AUGUST 2015
Welcome to Boerne
Scan Code With Your Smart Phone
Bluebonnet Realty HOMES FOR SALE
1.) FOR SALE - $3,850,000 - Gated compound near downtown on 14+ acres including 2 main houses, 2 guest cottages, pool and outdoor entertainment, and room to develope plus 1500 s.f. metal building with RV storage!
2.) FOR SALE - $267,000 - 2 bed, 2 bath charmer in Ranger Creek. Beautiful yard, covered porch, bonus room, garden area, water catchment system, and much much more!
3.) FOR SALE - $421,000 - FAIR OAKS RANCH, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath approx 2612 s.f. in beautiful Cibolo Trails of Fair Oaks Ranch.
PROPERTIES FOR LEASE
4.) FOR LEASE - $1575 - 3 bedroom, 2 bath sweet back yard and patio on tree covered lot
5.) FOR LEASE - $1595 - 4 bed, 2 ba in Boerne Heights. Available now.
6.) FOR LEASE - $3400 - Fair Oaks park like setting, one story 3/4 ac lot, 3648 s.f. of living area including 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths
7.) FOR LEASE - $1250 - 3 bed, 2 bath mobile with large storage and fenced back yard on 1.3 ac
8.) FOR LEASE - $2700 - 5 bedroom! 2 master areas, 3 bath in Woods of Frederick Creek. New tile flooring, open plan, approx. 2600 s.f. of living area.
9.) FOR LEASE - Coveney Ranch, gated community, 3 bed, 3.5 baths, approx 3566 s.f. on 3+ acs plus 900 office/ apartment over the garage
MORE HOMES AVAILABLE. CALL FOR LISTINGS.
830-816-2288 • www.boernetexashomes.com
FATHERS. SONS. WE ARE ALL GENT.
Dr. Ben Stahl, MD and his son Charlie Owner, Boerne Family Medicine
styling for the discerning gentleman™
$10 OFF YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE
GENT gift cards make the perfect gift. Stop by or purchase one online for the gentlemen in your life. Available in any denomination.
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
AUGUST
Explore what's inside this issue!
10 From the Publisher 12 Calendar
26 FOOD
SCHOOL LUNCH
School starts this month. Local restaurants give you some ideas to help think outside the lunch box.
14 MUSIC
TROUBADOUR
Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com
40 SPIRITUAL SERVING
Operations Manager Kristine Duran kristine@smvtexas.vom
30 A different kind of sanctuary Brooke Chavez & Primarily primates
18 The art of
Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com
INTERIOR DESIGN
Catrina Kendrick’s inspiration comes from many places.
Assistant Creative Director Kayla Davisson kayla@smvtexas.com
42 OLD TIMER
ASK OLD TIMER ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com
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
36 LIFE
22 History boerne in the beginning
Them’s The Rules
How our fair city came to be.
Contributing Writers
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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.
PUBLISHER
DEAREST EXPLORE READER, Odds are, you are battling an addiction. It may not be meth or alcohol or cocaine, but I promise you that if you get real honest with yourself, you’ve got an addiction that is unhealthy for you. It could be your phone, food, sex, control…any number of things. A gentleman by the name of Johann Hari spent three and half years and 30,000 miles traveling the world to see how we’re doing with the “War on Drugs”, and to find what is really driving it. He said in an article, “I learned on the road that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong – and there is a very different story waiting for us, if only we are ready to hear it.” And that story, is really beautiful. If I asked you what causes an addiction, whether that addiction be alcohol or cocaine, you would shrug your shoulders and say, “Drugs. Duh.” This was established via the use of rat experiements. You might remember some of the ads that would run on TV: a rat is placed in a cage with two water bottles. One is water, and one is laced with cocaine. The rat would keep drinking the cocaine until it died. One researcher named Bruce Alexander changed the dynamic a little in 1970 using the rats. He wondered what would happen if the rats were “happy”. So he built them little rat homes, slides, toys, and other little rat friends to be with. Basically everything a rat would want. He then put in the same two water bottles and watched. What he found was quite amazing – the rats consumed less than 25% of the drug water, none of them died, and in fact, the rats mostly stopped drinking the drug water altogether. Meanwhile, the isolated rats continued to die off quickly due to their overconsumption. Our friend Bruce then decided to see what would happen with the unhappy rats. He put them in the isolated cage for 57 days and let them gorge on the drug water. He then put them over in the happy cage. The rats would have some withdrawals, but they all returned to having a normal life. If you walk down your sidewalk tomorrow morning to get the mail and break your ankle, you’ll end up in the hospital for a few nights perhaps. While there, you’re going to be given diamorphine, which is the medical name for heroin. It will be a much higher purity and potency than you can buy on the corner, and there will be dozens of people around you taking the same heroin, sometimes for much more extended stays. Eventually, you are released from the hospital to your family again, and you move on with your life. Why didn’t you run down the alleyway to find a dope dealer? Because your cage just changed. You left the misery of the hospital, and entered the happiness of your life again. Portugal had one of the worst drug populations in Europe. After throwing billions of dollars at the problem, they simply decriminalized all of it, and took those billions and used them to take addicts and taught them how to reconnect to their life. Since then, injecting drug use is down 50%. We are all in a cage. The cage is our life. It’s either happy or it’s not. Within our cage, we might be growing wonderfully and finding great satisfaction in our life, and we may be slowly dying in another cage. I said at the start, most all of us have addictions. Drinking and drugs are the easy ones. Food? Your phone? Computers? TV? Shopping? I see people around me all the time using something, anything to distract them from their life. They disappear into food, phones, and computers and gorge on it to the point that their relationships suffer, their health suffers, and they struggle mightily with making a change. That’s the very definition of an addiction. So how do you get so happy that no addiction can ever trip you up? HA – I never claimed to have any answers here. All that I do know is that a happy person is less inclined to abuse things. What if, instead of using ultimatums and demands on an addicted person, we simply loved them harder than ever and helped them reconnect to their life? What if we showed love and mercy to them and showed them that people really do believe in them and that we loved them unconditionally? Maybe, just maybe, they’d find the way out of the cage…and could find the way back to their life. Welcome to August. All around you people are caught up in a cage that they loathe. Hell, I’m one of them. When you look at your friends and family that might be struggling, just remember that they’re struggling not out of weakness, but out of a lack of connection. Be a light in the world and try to provide it. EXPLORE together. Smiling,
ben@hillcountryexplore.com
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
EVERYTHING IS BETTER WITH FLOWERS 830-816-2042
437 S Main, Boerne, TX www.flowershopboernetexas.com
August 2015
www.hillcountryexplore.com
11
AUGUST
Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country! The most comprehensive events calendar. Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com BANDERA August 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Flying L Ranch Chuck Wagon Dinner Includes barbecue, wagon rides, roping lessons, hat and pistol branding, archery, old-fashioned photos, a cowboy stage show, gunslingers, line dancing and other entertainment. Hours are 5:30–7:30 p.m. www.flyingl.com
JUNCTION August 8 Martin Memorial Car Show Features old, unique, customized hot rods, and many other categories of vehicles under the shade trees at the Kimble County Courthouse. Kimble County Courthouse, 501 Main St. www.southtexascc.com
August 1 Market Days Features local arts and crafts. Courthouse Lawn, 500 Main St. www.banderatexasbusiness.com/ market-days August 4 Cowboy Capital Opry Features Grand Old Opry-style entertainment hosted by Gerry and Harriet Payne. Silver Sage Community Center, 803 Buck Creek. www.silversagecorral.org
August 14-16 Trade Days Shop with more than 350 vendors in six barns, acres of antiques, biergarten, live music and more. Sunday Farms, Seven miles east of town off U.S. 290. www.fbgtrade days.com
BOERNE August 1 Moondance Concert Enjoy music under the oaks and stars at the Cibolo Nature Center. Cibolo Nature Center, 140 City Park Road. www.cibolo. org
August 20-23 Gillespie County Fair and Parade The oldest continuously running fair in Texas features agricultural and home-skills displays, horse racing, concerts, dances, a carnival and midway. Parade starts at 10 a.m. on Friday on Main Street. Gillespie County Fairgrounds on Hwy 16 South. www.gillespiefair.com
August 4 Abendkonzerte Enjoy traditional German music and tales from Boerne’s historic past from the Boerne Village Band. Main Plaza, 100 N. Main. www.boerne-tx.gov/park
August 23 PCAA Concert in the Park Free Sunday evening concert features the Almost Patsy Cline Band. Marktplatz, 100 W. Main. www.tex-fest.com
August 8-9 Market Days Hundreds of festive booths display everything from collectibles and nostalgia to modern innovations. Also enjoy food and live entertainment. Main Plaza, 100 N. Main. www.boerne marketdays.com August 8 Second Saturday Art and Wine Enjoy complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres with fantastic art in local galleries. Various locations. www. boerne-tx.gov/parks August 29 Moondance Concert Enjoy music under the oak trees and stars. Cibolo Nature Center, 140 City Park Road. www.cibolo.org BULVERDE August 2 “Forbidden Broadway” This show is a Tony Award-winning tribute to some of the theater’s greatest stars and songwriters. S.T.A.G.E. Inc. at Krause House. www.stagebulverde.org DRIPPING SPRINGS August 14-16 Hill Country Rally for Kids This event with a car and motorcycle show, washers tournament, motorcycle fun run, food and live music benefits five local youth charities. Camp Ben McCulloch. www. hcrally.com FREDERICKSBURG August 7 First Friday Art Walk Tour fine art galleries offering special exhibits, demonstrations, refreshments and extended viewing hours the first Friday of every month. Various locations. www.ffawf. com August 8-9, 22-23 Live Pari-Mutuel Horse Racing Watch live quarter horse and thoroughbred races. Gillespie County Fairgrounds. www.gillespiefair.com August 14-23 “Greater Tuna” Two actors play over 20 characters in this sharp, whimsical send-up of small-town Texas presented by Fredericksburg Theater Company. Steve W. Shepherd Theater, 1668 U.S. 87 S. www.fredericksburgtheater.org
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GRUENE August 9 Gospel Brunch with a Texas Twist Serves awe-inspiring gospel music coupled with a mouthwatering buffet from 10:30 a.m.–noon. Advance tickets recommended. Gruene Hall, 1281 Gruene Road. www. gruenehall.com August 15-16 Old Gruene Market Days Nearly 100 vendors offer uniquely crafted items and packaged Texas foods. Hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Gruene Historic District, 1724 Hunter Road. www.gruene marketdays.com August 20 Come and Taste It A featured winemaker showcases three of its newest released, top-selling or hard-to-find wines, alongside a craft brew hand-picked by The Grapevine staff. Also enjoy live music and giveaways. Grapevine Texas Wine Bar, 1612 Hunter Road. www.grapevineingruene.com JOHNSON CITY August 9 Art, Wine and Live Music Hours are 1:30–4 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month. Taste Wine + Art, 213 N. Nugent. www.tastewineart.com August 13-15 Blanco County Fair and Rodeo This 85th annual event includes rodeo action, carnival, parade, live music and dancing, games, pageantry and vendors. Blanco County Fairgrounds, 619 U.S. 281 N. www.johnsoncity-texas.com/festivals/fair_rodeo.html
KERRVILLE July 30-August 23 Kerr Arts and Cultural Center Exhibits Includes the annual juried “Images” show, works by Joleen Franklin and Stephanie Stone Perry, and 2 Gypsyz Art. Kerr Arts and Cultural Center. www.kacckerrville.com August 7 First Friday Wine Share Meet new people and try new wines at this fun and friendly event at a different location each month. Bring one bottle of wine per two people and your own wine glass. Begins at 6 p.m. www.storkcountry.com August 15 Kerrville Kids’ Off-Road Triathlon Includes swimming, biking and running events designed for children from pre-K to 18 years old. Singing Wind Park, 2116 Singing Wind Drive. www.kerrville.org August 27-September 20 “Between the Lines” and “Hill Country Surrealism” Exhibits Kerr Arts and Cultural Center, 228 Earl Garrett St. www.kacckerrville.com August 27-October 1 Photo Quest 2015 The Hill Country Camera Club’s annual photography competition features natural and digital photography. Kerr Arts and Cultural Center, 228 Earl Garrett St. www. kacckerrville.com LUCKENBACH August 1 Hill Country Food Truck Festival Enjoy a food-lovers’ paradise of food trucks, wine and live music. Luckenbach. www.luckenbach texas.com MARBLE FALLS August 7-9 Lakefest Drag Boat Racing This 24th annual event transforms Lake Marble Falls into a liquid quarter-mile “racetrack” and the banks of the lake into a wild three-day boat race party. Approximately 100 boats hit the water for Test and Tune on Friday. Qualifying races are Saturday, and the racing finals start at 11 a.m. Sunday with boats topping 260 mph on Lake Marble Falls. Visitors also enjoy top fuelers “firing up” with a bang on Friday evening, live concerts, and browse food and craft booths. Lakeside Park. www.MarbleFallsLakeFest.com
August 22-23 Johnson City Market Days 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. Memorial Park. www.lbjcountry.com August 22 Stone Valley Music Festival Gates open at 10 a.m., and live music and dancing last until midnight. Also enjoy a games, food and other activities. Stone Valley Music Park, 7508 U.S. 290. www. realcountrybooking.com/StoneValley MusicFestival.html August 29 Art Walk in Johnson City Tour local galleries on the last Saturday of each month from 4–8 p.m. Various locations on Main and Nugent streets. www.lbjcountry.com
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
TROUBADOUR
BRIAN
By Rene Villanueva
I rolled over, checked my phone and found a text from Brian. I was lying on the bed in my jeans. Listening to the fan. The other guys were out at a movie, so I wasn’t expecting to hear from anyone. After spending the evening in the hotel watching TV, ordering pizza, sleeping and listening to the rain, I had collected this heavy jittery-ness in my chest like I needed to move. Like I had to get out. Like I had to get into something. -you make it in yet? Good guy. Musician. Sarcastic and smart. He was like the kid you looked up to in high school for being so cool; for being above the system. He seemed to have an answer for everything. Like he had just experienced it before you. Older than me but kind and encouraging to younger bands. I forgot he lived here, last I saw him he was doing promotion work in Boston. -got in last night... what’s up? I got out of bed slowly. Opened the heavy curtain up to the steel sky, the empty wet roads, and these heavy grey cube buildings. And for a second I felt like getting back in bed when my phone beeped again. -playing an early show at Elysian Fields. Put you on if you want? The road. The pillow. I ran my fingers across my chest exhaling a deep sigh feeling the movement under my fingers. -give me 30 It really took me a couple of seconds to get moving. Working out the cracks in my neck; hunting out the cleanest shirt in my duffel. I washed my face with one of the little hotel soaps, moved my hair around into place, and fished out a pair of salmon red chucks from under the bed. Elevator. Lobby. Once I was outside I was hit with the cool air, the clouded dissipated sun, the instantaneous rush of life. Walking in the full breath of the city, I quickly paced seven blocks cutting through alleys and side-streets; flocking among the buildings, the street lights, the clouds, a small herd of wild, urban calicos and the occasional car. Finally I stood in the doorway. And for a second, I wondered if I was in the wrong place. Music was playing. Lights were low. But no people. No one was even watching the door to even find out I was on the guest list. I checked the address Brian had given me again. - I’m here The club was dressed in typical post-punk fashion. There are a lot of clubs like this over the country. Black walls scattered with local art and posters. Heavy red curtains. Air like sweat and candles. A few small café tables. All trying to cover up years of graffiti and abuse. - Green room... left of stage I walked myself over, passing the bartender as he came out of the bathroom. And felt a little mixture of relief and guilt that I wasn’t playing tonight. “Just that time of year.” “School just got out.” “School just started.” “Everyone’s working.” “Everyone’s on vacation.” “Bad night.” “Games on.” One of a million excuses for why people won’t come out to a show. And they are all valid in their own way I guess, but at the end of the day if people don’t come out it’s ‘cause they weren’t motivated to. By the band, by the club, by the promotion; all of it combines into a tangled mess of blame failing to attract an audience. But those things don’t need to be said to anyone there, not before the show, and especially when it isn’t my night to fail. Some people make a point to complain but all there is to do is roll with it. “It’s not so bad,” I lied, while fighting to get comfortable at the edge of a maroon futon. Too dirty to lean back on, but the edge was wrecked by the metal support bar underneath. Brian dug through his backpack ignoring me. “The night’s young.” “Yeaaaah....” Brian dropped his voice an octave into a gravely roll of disappointment. “It’s only a Saturday, can’t expect too much.” I opened a couple PBR’s from the cardboard box at my feet. Put one for Brian on the table. At least they were cold. “I got this down the street,” he lifted a vinyl I’d never seen before. A faded psych, purple collage jumble of faces, shapes, and words looking like a b-level Axis Bold As Love. Brian always toured with a portable vinyl player set up in the corner of his dressing room.
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“Nice store. I used to go all the time when I was touring... ummm,” He took a drink. Closed his eyes. Holding the moment. “When I was in Philly... working this little shop. Half my pay was in cash. Half in vinyl... That’s how bad I am,” his mind wandered away as he pulled the vinyl out of the sleeve, set it on the table. “I have to stop myself from blowing all this... ya know... Won’t eat tomorrow.” He gently placed the needle down, with more care than I’ve ever seen from him, “but... love is wax,” and a smile broke under his long stringy fallen hair, narrow nose and tired eyes. “You doing alright Brian?” Brian stayed looking at the record. Watching it turn a little too long, “Yeah. Just not sleeping much.” And I knew that. Sleep and touring just never mix, but this felt different. The way he hung his words. The way he seemed to be down. “Yoooou READY?” A boomy voice shot out from the doorway. Brian was too busy looking at the vinyl sleeve to care about the new guy. Black shirt, black jeans, black boots. Big boxy shoulders, square chin that seemed to land right into his chest, short blonde hair, light blue eyes.
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
“Oh Man!” Hunter yelled, “Got the record.” He didn’t care. Couldn’t care. It was in his face. Smiling as Brian tried frustratingly to clean up. “Rock and Roll! Right!?” Hunter looked at me and maybe, just maybe, I saw a slight hint that he went too far falling over his face. But he didn’t apologize. I’m not good at fake talk. And I’m definitely not good at confrontation either. So I just kinda gave this face in between ‘that was not cool,’ and ,’I don’t even know what to say.’ There’s another side to the business that some people say is almost as important if not equal to talent. And that’s just being able to hang. Being able to work in this ecosystem of artists, business people, and audiences and not alienating all of them. I struggle with that, but Hunter, all the Hunters, make me look so good. “Here you go Brian,” I pulled a bandanna from my back pocket and wiped up the record cover. It really wasn’t bad. A few drops of beer over the plastic sleeve. Nothing that would hurt it, but I could feel this raw hatred radiating off of Brian. His hand shaking as he grabbed the bandanna. “Not too bad,” I said. Brian fumbled to clean up the edge of his player. He mumbled something I honestly didn’t hear. Hunter quietly grabbed another beer. “See you after the set... We can keep this going... Right? Gonna go find my boys.” He was standing half out the door, “Right,” he said one more time. Brian nervously fumbled into his shirt pocket, and pulled out a cigarette. “Let’s go,” he said holding it between his lips. “I’m... let’s go.”
“Gonna be a f*** all night, am I right?” he shouted over the twangs of a fuzzy tele and a poppy snare, grabbing a beer for himself. This time Brian looked up nervously, and gave an un-assuring introduction. “Rene this is... Hunter,” his voice went up at the end like it was half a question, “His band is playing soon.” “Hey man,” we shook hands before Hunter pulled out his key ring, and slid a key between his middle and ring finger. Hunter gave a blank stare at me as he lifted his fist in the air and punched open the can, throwing beer down onto the green room carpet, laughing as landed in big splatters around his boots. “It’s gonna be something,” Brian mumbled. But Hunter didn’t hear that, he was half way through finishing the can in one go.
He had barely made it out the backdoor to the back alley before he turned around at me. “What an! Ahhh!” Brian was frantic. His eyes just madly darting around the night. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here.” Brian turned in circles, trying to light the cigarette, but unable to hold his hand steady. The door slammed behind me in a clash of metal. This was more. More than Hunter being a jerk. More than an empty club. There was a fierceness in Brian’s eyes. A panic. An anger cracking the surface of who he is. I’d never seen a man break before. I’d never seen a person shatter. And it is exactly that. Everything I knew of Brian. His being. His calmness. It was gone. Slipped apart at the seams. “What is this supposed...” he stammered, “What am I going to do... here... and all the,” he pointed into the club. “I,” I struggled to come up with some words to help him but I was stuck, “I... Brian.” Shoulders shrunk low. He was breathing fast and shallow. Turning to the wall. Folding in on himself, the alley, the darkest corner he could find. Like he wanted to turn into brick, and disappear. “It’s alright,” I reached out to him putting my hand on his shoulder. At first he flipped away from me. Turned in a circle like a lost animal but he had nowhere to go. His eyes feeble fighting tears. “Brian,” I grabbed both his shoulders, “It’s ok.” “I don’t want to…” “You don’t have to. This place. This show doesn’t matter. You don’t have to play a note.” Brian looked at me. Every part of him was working on breathing. “But…” “You don’t have to Brian. You don’t.” His breathing started to slow down. “It gets so hard.” “It doesn’t have to be man.” My heart sank for him. It still does. Maybe now I think I would tell him something different. But at the time I was over my head. We were both fighting to get back to the ground. Maybe I was part of the problem. Maybe he needed a better friend. But I was the only one there. And I did what I always do. Get back to the show. Get back to the music. “You don’t have to. But you can if you want. You can play all this out. Right? You can do this.” To be continued...
Beer ran down his chin as he tried to crush the can in his left hand. Holding it out towards Brian, he dropped the beer, kicked it weakly with the toe of his boot, and sent the can into a spin across the room, spraying everything before it pinged off the wall and landed behind Brian’s record player. “S***!” Brian yelled as he raced to clean up his record.
August 2015
www.hillcountryexplore.com
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Rehabilitate in Boerne, One Step Closer to Home
Cibolo Creek provides accommodations
in the heart of Boerne, with individualized therapy programs that enable one to return home quickly. By receiving rehabilitation services close to home, family and friends are able to visit often and with ease.
Cibolo Creek stands apart by:
• Being the most contemporary rehabilitation facility in Boerne • Providing physical, occupational, speech, and vital stim therapy in a modern and innovative setting under the guidance of highly trained and experienced therapists • Offering both inpatient and outpatient therapy services to improve one’s overall strength and mobility • Facilitating admissions 24/7
1440 River Road • Boerne, Texas 78006 • 830.816.5095
C ibolo C reek H ealtH . org
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
Premier Custom Home Builder in the Texas Hill Country For over 40 years, KCN has been building beautiful custom homes of all sizes in Boerne, Comfort, Bandera, Castroville and throughout the Texas Hill Country. Our reputation for honesty and integrity, combined with our commitment to deliver excellent quality, expert craftsmanship, and customer service, has afforded us the opportunity to build many long lasting relationships with our clients. In fact, we have constructed two or more jobs for 31 different customers.
830-816-5202 920 East Blanco Road Boerne, TX 78006 www.kcnbuilders.com
August 2015
www.hillcountryexplore.com
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ART OF
BY DELANEY YOUNG
For some people, design evokes the artist inside. Robert Frost said, “The artist in me cries out for design.” Others, like Steve Jobs, believe that “design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” For Catrina Kendrick, the secret to great design is a combination of these things. Kendrick has been in business for over forty years. In the recent San Antonio Parade of Homes, Kendrick won the “Best Furnishings” award. She has been given several other honors in the past for her attention to detail and knack to design unique and personalized pieces. As the face behind Catrina’s Ranch Interiors in San Antonio, Kendrick understands that the friendly aspect of design is also crucial to her success. “I take my time with my clients and they become my friends; some I consider family. I take care of them from beginning to end… It’s a lifelong relationship with a lot of my clients. I’m working with some of my clients’ third homes. A good designer is a good friend.” When she begins a new project, Kendrick assembles a book full of suggestions for her client and assesses all the costs. Afterwards, she and the client filter through the suggestions and determine the house’s general style. “You can only make suggestions to a client; you can’t force your designs on them. You’re not designing your personal house, and a lot of designers forget that. You’re designing what will make the client happy with their home,” says Kendrick. Kendrick intended to start her business in the Boerne Hill Country. She originally called it Catrina’s At the Ranch, after the store’s location in Fair Oaks Ranch. But in 2005, a sixand-a-half acre property off of IH-10 opened up and immediately caught Kendrick’s eye. This property was the site of her first design job more than 20 years earlier. The location
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was a bit of a fixer-upper, and every building inspector advised her to knock down the structure and start over. But despite all odds, Kendrick preserved and beautifully renovated the building. Her company has evolved a lot since then. Now, Kendrick and her business partner work in several different areas of design. “As far as business goes, we’re growing and evolving all of the time and changing with the styles,” she says. The store’s whole atmosphere imitates “that old ranch feel.” Kendrick explains, “We have a wood factory that we’ve partnered with in Mexico where we build custom furniture out of Canadian Alder wood. As our motto says, ‘if you can dream it we can build it.’ We’re able to sketch out furniture and design it. If we design it and build it, it will be to the scale that [the clients] need. You can get things exactly how you want them to be.” As an interior designer, Kendrick’s extreme attention to detail pays off. She doesn’t consider a project finished until it is “magazine gorgeous.” The color, the furniture, the theme, and the general mood of the house must all fit together perfectly. And that, she says, is the secret to her success. “My theory on design is, don’t throw things at the house, but carefully select what you’re going to put in the house. You design for the house. And that’s why I’ve been successful.” Kendrick strives to build relationships with her clients and decorate with style and excellence. She does her job well because she values her clients. “All customers are different. All customers are important. Each client deserves full attention and to be served in a professional manner.”
EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
Catrina Kendrick, Owner, Catrina’s Ranch Interiors
August 2015
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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 , MLS # 1121129
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Pristine 3 bedroom/2.5 bath home in Cibolo Trails that backs up to the Greenbelt. Features include gorgeous travertine floors, plantation shutters, stainless steel appliances’, and so much more. This one will go fast, so do not miss out. MLS #1121118
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Bluebonnet Realty
HISTORY
HISTORY OF BOERNE: PArt 6
By Marjorie Hagy
Willkommen! to the sixth installment of the whole history of Boerne! The fun all started in March of this year, and you can get in on it from the beginning at hillcountryexplore.com under the archives tab. We’ve had some rough times lately, from the brutal Civil War to a horrific murder and a violent retaliatory assault, but this month finds our little hamlet getting on with business and roaring into the future.
John G O’Grady, Boerne’s Irish founding father, innkeeper, army cavalryman and supplier, signer of the petition to create Kendall County, district clerk and second postmaster, also found time to write about his town and county for the Texas Almanac for several years, and 1867 found him bragging on the place: ‘We can raise nearly every variety of vegetables,’ he wrote, with peaches ‘the principal fruit’ and wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, sorghum, sweet and Irish potatoes and tobacco grown ‘in abundance.’ ‘We make wine from the native grape,’ said O’Grady, ‘800 barrels being made last year; but the general opinion is that the quantity can be easily doubled this year, as every vine is full.’ He boasted fifteen thousand head of sheep in Kendall County and noted that ‘This is the centre [sic] of the sheep-raising interest of western Texas.’ He talked of the timber to be found and the price of land both in the country and in town, the plentitude of building material and ‘the finest rock in the world’, our native limestone, the black loam soil, the wild-growing fruit trees, excellent pasturage, and mentioned a mineral spring ‘within one mile of Boerne, (iron and magnesia) said, by Dr. Herff and other scientific men, to be invaluable, particularly for consumptives…. Our climate is one of the best in the world,’ he wrote, ‘with health unsurpassed.’ This is the way things stood, at least for posterity, as the Reconstruction era wound down in Boerne, Texas. O’Grady made kind of a passing mention of the volatile racial divide in town by complaining about the available hired help, but this was a man in the business of promoting his little burg and wouldn’t have been likely to air all their dirty laundry about the recent local horrors. I mean, the guy was a businessman, an innkeeper at that, and he’d hardly be likely to write, ‘Oh yeah, there was an atrocious massacre here pretty recently and a bunch of people beaten up and lynched for it and houses burned and yada yada yada. But hey, other than that- oh, and the semi-annual murderous Indian raids and occasional child abduction- other than THAT it’s a great place to visit.’ It had been a hard era, the 1860s and 70s, but like they say, when you’re flat on your back, everything’s looking up- and things were looking up in Boerne, and about to get a million times better for almost everybody. These daysmeaning right now, in 2015- when people want to draw tourists and their ready cash to town, they hire a marketing firm or something and set up a big campaign, like the Puro San Antonio one (which was kinda dumb) and that What happens in Las Vegas… thing (which is kinda creepy), but in the 1870s that wasn’t a thing, and that was one of the reasons the 1870s were better than now. There were promoters back in the dayJohn O’Grady was talking up the place in his almanac entry every year while William Gilliam Kingsbury raved about Boerne and the Hill Country every chance he got, in every media he could think of- pamphlets, brochures, newspaper articles, books and speaking engagements- and was ultimately responsible for encouraging thousands of his fellow English men and women to immigrate to the area. And of course John James sang the
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praises of this beautiful little town he himself had founded, this pretty little village in the mountains above San Antonio. But the biggest boost Boerne ever got came not from James, but from one of the people who’d listened to his hype and fell under the enchantment of this part of the world. Remember Dr. Ferdinand Herff from way back in the second chapter of this Boerne history? The doctor, botanist, philosopher and founding member of the Darmstadt Society of Forty back in Germany, who’d been at the experimental Bettina colony and now was back in San Antonio via a brief stay in New Braunfels? The guy who bought the first section of what would become a ten-thousand acre Hill Country spread stretching from Boerne to Sisterdale to Kreutzberg and points beyond, in the very first year that James established the town of Boerne? THAT Dr. Herff? That’s the one, that Dr. Herff, whose own personal and family history were as intertwined with the story of Boerne as a mustang grapevine wrapped around the branches of a Spanish oak tree. He helped to found the Santa Rosa hospital, the first one in San Antonio, and was a pioneer medical doctor, performing, among other things, the first successful cataract operation in Texas (without anesthesia and right out in the open, as his helpers fanned flies away from the patient), the first successful appendectomy in Texas, and one of the first hysterectomies in the United States. Herff believed in treating patients of all social and economic classes, regardless of their ability to pay, and he practiced another pioneering method not regularly followed by physicians of his time- he washed his hands before surgery, boiled and filtered the water he used for procedures and was ‘fastidious about cleanliness’, in a time when antiseptic methods were uncommon, if not unknown. And by so doing, Dr. Ferdinand Herff saved many lives in the then frontier town of San Antonio and his second home of Boerne, operating ‘on kitchen tables, in carriages, outdoors and, on at least one occasion, the lobby of the Menger Hotel.’ One thing with which Dr. Herff had had long experience was the number one killer disease of his day, tuberculosis, or the White Death. He’d treated it back during his days as a surgeon with the Hessian army and he treated it now among his patients in San Antonio- it killed rich and poor alike, the young and beautiful were struck down just as frequently as the old, and in fact one in every seven deaths in those days was due to TBthe dreaded consumption. Dr. Herff had developed some methods of his own to treat this dread disease, and he believed, in common with some of the leading medical minds of the day, in what was called the ‘open-air method’ of treatment, in which patients were supposed to spend plenty of time spent under the clean, sunny sky, breathing deeply of the life-giving air, and to split the rest of their time between eating and resting. As another medical man explained at the time: ‘The more abundantly the former can be given the greater and faster will be the progress toward recovery.’ Dr. Herff certainly knew of a place in which there was plenty of good clean air to breathe, and beginning in the mid 1860s he sent his first lung cases to try the mountain air of his beloved Boerne. Dr. Herff had noticed one curious anomaly about the residents of the tiny mountain hamlet of Boerne- he had never seen as much as one case of the killer disease that was rife in the rest of the world, among the Boerne people, and he attributed that fact to the peculiar quality of the mountain air. ‘Ozone’ was the word they used to describe it, though in the 19th century they definitely weren’t talking about the ozone layer or anything like that- it referred more to that kind of charged freshness of the air, like what’s present during a lightning storm. A contemporary ‘scientific’ explanation of the phenomenon in these parts appeared in an 1894 railroad pamphlet expounding the quality of the ozone
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in Boerne: ‘The reason the air is so conducive to the cure of diseased lungs is described as being caused by the trade winds, which, for a period of perhaps eight months in the year blow from the coast passing over a wide stretch of country, mostly dry, but covered with the mesquite, a species of mimosa, the odors from which, as from the pine, the trees or bushes being resinous, have a curative effect in all diseases of the lungs, which with the bracing air found on reaching Kendall County, restores the wasted tissues and brings new life to the wasted form and red blood to the cheeks.’ At any rate, Herff posited that ‘where the disease was not prone to develop was certainly the locality where its victims might be easily cured,’ and that quite possibly, the high, dry mountain air of this Alpine village might prove to be the perfect remedy for the consumptive and at the very least, worth a try. ‘The burg,’ read a passage about Boerne in a contemporary travel guide, ‘is principally noted for the unlimited quantity and excellent quality of its ozone, whatever that is.’ If nothing else, Boerne would be a as good a place as any to die. What happened, though, was that some of those ‘lungers’, Dr. Herff’s hopeless cases, didn’t go on ahead and die as expected, but started to get better. So Dr. Herff sent more folks to Boerne to try the cure, and some of them got better too, and Boerne began to get a reputation for a healthful, healing place. After all, Dr. Herff was the chief surgeon at the first hospital in San Antonio, a hospital he founded, and had a national reputation as one of the foremost doctors in the country, so other doctors would just naturally follow his lead in sending their own tuberculin patients here. Remember back in the first paragraph of this story, John O’Grady writing about that mineral spring not a mile from Boerne, which Dr. Herff and other scientific men had said was invaluable, particularly for consumptives? ‘Our climate is one of the best in the world,’ O’Grady avowed, ‘with health unsurpassed.’ You see what’s going to happen, right? I mean, all the ingredients were there all at the same time, there’s tuberculosis- the most dreaded disease of the time and with good reason- and then there are these mineral wells which, at the time and for a long, long time past, were believed to be cure-alls for everything from consumption to arthritis and the gout. You’ve got a world-renowned and universally respected doctor who cut his medical teeth on the treatment of tuberculosis and who believes that clear, dry mountain air is the ideal antidote, and here’s a mountain town with an inexhaustible supply of the finest ozone that ever brought ‘new life to the wasted form and red blood to the cheeks’ of a ghost who’s already given himself up for dead. There was only one element missing for Boerne to bust out as a world-class resort town, and that one thing came roaring into town on March 17, 1887. ‘All aboard for Boerne!’ ‘When Capt. A.S. Burt shouted those four words yesterday morning on the depot platform of the San Antonio & Aransas Pass road, there was a rush and scamper of persons of almost every imaginable race, color, sex and previous condition of servitude,’ gushed the San Antonio Daily Express report the day after the first train came to Boerne. ‘The corpulent citizen with a sore toe, the fat woman with a screaming baby in each arm and more tugging at her skirts, the society girl with exceedingly aristocratic retrousse nose and high hat, the dude with cigarette in mouth and 15 cents in pocket after paying one dollar for a ticket, the sharp-eyed commercial traveler with gripsack and price lists in hand, the shop girl with tired look, the invalid with flushed cheek and hectic cough- all
August 2015
were there pushing and squirming their way into the seven bright red coaches which were to take them for a day’s outing at the Kendall County capital.’ Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, had ever been so exciting to everybody in Boerne as the arrival of the SA&AP railroad. There had been considerable excitement a few years earlier, in 1883, when the first telegraph line came through town, but the advent of the railroad- now this was a cause for celebration, even a bit of hysteria and hilarity! Dr. WG Kingsbury himself, that tireless Boerne promoter, speechifying at the arrival of that first train, narrated those breathless days the town watched as the rail bed drew closer and closer- there were reports of the track-layers around Lock Hill [sic] but then ‘nothing of them for a week or 10 days, and a report got out that the force had been taken off. But after a time the driver again reported that they had emerged from out of the hills and were coming up the Leon Valley at the rate of two miles per day. Then I went down to see about it myself,’ Kingsbury declared, because, he confessed, ‘The fact is, we are all dazed and not quite certain even yet whether this railroad affair may not all be a dream and we may suddenly awake to find ourselves still in the woods and a lumbering old stage coach and ox wagon over a rough road our only means of getting out.’ But the railroad had gotten here, and Boerne was changed forever. About six hundred people filed off that first train that spring day when it pulled up to the temporary station on the east side of the Cibolo Creek at the end of Theissen Street, and were met by just about the entire population of Boerne who’d come out to greet them and celebrate with them this life-changing development in the history of their town. From now on there would be twice-daily mail and newspaper delivery to Boerne; the distance to San Antonio was cut to two and a half hours oneway from a more than seven hour trip by stage, and the cost from 12 cents a mile down to three. And suddenly, everyone in the world came to Boerne, businessmen, visitors, vacationers and passers-through, campers and new settlers, and yes, those ‘invalid[s] with flushed cheek and hectic cough’, yearning to breathe free. Dr. Herff, by the way, had been instrumental in getting this branch line to town, having donated a lot of land from his Hill Country ranch as well as some San Antonio property for railroad right-of-way. Throughout the 1870s and early 80s, Boerne had been building an industry around the treatment of tuberculosis, so when the train finally got here there certainly seemed to be hotels and boarding houses enough to receive a sudden influx of lungers into their midst. The old Reed House, on the northwest side of Main Plaza, was sold to new owners in 1878, who added wings and a 200-foot porch to bring it to its present size and renamed the place the Boerne Hotel- it wouldn’t be called Ye Kendall Inn ‘til 1909. Across Main Street, on the northeast corner catty-corner from the Plaza, was the St James Hotel, and on up the hill north, (about where the new library is, across Main from the then-brand new 1881 St Helena’s Episcopal church), a Dr. William Miller opened one of the first sanitaria in town, a place he called White Gables. On the other side of town south of the creek was the Phillip Manor House. Starting life as a small, simple building, most likely a family home, by the time the train got to town the manor house had grown a couple of wings and a second floor. But as it turned out, Boerne wasn’t really ready at all. The reporter from the San Antonio Daily Express admonished the townspeople to step up their game after that very first day of festivities, noting at the end of his story: ‘Altogether, Boerne offers a desirable place for excursionists, and it can be made one of the most popular health resorts in the South, if her people will exert themselves a little and make her advantages known to the great outside world. Nature has been most lavish in her
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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
gifts to Boerne and Kendall County. The ozone is there, but her people must do the rest.’ Before the coming of the railroad, Boerne had had this little cottage industry feeding and rooming the handful of invalids who’d been shipped off to the mountains to die or to heal, whichever came first, but after the train came, the heat was on. Suddenly, according to Dr Herff’s grandson in later years, ‘nearly every passenger train brought in several hollow-eyed, hectically coughing spectres, most of whom were journeying to their deaths,’ and in spite of all the hotels and sanitaria and rooming houses in town, there just weren’t enough places to put them. But still they kept coming, drawn by the reasonable fares and the comfortable rail journey, the advice of the best doctors and the promise of the life-giving airso many of the poor coughing, hacking souls that people soon began to refer to Boerne as ‘Herff’s burying ground.’ ‘His detractors,’ noted Herff’s grandson, ‘blamed him for having converted their scenic mountain hamlet into a graveyard for tuberculars,’ but there was no denying the positive effect these new arrivals were having on the local economy. At various points during the consumption days, just about every house in town had at least one boarder, and the hotels were always full of the patients and their families, so much so that they started to get sick of looking at each other: ‘A consumptive newly arrived in Boerne,’ carped one man, ‘found too many invalids like himself, invalids who talked about themselves and their poor remnants of lungs, and coughed and groaned all night. The hotels and boarding houses smelled like drugstores, and the invalids drank to each other’s better health in cod liver oil until they smelled like ancient fishermen.’ But the trains kept bringing more, every day, so Boerne began to change to fit its new reputation as the ‘Texas Alps’, to build more hotels and resorts, to add on wings and els and sleeping porches to their homes, to open dining rooms to feed the ill and their posses and stores to peddle to them and campgrounds for their leisure and livery stables to rent them the accoutrements necessary to enjoy a country excursion, a Sunday drive or a trip to take the waters at the Walnut Grove mineral wells. The townsfolk rose to the opportunity and transformed the tiny alpine hamlet into a world-class health resort town, and the people kept on coming, from Chicago, St Louis and New Orleans, from Germany and Scandinavia and all over Europe, to ‘drink the cold water of the iron and sulphur spring four miles distant,’ or to ‘expand the lungs with deep draughts of ozone, or watch the slow and painful steps of the poor consumptive invalid who generally comes to West Texas when it is everlastingly too late for all the ozone in the world to do him any good’- although that last listed activity sounds like a lot less fun than, say, a water park or Knott’s Berry Farm, still many of the visitors were either with them or WERE those poor invalids, and many of them weren’t too late at all, no matter how bad off they’d seemed before they got to Boerne. So while all over the South, the states of the former Confederacy struggled to climb out of the economic pit the late war had landed them in, here in the heart of the Hill Country Boerne boomed and became world famous, her people made money hand over fist, and the tiny little town in the Texas Alps just grew and grew and grew.
August 2015
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FOOD
BOERNE EPICURE THAI CHICKEN PB&J August 1st marks the beginning of a handful of things. First and foremost, it’s the beginning of the hottest 31 days of the year. In addition to the oftentimes unbearable heat, August commences that familiar wave of sadness at the thought of the school year lurking just around the corner. Here at Explore, we sympathize and want to help make the back-to-school adjustment a little easier on you. Below are a few recipes from local restaurants, inspired by the contents of a stereotypical school lunchbox, to prepare you for the upcoming school year.
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INGREDIENTS: Grilled chicken Thai Peanut Sauce (recipe below) Blood orange marmalade Mixed greens Tomato Red onion THAI PEANUT SAUCE RECIPE: 2 cups organic peanut butter 1 cup coconut milk ½ cup agave nectar ½ cup fresh lime juice 3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce 5 teaspoons soy sauce ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1 clove garlic (minced)
INSTRUCTIONS: Toast two slices of bread and spread Thai Peanut Sauce on one slice and blood orange marmalade on the other. Build sandwich from the bottom up with grilled chicken, tomato, red onion and mixed greens. Cut in half and share with a friend!
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BUMDOODLER’S PICKLE WRAPS INGREDIENTS: Lunch meat of choice Cheese of choice Veggie of choice Dill pickle spear INSTRUCTIONS: Option #1 Lay out a slice of ham. Spread a dollop of cream cheese on ham, evenly. Place the pickle spear and cucumber slices on top of ham and cream cheese. Roll up and enjoy! Option #2 Lay out a slice of turkey. Top the turkey with a slice of Swiss cheese. Place the pickle spear and tomato slices on top of turkey and cheese. Roll up and enjoy!
LITTLE GRETEL’S MONTE CRISTO INGREDIENTS: 2 slices of Texas toast 2 eggs 2 Tbsp milk 1 slice of cooked ham 2 slices of cooked turkey meat 1 slice of white American cheese powdered sugar 1/4 cup of strawberry jam 1 tsp of water INSTRUCTIONS: Beat egg and milk in small bowl Dip Texas toast in egg mixture and cover completely Brown the bread in a greased skillet on both sides Place ham, turkey and cheese on one slice and make your sandwich to melt Cut in half Sprinkle with powered sugar Whip strawberry jam and water into a smooth consistency and place jelly in separate container for dipping the sandwich.
Fredo’s Chicken Calallen INGREDIENTS: 5 oz Grilled Chicken Breast 3 oz (by weight) Dry Wheat Angel Hair Pasta 2 oz Marinara Sauce 1 cup total volume Yellow Squash, Onion, Mushroom and Zucchini Squash INSTRUCTIONS: Lightly pound chicken breast and season with salt and pepper to taste and grill. Boil the pasta in salted water according to the directions on the package. Sauté vegetables in olive oil until tender and season with salt and pepper.
August 2015
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Gentle, Caring, Family Practice, Courteous Professional Staff • State of the Art Procedures & Techniques
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Now accepting appointments for Kevin Beitchman, DDS, MS - Orthodontist
Kendall Woods Dental EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.
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830-446-1502 131 Deer Creek • Boerne, TX 78006 • www.doublerenterprise.com
COMMUnity
a different kind of sanctuary
By Krystal Mathis
When you picture a zoologist, chances are someone like Brooke Olivier Chavez doesn’t pop into your mind. You probably think of an older man, wearing khaki shorts and knee socks, and dissecting animals in a lab. Brooke, vivacious, gorgeous, blonde, and vegan, is the opposite of that image. But, a zoologist she is, and the Executive Director of Primarily Primates, Incorporated, the oldest primate sanctuary in North America. Primarily Primates, PPI for short, is also pretty much in our backyard – half in Boerne, half in San Antonio.
Brooke knew she had a passion for animals even as a five-year-old child growing up in Houston, Texas. She says, “I was the child who rescued animals wherever I could find them. I decided to turn my bedroom into a veterinarian clinic. I would convince the neighborhood children they weren’t properly caring for their hamsters, mice, rabbits, or whatever, then I’d take them in. I definitely collected a rag-tag group. I even had a feral cat with a broken tail.” Luckily for Brooke, and the animals in her care, her parents were supportive. “I took in every living thing I thought needed rescuing, and my parents cultivated it. I think they realized that they had a very sensitive child on their hands, that animals were my passion, and they decided that they were going to help me turn this passion into a career one day.” Brooke states she started out “wanting to become a veterinarian…as do many five year olds! But as I got older I started to think maybe I’m not cut out to be a veterinarian. I didn’t want to do the surgical side of the veterinary practice.” When it came time for college, Brooke knew only that she was going to study animals, not necessarily why or to what end. She says, “I read a book about zoology and became fascinated with it. Not just the biology of the animals, though that interests me too, but understanding their behavior. What makes them tick, and what makes us tick? How are we different and how are we the same? I don’t want to say I became obsessive about it, but I kind of did. I still am to some degree. It’s still fascinating and we are always learning more.”
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Brooke moved around a bit during her childhood, and started her college career in New Zealand. “I had amazing opportunities to study animal behavior there,” Brooke says. “I studied Hector’s dolphins, penguins, and other wildlife groups native to New Zealand.” Brooke’s college career in New Zealand was going well, but a family emergency brought her back home, to her family’s deep roots in Blanco, Texas. “My family goes back to some of the first settlers in Blanco, back when Blanco was called Philadelphia,” she explains. After her return, she learned that most of her New Zealand college credits didn’t transfer. While this would discourage many, Brooke just kept on studying zoology. She had to. It was her heart and soul. “I went to Austin Community College for a year and a half, and then I went to UT, but then I stopped because I got a job at Sea World. And that’s where it really started!” “It” in this case is Brooke’s career caring for wildlife in captive situations and educating the public about animals. “I worked in education, and then I went on to animal care with polar birds (a.k.a. penguins), and that’s where I really solidified my plans that this is what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to be involved in animal care.” Brooke also worked at the San Antonio Zoo & Aquarium for a while, again working in education and in aviculture. The next part of Brooke’s zoological journey was also a philosophical one. “I decided to become vegan, and that’s when I found out that farmed animals really didn’t have many laws to protect them from abuse. Farmed animals were only protected if they were used for exhibition or education, but not if they were used for meat. I decided to get involved
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with Farm Sanctuary in New York. At that point, I had a lot of experience with exotics, but not farmed animals.” Brooke packed up again and followed her heart to New York. “I became an intern when I was 25,” she explains. “So, I’m there at the sanctuary, and I did the internship and loved it, not to mention I met wonderful people along the way. And I learned so much that I thought to myself, why am I not running my own sanctuary? I decided my new role is going to be animal welfare and running my own sanctuary. I came back to Texas and created Sunny Day Farm Sanctuary in Castroville.” “Right away, I started getting involved in cases that the Farm Sanctuary in New York involved me in. For instance, there was a case where I took 13 pigs that were just left in a field to die. It was the dead of winter, and the mother pigs had died trying to keep their piglets warm. Most of the mothers were actually frozen to the ground. I just felt like this was the right thing to do. I was naïve at the time, because I couldn’t imagine anyone being bothered by this. I mean, those pigs were just left to die. But I actually started to get death threats by people claiming to be in the pork industry.” Of course, Brooke was undaunted. Nothing was going to stop her from helping animals. Next, she started rescuing calves from veal farms. At this time, Brooke also had her first child. “At any given time I had at least two calves bottle-feeding while also trying to take care of a human infant. My daughter, Alora, was very much involved in animal care and rescue. I think it’s been great for her development and work ethic.” Sadly, Sunny Day Farm Sanctuary was about to experience some cloudy skies. The Sanctuary had grown to a full-fledged educational and animal-care force, with hundreds of schoolchildren visiting per month and hundreds of animals receiving top-notch care from Brook and crew. But a divorce from Alora’s father meant big changes in store, and the Sanctuary had to close its doors. Brooke’s drive to help animals wasn’t shuttered, though. While finishing up her zoology degree at UTSA, she also moved to a new property in Sisterdale and found new love with her perfect match: a game warden! In fact, it was her game warden hubby who introduced her to Primarily Primates. “One day I asked my husband, ‘how was your day?’ and he said, ‘oh, I was about a foot away from a lion today.’ Of course, he had my full attention at this point! ‘Do explain!’ I said. As it turned out, he was doing a routine inspection for PPI, and, at that time, they had a lion. I told him that I wanted to go with him next time he went out there!” PPI was about to experience some stormy weather of its own, however. The sanctuary was founded by rehabilitation specialist Wally Swet, who began PPI with some lofty ideals. Taking in a variety of animals that were used and sometimes abused in the entertainment, personal “pet,” or research industries, the majority of the animals were, as the name suggests, primates. Focusing on chimpanzees, the Sanctuary was at one time regularly visited by Jane Goodall. But by 2006, something had gone wrong. After a raid by PETA and a state-mandated receivership, PPI finally was placed in the care of an organization who could provide for the specific needs of the over 400 animals living on these 78 acres. Friends of Animals, based in New York, took control and made sure that animals had the nutrition, habitat, veterinary care, and attention to mental needs that the animals required. PPI is not open to the public, owing to the animals’ special needs. Meanwhile, Brooke had to wait until PPI stabilized before she could volunteer her time. She was eager to get started! “My husband called for me and said, ‘Look, my wife is dying to come out here, can she please do something?’ After my first tour of the facility, I fell in love with it. I don’t want to say I had an epiphany, because that is a word that is overused and doesn’t really do justice to what I felt. I just knew -- I’m supposed to be here, and I’m supposed to be with these animals.” “I was a volunteer for 2 days and the head of Friends of Animals, Priscilla Feral, gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. She offered me a position. I worked my way up to Assistant Director, and then I was made Executive Director.” Now, Brooke even lives on site with her family, including youngest daughter Grace who arrived a bit before Brooke’s PPI adventure started. Brooke is happy to raise her daughters in this environment. “Living here, at the sanctuary, the animals don’t take a holiday and neither do we. I’m so grateful to have an opportunity to have my girls here with me, working alongside me, seeing this operation that is so much bigger than us. This is one of those jobs that is so fulfilling that nothing else besides my family really matters to me. This is my sanctuary too, and a sanctuary for the people who work here.” PPI is a sanctuary in the truest sense of the word. Animals that otherwise would have nowhere else to go, peaceably live out their lives on this ground. They will never be sold, or abused, or exploited in any way ever again. This is their home for life. It’s a home that needs help, however. Like many non-profits, PPI is in need of donations and support from their community. From us. Brooke explains, “There are so many dog and cats shelters. When people think of the word rescue, they automatically think of dog and cat, and there aren’t even enough dog and cat shelters! But people rarely think about primates in need of sanctuary. I was in the animal care business and I didn’t even think about why primates would need sanctuary. They need it because they come from very difficult backgrounds and they are difficult to manage because they require secure habitats and a lot of enrichment (mental stimulation) to prevent boredom in a captive environment. I think of it as kind of a math problem. Boredom + frustration = aggression. When you’re trying to work with animals that come from backgrounds including abuse, when they get here, they don’t trust people. You have to work within their comfort zones.” “Even the animals that have been abused have a lot to teach us, though. Like about forgiveness. There’s some chimpanzees living here, when you know their backstories it’s hard to fathom how they can live through that and then still come here and want to interact with people. It takes highly specialized and trained people, but we get
August 2015
them what they need here. No matter how we, the caregivers, are feeling each day, these animals depend on a positive attitude. They deserve it. As I said to Barbara (a chimpanzee used in biomedical research and the entertainment industry), ‘you’ve spent 22 years sacrificing for humans. I owe at least 22 years back to you.’” To support Primarily Primates Incorporated, you can donate on their website www. primarilyprimates.org. Another way to get involved is with an upcoming event, the Fiesta in the Jungle. It’s happening on August 22nd at Green Vegetarian Cuisine’s Pearl Brewery location. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online or by calling 830-7554616. Brooke says, “Our sanctuary has one fundraiser a year, the Fiesta in the Jungle, and it includes a silent auction, music, dining, and it’s a fun way to build membership and let the community support the sanctuary as well.” “We are a great organization and yet many people are unaware that we even exist! But I feel that once they do know, they will want to join in our vision for the future of these animals.” Do you?
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LIFE
Them’s the rules (Okay, stick with me here. This is going to require some concentration.) There’s “the rules” and then there’s “The Rules” “The rules” – with a lowercase “r” - are those written stipulations that govern the way something is to be done. Board games have rules. Sports have rules. Companies have rules. You’ll find them in the employee handbook. They are the corporate guidelines for professional conduct such as dress code, calling in sick, and the private use of email on company computers. Don’t be fooled. The employee handbook may call them “guidelines” but that’s just semantics the Human Resource Department uses in hopes of garnering the goodwill of new employees. Try violating a few of those “guidelines” a time or two and you’ll quickly discover they’re really rules, not recommendations.
By Paul Wilson
And yet, with two teams playing the exact same sport by the exact same rules, one team can completely dominate the other. How is that possible? Well, it’s not because they’re playing by different rules. The reason one team dominates another team is that it plays more by “The Rules.” They may be the better team because they are stronger or more skilled than their opponent due to diligent preparation. Preparation is one of The Rules.
There are rules for filing your taxes, driving an automobile, playing Poker, owning a firearm, and how to behave at the symphony. There are all sorts of rules for just about everything.
They may work together better, harnessing the power of cooperation and synergy. Teamwork is one of The Rules.
Some rules are clearly posted for everybody to see. You’ll usually find them on signs like “No Parking”, “No Smoking,” or “Emergency Exit Only.” The posted speed limit is a rule. Fast-food restaurants announce their rules right there on the front door to make sure every customer understands “No Shoes, No Service.”
They are more disciplined about the fundamentals of their sport than their opponent. Discipline is one of The Rules.
Other rules are “just understood” as part of the social landscape. The rules of etiquette often fall into this category. For instance, while there aren’t any written rules about talking to others in an elevator, people generally honor the space and privacy of those with whom they share the ride. Nobody ever said you can’t wear a bikini to the mall, but most women wouldn’t. Most people understand you shouldn’t take a phone call while watching a movie in the theater. (I said, most people. There’s always “that guy.”) That’s rules with a lowercase “r”. Then there are “The Rules” with a capital “R.” “The Rules” are those larger, non-negotiable principles at work in our universe completely independent of restrictions declared on some sign. “The Rules” include things like gravity, time, discipline, kindness, honesty, compassion, self-initiative, endurance, and teamwork - just to name a few. These governing principles have a profound influence on the way life works whether they are written down in some book or not. You’ll never see them posted on a sign. Take gravity for instance. Gravity falls into the category of “The Rules.” It is a universal principle at work in the world regardless of how you feel about it. With some ingenuity you may be able to briefly suspend its effects, but you will eventually run out of enough momentum, fuel, or force to override the clutches of earth’s gravitational grip. Gravity will always bring you back down to earth. It’s non-negotiable. It’s just best if you plan on it. Like gravity, there are a few other principles at work in our world that have enormous implications on the way life works. They are more moral than cosmic, but every bit as influential. For those who recognize and honor these Rules, the game of life tends to work out in their favor more often. WISE PEOPLE PLAY BY THE RULES Knowing The Rules for the way life generally works is part of what it means to be wise. In other words, wise people understand The Rules and people who honor The Rules are wise. These people accept that certain principles apply to life regardless of how they might feel about them. Even when others may ignore or disregard The Rules, wise people submit to them with both humility and confidence. Wisdom is taking what is true and applying it appropriately to various situations of life. That is very different from intelligence. Intelligence takes certain facts and figures, information and knowledge and correctly plugs them into particular applications. Wisdom, on the other hand, grasps truth and applies it with more universal discernment. But here’s the rub: just because you are intelligent doesn’t mean you are wise. Sadly, there are plenty of really intelligent people out there whose life is full of drama because they’re not particularly wise. There are times in life when the rules – lowercase “r” – collide with The Rules – capital “R.” When this happens, the larger, more universal principles at work in our world – The Rules – generally win. While the rulebook may level the playing field between two entities, the one who plays by The Rules almost always comes out on top. For instance, two athletic teams can compete in the exact same sport on the exact same field in the exact same league under the exact same rules. The contest is officiated by referees who ensure both teams play by “the rules.” In the event that a player or team should violate one of more of “the rules,” the referee identifies the foul and imposes the appropriate penalty as defined by “the rules.”
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They have a greater understanding of the game and a more thorough strategy for their game plan. Planning is one of The Rules. The winner has more hustle or a stubborn refusal to give up even when the odds of winning look pretty slim. Tenacity is one of The Rules. I doubt you’ll find any specific stipulations governing Preparation, Teamwork, Discipline, Planning, or Tenacity in the rulebook. However, a wise coach recognizes the larger principles at work in his world and trains his team in them. This gives his team an advantage over their competition…every time. Even when both teams play by the exact same rules. Principles like discipline, determination, and diligence are some of “The Rules” that give one person an advantage over another even when all of “the rules” are being followed. This explains why some people excel more than others. FIVE OF LIFE’S MOST IMPORTANT RULES Here are five of The Rules I have observed that make an enormous difference in how we experience life. There are several more, of course. Rule#1: Discipline. Wise people understand the importance of discipline. Discipline is honoring the essential exercises or practices required to develop the proficiency you need to excel. From athletes to accountants, from authors to astronauts, the best ones understand the importance of consistently sharpening the skills they need to thrive in their pursuits. Whether they feel like it or not, they get up each day determined to do the hard work of getting better at what they do. In spite of inclement weather, nagging injuries, fragile resolve, challenging obstacles or even relentless criticism, wise people hone their skills every day because they know that’s what’s required to perform at a higher level. Athletes practice the fundamental movements of their sport for what seems like the millionth time. Accountants stay late reading tedious compendiums of the current tax codes while less disciplined peers head home. Writers sit at their desk and write even
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when words seem to fail them. Anything. Something. Just write for the sheer discipline of crafting words to communicate ideas. In these moments, it’s more about practicing than it is about publishing. Discipline often sounds like “Practice. Practice. Practice.” Discipline is the work of self-leadership and personal initiative. Somebody else can motivate you to do what you need to do to improve, but they can’t do it forever. Somewhere along the line, you’re going to have to adopt the disciplines it takes to achieve your ambitions as your own responsibility. Disciplined people succeed more often than their undisciplined peers. “The harder I practice, the luckier I get.” - Gary Player Rule #2: Goals Wise people understand the importance of goals. A life lived without goals, rarely achieves anything of importance. Goals provide the definition that keeps us focused on the prize. They push us beyond what we think is possible; beyond what we feel is capable. Wise people understand that left to their own assessment of progress, without a clearly defined goal they will accept their excuses for failure. Without goals, we are prone to rationalize our desire for comfort, convenience, pleasure and ease. We simply do not push ourselves outside of our comfort zone without a compelling goal in front of us. Inside our comfort zone we typically get lazy, ungrateful, critical, and bored. In the end, it’s not really about meeting or exceeding your goal as much as it is tenaciously striving toward it. Whether you reach your goal or not, you will always get a whole lot more done or make greater progress with a goal than without one. Having a goal often separates successful people from the rest of the field. “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” - Bruce Lee Rule #3: Plans Wise people understand the importance of a plan. You can have the most inspiring goals in the world, but without a realistic plan for how to accomplish them, all you have are wishes and wants. Wise people take the time to think through the strategies, logistics, details, and resources they’ll need to execute the numerous steps required to achieve their goals. Alan Lakein said it best. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” There is nothing about having a plan or being a planner that inherently means one has to obsess over details. However, to completely ignore some forethought to what you hope to accomplish usually results in failure. Wise people increase their likelihood of success because they take the time to put together a plan while foolish people attempt important projects by winging it and hoping for the best. Sometimes that works, but not very often.
People who plan often find themselves spending more time enjoying their success than fixing what they failed to anticipate. “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery Rule #4: Time Management Wise people understand the importance of managing time. The most purposeful and productive people you’ll ever meet live with a grateful awareness of time as a precious commodity. They recognize time is a limited resource and every passing hour is one less they will have to accomplish their goals, enjoy what revitalizes their spirit, or share with those they love. Wise people understand they really don’t have all the time in the world. In knowing they are not guaranteed tomorrow, they make the most of every moment they are granted as a precious treasure. The discipline of wise time management is not about always being in a hurry or never having a moment to relax. Don’t be fooled. Some of busiest people you meet are often the worst time managers in the world. Wise time managers understand and enjoy the place rest and relaxation has in a healthy life. Wise people make time to rest and seize it for all it’s worth. Good stewards of time always seem to accomplish more than those who procrastinate, dally, or always talk about “someday.” Time management is simply math. Allocating the appropriate number of hours necessary to accomplish each of your ambitions over the course of a week, a month, and a year always adds up to greater success. Wise people recognize that they can’t stop time, but they can make it work for them. “Time management is life management.” - Robin Sharma Rule #5: Character Wise people understand the importance of character. Oh sure, there are plenty of people who get away with all kind of things that look like success and prosperity through illegal and immoral means. Inevitably, something or somebody pays the price for it. Sometimes, it’s a severed conscience that robs them of the vitality that comes from a peaceful spirit. Always looking over your shoulder, covering your tracks, and sleeping with one eye open is exhausting to one’s soul. It takes a terrible toll even while you live in the lap of luxury. Truth, justice, and integrity eventually prevail as more noble and sustainable ideals. While your character may not necessarily change the entire world, it can create an inner world that inevitably inspires those in your circle of influence. Like the ripples from a pebble tossed into a lake, this influence ends up touching enormous numbers of people beyond those you know personally. In this way, our world becomes a better place in each corner your influence is felt. “Character is the real foundation of all worthwhile success.” - John Hayes Hammond There are a few other important Rules that space does not permit me to explore here. Teamwork, Accountability, Endurance, Compassion, Tenacity, and Kindness – to name a few - are all integral forces to how life works best for those who would honor their practice. Those who honor The Rules seem to find favor wherever they go in whatever they do. If you hope to live a life that rewards you with peace, joy, and the satisfying returns of fulfillment, you must learn The Rules at work in your world. To ignore them invites trouble, disappointment, and regret. The Rules will not be mocked. I’d love to write an article about how to change your life without having to do anything different. But that’s like writing an article about how to lose weight without changing a single thing in your diet, how to sculpt muscles without doing a single exercise, or how to make a million dollars without working a day in your life. Life just doesn’t work that way. There are certain Rules governing the way life works and ignoring them usually results in failure, or at least, frustration. We may not like the Rules. They may be inconvenient and stifling. Your maverick spirit may bristle at the thought of outside forces telling you what to do. You may wish it were easier and more convenient to get what you want. Wishes and wants are a dime a dozen. Everybody has them. However, the ones who are honoring the larger principles at work in our world - as restrictive as they may be - seem to find themselves on the winning side of things a lot more often than those who don’t. It might not be fair, but them’s The Rules.
August 2015
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SPIRITUAL
SERVING
By Kendall D. Aaron
Have you ever gotten one of those forwarded emails from your grandparents? You know the ones – something about how Obama is trying to steal from the elderly to start a new world order of drones set out to steal our weapons, dismantle Social Security, and put us all into concentration camps. Jokes, slide shows, and a whole myriad of otherwise useless information meant to scare, alarm, and entertain? It never fails that when you see an email from your favorite grandparents that begins with FW:, you just immediately reach for the delete button. I’m no different. But my grandmother, at 83 years young, sent me one the other day, and I’m just now fully processing it. It wasn’t funny, it wasn’t scary, and it wasn’t anything political. It was… incredibly touching. It was a scan from an old TIME magazine (circa 1920s) that explained how women should treat their husbands. It went into great detail about how women should spend the better part of the afternoon doing little but preparing for their husband’s return from work. Their entire day should focus around ensuring that the second their husband walks through the door, they should be in heaven. The wives should dress themselves up as pretty as possible, put on their best makeup, and ensure that their dresses were pressed. They should have dinner completely prepared, and laid out on a handsome table ready for the family (and the husband) as soon as he walks through the door. The A/C should be turned down, because he was undoubtedly hot from the long car ride, and she should have his slippers laid out in his favorite location. She should have perfume on, and she shouldn’t ask too many questions about his workday, NOR should she tell him too much about HER day, for fear of upsetting him. She should ensure that his favorite drink was ready, and that his cigar was ready, with matches nearby. She should try to keep the kids occupied so that “he could unwind properly from his day of providing for the family.” Everything was about him. It was obviously quite degrading to the women readers because it elevated the husband to that of a mythical, god-like status that most women today would refuse. And I wouldn’t dare argue with them. My sweet grandmother prefaced this email with “Isn’t this crazy? This is what we used to do for our husbands in the golden days…” And I just can’t quit reading that line. “This is what we used to do…” This is what we used to do for our husbands. Perhaps it could read, “This is what we used to do for one another”. Or perhaps, “This is how we used to treat each other”. After a quick chuckle at the sexism in the article, I have begun to wonder “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we treated one another like this?” Once you get past the offensive and oppressive way that women saw themselves, I wonder how our world (and our loved ones) might react to such a display. What if you followed this very sexist, very out-dated, very antique article to the letter? What if I focused on my own WIFE like this – even if for just one day? What if my entire day stopped being about ME, and started being about someone else? Oh dear. Wouldn’t it be amazing, and quite pleasing to God, for me to worry about everything concerning my wife? Or for her to worry exclusively about me? What if I turned down the light slightly and turned on some nice music, and lit some candles, made her favorite dinner, and rubbed her shoulders while she told me about her day? And what if she made my favorite chicken fried steak and poured me my favorite drink while dressed to the nines and had my favorite show recording? What if she asked me all about my day, and made me a homemade dessert and had my favorite magazine waiting by my easy chair? And so I wonder – why do we degrade the desire to service our friends, family, and neighbors as being subservient? Why not celebrate it for what it is – a celebration for not only the person, but for the servant? I don’t know about you, but when my wife does something nice for me, I try to constantly say “THANK YOU” over and over again so that she might truly understand how appreciative I am for her acts of kindness. While she might have been doing something kind for me, my response isn’t gloating or an expectation of demand, but rather, it’s one of thanks. I’m thankful for her thoughtfulness, her kindness, and her appreciation. The direction of action isn’t personal at me, it’s purposed at HER. The act wasn’t subservient…it was beautiful and kind. The response is one of appreciation and humility. So, are we sure that the scan from the ‘20s is sexist? In the book of John, Jesus washed his disciple’s feet. Once complete, He asked “Do you know what I have done for you?” It was terribly awkward for Christ Jesus to do such a thing for His disciples, and yet He did. He took the time to bathe their feet and to focus exclusively on them. And so while the attention was focused on the disciples via the foot wash, where was the lesson? The lesson was with His actions. His servant attitude made His disciples feel important, loved, and elevated. We live in a country and a world that is focused on one thing, and one thing exclusively: ME. The entire country elevates the satisfaction of ME, and teaches us that others in our life should be focused on the satisfaction of ME. God teaches us the exact opposite. He teaches us that a servant’s heart is invaluable, and precious. He taught us (via example) that being subservient to our friends, family, and spouses isn’t degrading….. it’s necessary. Look around you. What could you do today to show the people in your life that you appreciate them? If you got over the attitude of being a servant to someone else, what could you accomplish? Whom could you elevate? What lives could you change? Christ loves you, and gave you EVERYTHING. Why not show love to those that love you also?
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OLD TIMER
ASK OLD TIMER Old Timer, they found a skeleton while doing the construction for the new exit ramp. Crazy, huh? It’s an omen. Either that, or he was the last person that questioned the sanity of City Council and the Mayor. Ask too many questions in this town, and you’ll be taking one hell of a dirt nap.
Hey Old Timer – can you explain where the hell my Bill Miller’s is? What’s the hold up? Yeah, ol Bayless Miller is taking his time, isn’t he? I think that he knows that construction is about to begin at the intersection at Boerne Stage and it is going to go from being a mess to being a Hiroshima-sized mess for a couple of years. Cars will be backed up in every direction, and the gun fire from the road rage might not lure folks in for some cheap BBQ. I predict he’ll open AFTER construction, which should be 2025.
Seriously Old Timer, Herff Road. What gives? Ah, you youngins are seeing government in action. Identify a need, arrange the funding for it, then proceed to absolutely turn it into a quagmire. Since the project started, we have now worsened the traffic on the road exponentially, hit a water main we didn’t know we had, blew the budget, made little progress, and now have come to realize that the City doesn’t have the necessary land to punch through to Main Street. In the end, they took a busy little road, will have quadrupled the size of it, and you’ll now have two additional stoplights to endure, only to then be routed right back onto a 2-lane road. See how this works?
They tore down the old Diamond Shamrock – what are they going to put in? I am not sure, but I’m sure it’ll be something awful like yet another gas station or fast food joint. This is one of those opportunities that the City will allow to get past them. Work with the land owner, and come up with a good plan to bring something in that would bring value to the community. A charming restaurant. Small office building that could house jobs. Heck, the owner also owns the old Remax building behind it. Why not have the City buy it, knock everything over, plant a great green space and create a “Welcome to Boerne” type monument. Nah, I’m sure it’ll just be a Chick-Fil-A.
Old Timer, we enjoy the Guadalupe under the 473 bridge. Any secret gems out there that you know about to enjoy the Hill Country? The 473 bridge is nice, but avoid it late in the day. I once went around lunch, watched a bunch of Mexican guys unload 7 coolers of beer, two propane cookers and a boom box. By 4pm they were all so drunk, trash was everywhere, the radio was up to 11, and multiple fistfights broke out. It can get sketchy. There’s great access under the Sisterdale bridge, and it’s way safer. Go a little farther and play at the Blanco State Park. Beautiful. Edge Falls is beautiful when it’s full, but don’t jump in. You’ll break your neck. Back in the day, we would just jump fences to get to the little ponds that dot our countryside. We’d fish, swim, and enjoy the solitude. Most people were always cool about it, but I’m not sure how people treat this type of activity anymore. You’d probably find yourself on a terrorist watch list.
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