the line coaching with cutting edge training on the latest and greatest equipment in state of the art facilities. Whatever uniqueness separates them as individuals has absolutely no bearing on their athletic equality. When it comes to sheer athletic prowess, these four athletes are quadruplets.

However, one runner crosses the finish line far ahead of the others in impressive time. The second place runner finishes well, but not anywhere close to the winner. The third place finisher completes the race long after the previous two runners, arms and legs flailing, lungs burning, barely crossing the finish line before collapsing in a heap of hurt on the track; his breakfast splashed all over his running shoes. The remaining athlete finishes a lethargic last, not even close to the three runners in front of him. He wasn’t walking, but he would have were it not for the fact that the entire ordeal would have just taken longer to complete.

If all four runners are virtually identical in athletic ability, what separates them so dramatically from each other at the finish line?

All things being equal, the answer is attitude. Each of the four athletes had a very different level of interest in their quest to run the 800 meter race.

The first place athlete is intensely interested in all things running. From nutrition to acceleration, from kinesiology to physiology, he is passionate about learning every little nuance of what it takes to be a world-class runner. He is eager about putting in the extra time to push himself further past where it is comfortable. He embraces the pain that precedes the rewards he enjoys with the sacrifices he makes.

The second place finisher is just as interested in running as his faster teammate. However, nobody is teasing him about wanting to be the next Olympic 800m gold medalist. He is diligent during practices, pays attention to what his coach is telling him, and watches other runners to see what he can learn from them. However, he’s not going to put any extra time and effort into his race. He enjoys being on the team and the exhilaration of competition, but track is not his primary interest. He’s more interested being one of the athletes permitted on the infield than he is taking his place on the podium.

works. A proverb is not a guarantee or a promise. It is an idiom, of sorts, declaring the way life works “nine times out of ten” or “more often than not.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“Early bird gets the worm.”

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

A proverb is about learning lessons from what the patterns of life teach us.

Proverbs are coined by people who have found that life works a certain way most of the time, deduced a lesson from the pattern, and then turned a phrase in such a way that others could benefit from the advice.

Wise people heed the lessons of a proverb. Foolish people? Well, there’s a reason why they’re always running around trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. They don’t pay attention to the way life works. They don’t listen well, or worse, they ignore really good advice. In turn, they make a lot of lousy choices. Their lives usually reflect the complications and consequences that come with dismissing the really wise advice offered by popular proverbs.

As a Life Coach, I have had a front row seat on the enormous wisdom packed into the proverb “You get out of it what you put into it.” I have seen first hand evidence that people generally get out of life what they put into it.

This is very true when it comes to many of life’s important pursuits and responsibilities.

To help clients evaluate important arenas of life where they want to see progress, I have identified four levels of interest that make or break what we experience in the various pursuits of our lives. These four attitudes are true about everything, whether we are talking about our relationships or our money, our health or our careers.

Just How Interested Are You?

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By Paul Wilson

The third place finisher likes all this talk about running faster. However, if the truth were told, he’s just not all that interested in what it takes to do it. It looks like a lot of really hard work. He dabbles in the race. He reads about sprinters, talks to other runners, listens to what the coaches have to say, and shows up for practice each day.

However, he’s in it more for the camaraderie than the conditioning. While he can tell you a little about the latest strategies and fastest records, the threat of personal discomfort in the form of sweat and soreness quickly douses any enthusiasm he has for getting better at running the 800 meter.

Every bit equal to the other three athletes when it comes to ability, the fourth place finisher just doesn’t care much about anything that has to do with all this running in circles faster than anybody else. As his coaches have observed and he affirms, “He could care less.” He’s not interested in the learning, the work, or the competition.

He’s certainly not interested in the pain. While all the other athletes are doing the hard work, he’s working hard to avoid it. He’d much rather be somewhere else doing anything else than running, sweating, and hurting.

INTEREST IS WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE The difference between the four athletes is their level of interest.

It’s a classic case of the age-old adage: “You get out of it what you put into it.” With greater degrees of interest come greater amounts of return and reward. It’s true in sports. It’s true in education. It’s true in career. It’s certainly true in life!

The phrase “You get out of it what you put into it” is a proverb; an observation about the way life generally

LEVEL OF INTEREST #1: APATHETIC Apathy is one level of interest. Not a very good one, of course, but it is how some people go about critical arenas of their life. Some people are apathetic about their health. Some people are apathetic about their finances.

Others are apathetic about their career. And still some people, well, they are just apathetic about everything.

An apathetic attitude is characterized as lazy, half-hearted, or lackadaisical. This is the person who lives with an “I don’t care” spirit. Not that somebody has to care about everything, but when we take that spirit with important responsibilities in life, we generally “get out of it what we put into it.”

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

LEVEL OF INTEREST #2: ATTENTIVE An attentive level of interest pays attention to more details related to responsibilities in a particular area. In other words, they start to listen more closely, learn more about a subject than they knew beforehand, or recognize some of the rules that affect the way things work.

To be attentive is to be interested, to pay attention, to learn, to listen, to begin being aware of something in a way or to a degree that you were not previously. A person who takes a new interest in a diet begins paying closer attention to what they eat, how much they eat or how the food they consume helps or hurts their efforts to lose weight. In other words, they become attentive to what they’re eating and drinking.

LEVEL OF INTEREST #3: ACTIVE To take an active interest in something is to become more engaged in the subject. Words like involved, proac-

tive, and responsible describe the active level of interest.

People exhibiting an active interest in their finances start practicing skills and honoring rules that are fundamental to wise money management. They start moving their money into better investment vehicles, working with a monthly budget, and take a whole different attitude about their use of a credit card.

whatever topic we are discussing: physical fitness, financial management, child rearing, business development, or personal relationships.

Let me suggest a simple exercise. Take out a sheet of paper and write down a list of the important arenas (roles, responsibilities, ambitions) of your life. I generally use five key areas: Personal (internal well-being and spiritual vitality), Physical Financial Relational Vocational Your list may include more subjects. You can also divide one of the suggested topics into greater specificity. For instance, you might divide Relational into spouse, children, friends, and key work associates. It’s your list. Make it as personal as you’d like. (May I suggest, “You’ll get out of this exercise what you put into it.”)

Once you have created your list, assign each item a number based on the level of interest you are currently giving it in your life.

game, we have to focus on those areas of our lives where we want to see greater progress, growth, or change.

“You get out of it what you put into it.”

LEVEL OF INTEREST #4: AVID

1 Point: Apathetic (“I don’t care.”)

2 Points: Attentive (“I’m trying to do better!”)

3 Points: Active (“I’m learning and doing the best I can right now.”

4 Points: Avid (“I’m giving this my priority.”)

When it comes to an avid interest in something, words like intense, dedicated, proficient, or focused come to mind. People with an avid interest in a particular subject are often pretty intense; passionate. These are people who really know their stuff; they possess a wealth of information and experience.

Avid is not about crazy, obsessed, or over the top. Avid is about committed, disciplined, intelligent, and skilled.

“Avid” is just the word apathetic people use for committed people who possess the passion and discipline their critic’s lack. Put another way, “Obsessed” is the word lazy people use to describe the dedicated.

The level of success we enjoy in any pursuit or responsibility is governed by the wisdom of the “you get out of it what you put into it” proverb. This is true regardless of

You don’t need to be avid about everything in your life.

I encourage my clients to shoot for taking an active interest in the most critical arenas of their world such as relationships and finances. However, if there is a particularly crucial arena of your life that continues to frustrate your expectations or ambitions, it is probably going to require an avid level of interest until it looks and feels more like you want.

This is what we often call “our focus” or “one of our top priorities right now”. When our relationship with one of our teenage children has become unusually difficult or dramatic, we need to make it one of our primary areas of interest. We need to become extremely diligent – avid - about learning and doing whatever we can to improve the relationship. It takes precedence over our golf game,

May 2015

or in some cases, even our work if we understand the enormous significance it holds compared to every other pursuit of life.

I just don’t understand the man with the scratch golf game who gripes and complains about the disappointment of his marriage. Or the woman who knows all the latest trends in clothes and accessories but can’t get along in a healthy fashion with her teenage daughter.

Both are a bad case of an avid interest in the wrong things when more important priorities deserve greater attention and effort.

You’re going to have to amp up your level of interest in that arena where you want see improvement. That may require some reading, some learning, some mentoring, some skill development, and some reordering of priorities. It will definitely require more time and energy.

Nothing gets done in our lives without the appropriate distribution of time and energy toward it.

Like a professional golfer concentrates on his putting after he recognizes it has become a weakness in his

Whatever level of interest you take in the crucial pursuits of life will generally return a corresponding reward.

Like planting a garden, you get out of it what you put into it. If you give your marriage the active attention and intimacy it deserves, you will enjoy a dynamic relationship with your spouse. If you disregard the important disciplines of sound financial management, you will suffer the consequences of insufficient resources for your needs.

In one way or another, we all line up at a starting line for a race against the crucial roles and responsibilities of our life. Whether it’s raising children, nurturing a marriage, managing our money, or pursuing our career, the level of interest we give to these priorities will determine the kind of race we run.

Just remember, “You get out of it what you put into it.”

Runners, on your mark.

Get set.

Go!

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Ambleside School of Boerne 210 Turner Ave. • Boerne, Texas 78006 • www.AmblesideBoerne.com • (830) 388-8865

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May 2015

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Old

Timer

G N I K A M E R WE’ S E I R MEMO

! !

T I M M A D Old Timer, back again ranting and raving about all that is wrong with the world we live in today. I have had several people tell me “Boy, it must be tough coming up with things to bitch about every month” and I simply respond with “You would be wrong. Very wrong.”

In fact, it’s easy. All I have to do is walk out my front door and, sure enough, I can find something that leaves me scratching my head at the stupidity of it all. Lately I’ve been reminded that we are nearing summer for school-aged kids, and with this new season, a new vortex of DUMB is happening in our town.

CITY SUMMER CAMPS First of all, the City is offering approximately 11,000 camps, leagues, and classes for youngsters to engage during their summer. Hmmm. As an 11-year-old boy, if you had asked me to enroll in a Cooking Class or an Art class during my precious summer months, I would have packed my things and ran away to join the circus. Kids are bombarded with “learning opportunities” throughout their days and lives. They can’t turn around without the stupid TV trying to teach them a lesson, or the magazines strewn across the table screaming about what they SHOULD be focusing on, and I just find that sad. Here’s a wild idea: You should wake your kids up early, feed them, clothe them, kick them out the front door, lock the door behind them, and tell them that you’ll see them at sundown. They’d learn more in those 16 hours of unsupervised mayhem than they ever would sitting in some city-sponsored Lego class. Pffft.

SUMMER JOBS Speaking of summer activities, kids need summer jobs.

When I was 8, I used to mow lawns in my neighborhood for $7/ea. I would walk up with my mower and weed eater in tow, and sure enough, the sweet little old lady would say that $7 was more than reasonable, and tip me out to $10 even. I could make a few hundred bucks in a summer, which would certainly be saved for whatever I fancied lately. It taught me about work, money, savings, and marketing.

It taught me about sales, customer service, and doing a job right. I was 8 years old. Your precious little snowflake is skateboarding his days away at the skate park while you sit in your car surfing Facebook. Tsk. Tsk.

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CAMP (THE REAL KIND) Kick ‘em out to summer camp, and not one of those weenie “long-weekend camps.” I’m talking about a good 3-week or longer camp (assuming they are approximately 12 or older). Show them what life is like without mom and dad wiping their noses for them. Let them get into a fist fight. They’ll learn how to tie knots, and kayak, and stay up late telling ghost stories. They’ll also miss you, dear Mom and Dad. A young kid that rediscovers that his/her parents are actually cool people that they miss is probably more important than all of it, and they’re not going to learn that with you chasing them down the road putting sunblock on them.

GRANDPARENTS For all that’s holy, make your kids visit their grandparents.

This benefits both of you. If you would like to ensure that your names are not simply penciled into my will, I’d make it a priority to come spend a weekend at dear old grandpa’s house. Yes, I’ll repeat stories you’ve heard 100 times, but I may not be around forever (contrary to rumors) and I’d like to see you (my kid) and my grandkids (your kids). Do it. Or I’ll leave it all to my cat.

FAMILY VACATIONS Family vacations. I approve of family vacations, but I don’t like the way that they have changed over the years. Nowadays you all roll up, and the teens can run off and do something, the other kids have activities for them, and Mom and Dad are left by the swim up bar sucking down Tequila Sunrises. Sounds nice? Perhaps.

But not with Old Timer. I’m going to pack all 7 of us into my car, and we’re going to drive to the Grand Canyon or some such place. We’re going to fight along the way, and I’m going to smack at least every kid 3 times by the time we get there. Then, we’re going to ride donkeys to the bottom of the canyon….together. We’ll re-load the car, fight all the way home, and jump out of the car as if it was on fire when we get home. But you know what? When those kids are in their 40s, they’ll laugh and laugh about that trip and will probably put their own kids through it. Why? Because it’s “memories”, and we are all in short supply of the ones that matter.

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