EXPLORE December 2014 by Schooley Media Ventures, LLC

December 2014

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Welcome to Boerne

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Bluebonnet Realty HOMES FOR SALE D L O S 1.) FOR SALE - $239,000 - Totally renovated. New ceramic tile, laminate and carpeting throughout! Freshly painted in neutral colors. New stainless oven/range, dishwasher and fresh landscaping in front yard. Back yard is 1/3 acres!!! Close to walking trail and downtown Boerne. Reduced for quick sale!

3.) FOR SALE - $399,900 - 8702 Timberland Trail, immaculate 4 bedroom home in the Woods of Fair Oaks

2.) FOR SALE - $625,000 - 8.36 Acre gem in Boerne, TX. Custom 4/2.5 home located in Ranger Creek. Features include controlled entry to property, park-like setting, pool, outdoor speakers, and an outdoor porch.

4.) FOR SALE - $675,000 - Great Potential for this property on Scenic Loop Road. 3 houses, old smoke house, and storage building on 2.82 acres. Main house has 3000 s.f., and other 2 houses have approx. 1500 s.f. each.

5.) FOR SALE - $520,000 PRICED TO SELL. Waterfront property in River Mountain Ranch with private access! Custom home built with views of the Guadalupe from the master bedroom, family room, and balcony. Outdoor balcony runs the length of the home and features a fireplace and surround sound speakers. Private road on the property going down to the river. 3.57 acres.

HOMES & COMMERCIAL FOR LEASE

6.) FOR LEASE - $1400 - 3 bed, 2 bath restored turn of century home with approx. 1665 s.f. of living area, all new appliances in Comfort, TX

7.) FOR LEASE - $1175 - Sweet 2 bed, 1 bath in Ranger Creek. Large fenced yard, garage, extra storage. Walk to pool and tennis courts.

10.) $1800 - 4 bed, 2.5 bath approx. 2600 s.f. of living area, in Boerne Heights. Recently updated with laminate and ceramic tile floors.

8.) FOR LEASE - $1800 - 2 bed, 2 ba. on 10+ acres. Fenced yard. NO HORSES ALLOWED. Short term lease only.

11.) FOR LEASE - $1900 - 3 bed, 2 ba, garage, fenced front and back yard on 1/2 acres

9) FOR LEASE - $1500 - 3 bed, 2 ba on 4+ ac off Highway 474. Fenced yard. NO HORSES!

12.) FOR LEASE - $2200 - 3 bed, 3 bath townhome in Tapatio Springs. One car garage. Golf course view! ALSO FOR SALE!

MORE HOMES AVAILABLE. CALL FOR LISTINGS.

830-816-2288 â&#x20AC;˘ www.boernetexashomes.com

F IN D THE M A N Y O U F E L L I N LO VE W I TH .

Craig Colvin, Owner, Branson Design Group Jennica Colvin, Owner, Colvin Home Health

styling for the discerning gentleman

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DECEMBER

Explore what's inside this issue!

8 From the Publisher 10 Calendar 12 MUSIC

Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com

38 Spiritual

26 ADVENTURE ON THE WINGS OF STEEL ANGELS

Our own creative director, Ben Weber, shares why his adventure to a Houston airshow wasn’t just about the planes

Bucket List

When you turn 50, crazy thoughts start smacking you in the face.

44 FITNESS

TROUBADOUR

EXPLORE FITNESS CHALLENGE

Playing in a band is never easy, but the lessons you can learn from stage veterans is invaluable.

Time to check out what been going on this month in our fitness challenge.

18 HISTORY

Boerne, Christmas, and the Snoring Bear.

ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com

24 My Town The wonderful story of Daniel and Esther Edeh.

Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com Assistant Creative Director Michael Mancha michael@smvtexas.com

HOliday Edition

FROM BOERNE WITH LOVE

Operations Manager Kristine Duran kristine@smvtexas.vom

28 Spiritual

DEEP THOUGHTS

34 Cooking

Czech THE HALLS

Chef Denise Mazal zaps our taste buds awake with a delicious Czech holiday treat. STRUDEL!

46 Old TImer

Because I SAID SO

A variety of ideas for what should be done with these old buildings.

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 2014 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Ste. 200, Boerne, TX 78006

Contributing Writers

Marjorie Hagy History

Rene Villanueva Music

Kendall D. Aaron Spiritual

Old Timer Ramblings

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.

8 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

From the Publisher Dearest EXPLORE reader, When I was in the early days of my divorce (a wonderful story I’ll tell you some other day), I ended up calling on my cousin Bill to help. He was only a couple of years older than me, and while we were close, we weren’t THAT close. We didn’t talk on the phone frequently and we shook hands when we saw each other over Thanksgiving. We didn’t hang out on the weekends and only exchanged trash-talking football text messages sporadically. He was a part of my family, but we weren’t what I would classify as CLOSE. Sure, he was “family” – which meant that we were eternally intertwined, but at the same time, our paths and journeys were not dependent on one another. For whatever reason, fate would have it that Bill was asked to step to the plate to help me in a time of need, and I spent months and months sleeping on his couch, staying up late talking football, and we were just generally trying to help one another through a tough spot. My tough spot was surviving the fallout from divorce; his crisis was just surviving me living in his home. I cried on his shoulder, his wife made me breakfast, and he always, ALWAYS took my call. I asked him to bail on work several times (with only hours’ worth of notice) to attend to legal meetings, and every time I asked, he said “Ok – I’ll be there.” That chapter of my life eventually closed, and some semblance of normalcy returned. I was back in my home with my kids, I had my job again, and I was back to the chore of putting one foot in front of the other. Life had moved on, but when I would see Bill at a family function, I would hurry up to him and give him a huge bear hug. I would hold his face with my hands and just look at him. We had reverted to talking infrequently, we didn’t hang out on the weekends, and I certainly wasn’t sleeping on his couch anymore. But when I would see him, I just wanted to hug the guy. His burdens were mine, and even though we might not have spoken for a while (like guys frequently do), I instantly wanted to know everything that was happening with him. Our relationship was different in a way that was almost inexplicable; we were forever joined in the mutual journey of crisis. We survived and it changed us. In a good way. When my brother was diagnosed with cancer, Ben Weber (the guy that designs this very magazine) had been on staff for a year or so. Long enough to know the lay of the land, but we weren’t exactly fist-bumping in the halls. Cancer changed that. And so did his dad’s illness. I look back on that period of time (from August of 2012 to the very end of 2013) because it was just so crazy for me and Ben. I shared every update from my brother on his treatments with Ben. We talked about the “What-ifs”. We talked about the stress. We talked about all the shit that goes on with cancer, and how much we hated it. At the same time, Ben’s dad had become ill with a myriad of issues, and so Ben was quickly caught up in his own health nightmare that was quickly compounding for his dad. So there we sat, exchanging the latest diagnosis, the latest treatment protocols, and the latest possible outcomes. We shared the victories, and rubbed our foreheads when getting the news about the latest setback. We both stayed busy with “work stuff”, but I know that we were both falling apart. We tried to focus on work, but I know now that neither of us really gave a damn at the time. We were too busy experiencing LIFE. And then my brother died. 3 months later, Ben’s dad died. We talk about it sometimes. The craziness of it all. The anniversaries that we don’t want to experience. The good days and the bad days. I tell him a stupid story about my brother that I might have forgotten, and Ben tells me about something he found when going through his dad’s stuff in a box in the garage. And then we go back to work in our small offices and return to the isolation of the pain and the memories. We mutually carry the baggage of time and pain and longing. The journey is virtually always shared. The walk of life is rarely solitary. Each chapter of your life has a character in it that played a large part. The part could be good, and the part could be bad, but there are a lot of parts to play. The shared journey changes relationships, and most times it’s for the better. Even when they don’t really want to go on the journey with you. I have no doubt that my cousin Bill didn’t really want to wake up and find me on his couch every day, but I also have no doubt that our relationship changed for the better. At the same time, I trust that Ben didn’t wake up every day hoping to hear about the latest chemo treatments, complications, and prognosis with my brother. Nor I with his dad. But, for whatever reason, God dragged the two of us to a spot where we would walk through something together, and would re-emerge as changed people. I’m grateful for that. As much as I wouldn’t wish T-cell RICH B-Cell Lymphoma on anyone, I am grateful that I am sitting at my computer at 9pm on a Saturday night remembering the stronger friendships that came from it. Because maybe it’s the only thing good that comes from it. Weber doesn’t “work for me” anymore. Nah, we’re way past that. He’s my friend. Yeah, he might leave someday for some really high-paying job somewhere, but I have no doubt that when he sees me again, he’ll probably give me a hug. We’re not co-workers anymore – we are people that have stared down death mutually, and we happened to do it at the same time. Since those days, more journeys have ensued. I’ve become so much more aware of the opportunity to strike the bond that will last forever, and I relish in it. My friend Krysta’s mother died, and we have talked and talked through the emotions. Two people that had probably exchanged 10 words total in the previous 10 years were suddenly brought together to walk through a tragedy, simply because we had both recently experienced DEATH. My friend Lindsay went to high school with me. I vaguely was aware that she lived in town, and one day she showed up at my office and was asking for

advice because of cancer. Her husband has it, and it’s proving to be quite a tough foe. And so sure enough, we were both crying on each other’s shoulder. And now, I sit on my porch and worry about her, and send her encouraging notes and I am genuinely rooting for her. Her problems are mine, and mine are hers. Life can throw off such amazingly awful episodes, and as fate would have it, someone is typically caught up in those episodes with you. While typically you have a person that you can identify with a certain episode, sometimes it’s just a place. An inanimate object that has become the literal face of LIFE. I think that BOERNE has become that for me. God bless this little town that’s growing so fast. I have experienced so much here, and while there are people that have played parts in the story that my life has written, the backdrop has invariably been Boerne. Even when I wasn’t here, Boerne was the goal. “As soon as we can get this stuff squared away, we’re heading back to Boerne.” That was my mantra for many years. It’s been a beacon of familiarity that has now stretched three decades, and a friend to whom I can always return and be comfortable. From marriages to children to divorce to cancer….Boerne has always been there. No matter the journey, the location remains the same, and I will eternally smile to have the foundation that has weathered many storms…storms that have brought me friends whom I will forever hug when I see them in a town that has always welcomed me… HOME. Welcome to December. To my many friends out there that are struggling or fighting or praying…just know that your journey is shared. Even when it doesn’t feel like it, someone is walking with you through it all. May you breathe deep, celebrate the month of Christ’s birth, and know that we are all walking together through life. The more we remember that, the more the world changes. Smiling,

ben@hillcountryexplore.com

10 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from your friends at

Fill your stockings with Czech Kolaches

518 River Road, Boerne, TX www.littlegretel.com 830-331-1368

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES Centering Prayer – Every Wednesday morning from 9 – 10 am in the Garden Studio Beyond Resolutions: Creating the Life You Love in 2015: Rita Millet Mikel Wednesday, January 6, 10 – 3:30 Saturday, January 24, from 10 – 3:30 Simple Steps to Painting Classical Realism Style Portraits: An Oil Painting Class with Bill Nichols – for the beginner or seasoned artist. Limit: 6 Tuesdays and Thursdays, January 13 – 29, 10 – Noon Show and Tell! Celebrate the artists! Thursday, January 29 5-7 Rest, Relax, and Receive: Tina Karagulian Saturday, January 17, 10 – 4 pm

Shop, Decorate, Learn and Grow at Intermezzo

Tiny Art! ACEO Watercolor Class: Nan Henke Wednesday, January 28, 4 – 6 pm

www.intermezzogallery.com | Find us on facebook at Intermezzo Gallery and Studios

(830) 331-9400 | 119 E. THEISSEN | BOERNE, TX

DECEMBER 2014

www.hillcountryexplore.com

DECEMBER

Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country! The most comprehensive events calendar. Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com

December 1-31 Wimberley Trail of lights

Stroll down a path with more than 100 lighted exhibits, then roast marshmallows at the Yule Log and enjoy live entertainment on most nights. Hours are 6-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6-10 p.m. Saturday.

December 3-6 San Marcos Sights and Sounds of Christmas

Includes an ice skating rink, giant snow globe, a laser light show, a huge carnival, special appearances by Santa and Mrs. Claus, arts and crafts, face painting, food vendors and holiday music.

December 5 Fredericksburg First Friday Art Walk

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

December 5-6 Brownwood Christmas Under the Stars Festival

December 7 Fredericksburg Pearl Harbor Day Observance

December 19-21 Fredericksburg Trade Days

December 9 New Braunfels “Holiday in Blue” Featuring the Air Force Band of the West

December 20 Luckenbach Luckenbach Christmas Ball

Recognition and memorial program in the Museum’s Memorial Courtyard includes speakers, chaplain, Joint Color Guard, music and more.

The airmen assigned to the Air Force Band of the West are highly-trained professional musicians who have dedicated themselves to serving their country through music. www.innewbraunfels.com

December 12 Castroville Friday Night Fever

This monthly free car show also features vendors, booths and barbecue.

December 13-14, 20-21 Boerne Market Days

This sixth-annual event features live entertainment, an ice-skating rink, children’s activities, photos with Santa, storytelling, Christmas karaoke, the Treats for Santa baking competition, food, hot chocolate and a Christmas tree auction. www.visitbrownwood.com

Since 1850, Main Plaza has been a central point of trade for the people of Boerne. Now, on the second weekend of every month, Main Plaza hosts a magical outdoor market that blends the traditions of the Texas Hill Country with contemporary creations. Hundreds of festive booths display everything from collectibles and nostalgia to modern innovations. Also enjoy food and live entertainment. www.boernemarketdays.com

December 6 Boerne Weihnachts Parade

December 13 Boerne Second Saturday Art and Wine

December 6-7 Boerne Oma’s Christmas Craft Fair

December 13 Johnson City Lamplight Tours of LBJ’s Boyhood Home

This Boerne Christmas tradition features up to 100 lit entries traveling down Main Street. The parade is always on the first Saturday of December and starts at 6 p.m. 830-249-7277. www.visitboerne.org

Shop for the holidays at this market including Texas hand-crafted wood items, homemade jellies, hand-crafted clothing, wall hangings, ceramics, knitted and crocheted goods, hand embroidered items “like your grandmother used to make” and hand-painted bird feeders and bird houses that will surely please the most discerning back yard birds. 830-249-2839. www.kcfa.org

December 6-7 Gruene Gruene Christmas Market Days

Nearly 100 vendors offer uniquely crafted items and packaged Texas foods. Also get a photo taken with Cowboy Kringle in the breezeway between Gruene General Store and The Grapevine.

Enjoy complimentary beverages and hors d’oeuvres with fantastic art in local galleries. www. secondsaturdayartandwine.com

Tour the historic lamplit home in which the President Lyndon B. Johnson grew up, exploring the setting of family life at the Johnsons’ house as it was during the 1920s. www.nps.gov/lyjo

December 14 Boerne Concert Band Christmas Concert This group of volunteer musicians presents a variety of music to entertain audiences of all ages in free concerts. www.boerneconcertband.org

Shop with more than 350 vendors in six barns, plus acres of antiques and collectibles, or kick back and enjoy the biergarten and live music.

Featuring music by Gary P. Nunn.

December 20 Wimberley Starlight Symphony Orchestra Holiday Concert

Featured selections include musical favorites and scores from beloved holiday movies plus a few surprises.

December 20-21 Boerne Cowboy Christmas at Enchanted Springs Ranch

This Old West Town becomes a Christmas “Western Wonderland” with Cowboy Santa, children’s activities, a wild animal park, wagon rides, playground, arrest-a-guest, puppet shows and cowboy skits. Also enjoy Christmas music and caroling, food and gift vendors. www.enchantedspringsranch.com

December 26 STONEWALL Boxing Day Celebration

Boxing Day is a British holiday stemming from the feudal era, when lords and ladies of the manor would “box up” food and gifts for their serfs the day after Christmas. In present times, it is when British workers might receive Christmas bonuses from their employers. At Becker Vineyards, it has become a tradition to invite guests and visitors to enjoy the winery, festive music and treats at a time when most establishments are closed for the holidays. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

December 27 Gruene Aaron Watson in Concert

Advance tickets recommended. www.gruenehall. com

December 31 Luckenbach New Year’s Eve Celebration

Featuring music by Thomas Michael Riley and complimentary breakfast tacos and champagne at midnight.

12 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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By Rene Villanueva

14 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

“Don’t you have anything for us?” Sitting around Dante’s living room, lit by the glow of the t.v. on mute, while Abe paced back and forth on a call with a local promoter, we waited for an answer. I was nervous, watching the ceiling fan circle, wanting good news. “Ok,” he said. Another pause. “Ok...” Shows were tough for us from the start. We were too soft for most of the metal and punk clubs, too young and clean looking, too nice for modern rock. ‘But what do you do other than be yourself?’ “No, we don’t scream...” Abe sounded a little defeated. This wasn’t the first time we had to describe our sound by all the things we weren’t, “well, we move around, but... no, not thrashing...” it didn’t sound like it was going well. Then another, “Ok,” and I had to get out of the room. Kitchen, drink, pace the floor, check the fridge again, nothing, pace... Finally I decided to wait at the table. Dante always kept this place so darkly lit, it was hard not to be a little restless, ‘This was probably going to end with us playing in front of a row of Mohawks and leather jackets, giving disappointing looks as we tried to harmonize on a cover of a Beach Boy tune out of a busted speaker.’ I wasn’t expecting for us to find a spot easily, but I was hoping there was a someplace in town for us. ‘ How did other bands do it? Where do you go? It can’t all be built on people you know? Asking them to our shows one at a time?’ We had heard good things about Austin, but it would still be a few years before we would get there. We weren’t even that serious about playing, just wanted to have a night with people like us. ‘They had to be out there, San Antonio was a big city.’ “Get back in here,” Jaime called from the living room. I walked back as Abe was furiously writing on a notepad. “We got it, I think it might be a good one this time.” They looked like dad’s more than musicians. Mid-thirties, clothes understated, hair and beards disheveled, they mostly kept to themselves, even on-stage, either because they were weary from the 15+ hours of flights or just by nature. They weren’t the cliché, sex-chasing, ego-blimp style people that usually fill out portrayals of rock acts, They were the blood and flesh style of real working musicians. Not the old guys around town who’ve been playing the same five clubs for years. Not teenagers who borrowed a family van to sell their burned demos to neighboring cities. These were real world traveling artists... everything I wanted our band to be, and at the time, they were the closest I had ever been to it. Collectively known as Augie March, named after the acclaimed novel by Saul Bellow, they mix melodic and lyrical inventiveness with cross-genre fundamentals that would be comparable to Radiohead if you replace the heavy electronics with a roots music fetish. They recently released a new album Havens Dumb that I can’t wait to check out. Hope you keep an open ear for it too.

DECEMBER 2014

We were poorly rehearsed and loud, something we picked up trying not to get killed by other punk and metal bands we had to play with, but filled with the blind determination of a young band. We didn’t know how bad we were at the time, we we’re just happy to be on the show, playing with like minded people. We loaded our gear off the stage, down into the back alley behind the tour buses, and back into our cars, trying our best to stay out of the way of the professionals as they loaded their gear on to the stage. Plugging in guitars, turning on amps, they gave us a quick thumbs up and great job, all the pleasantries. Then in a moment of great honesty, their keyboardist pulled me aside with some advice. Though at the time I didn’t fully understand how good. I was sweating, out of breath, trying to hear through a ringing in my ears. So I’ll tell you now what he told me: “Lock yourselves in the studio, and write, write, write... find your voice. It takes time but you got to do it.” He’d left me stunned, nothing to say but a quick “Thanks,” as they cleared out of the room. I grabbed a beer out of a backstage ice chest and found a dark corner on the staircase where I could hide my under-agedness and watch the show. The audience was mostly just arriving, having missed our set, they were drifting around the room, some getting drinks, some talking, a few were looking at the stage. The house lights faded away, and the drummer smiled and turned to his band. With a deep breath Augie March seemed to turn off the world. The club, the audience, all the shit life gives you before you get on stage, it all vanished. Even when they had trouble with the vocals not being heard, even though the audience tilted between interested, confused, amazed, and bewildered, the music came through. I was moved. A wonderful understated performance. None of the musicians tried to steal the show. They put the songs first. The music first. The message. They weren’t performing, they were translating. Some musicians are entertainers, actors, or fashion guides, but these guys were interpreters. And I felt it. The show was about giving something, not expressible by words alone. If you ask me about that night, I don’t remember any wild antics, or people in the audience. I don’t remember clothes or haircuts, or what I ate... But I remember the songs. I remember the way I felt, straining to hear lyrics. I remember watching the fluidity of the drummers snare work. I remember the fullness of the bass as it resonated through the room. I remember the organ swirl. I remember the depth. Over the next few weeks, I thought about that show a lot. During rehearsals. During long, quiet drives out to my job as a writing instructor. During classes. It hung in my head. I listened to the album repeatedly. I talked about it with the band, what it meant to see that. The mood infected me. It became a part of the way I listened to music, the way I played, the way I wanted to be as a musician. My brothers and I are on the first steps of a new phase of our career. And my mind went back to that moment this week. That seventeen-year-old me, who had his life unexpectedly changed by a band. The seeds were planted, and there was no looking back... This week we are rehearsing a new set, and I’m thinking about what I want to share. To that kid, side-stage. Listening for the first time.

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AT 46 CROSSING, IN BERGHEIM, BEHIND VALERO

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16 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

Mary Mellard, DDS

Randy Mellard, DDS, MS

• American Dental Association

• Texas Dental Association

• San Antonio Dental Society

• Academy of General Dentistry

DENTISTRY for the WHOLE FAMILY

The minute you walk through the doors at Mellard Dentistry, you will know you’ve come to the right place. Dr. Mary Mellard and Dr. Randy Mellard, a well-regarded husband-and-wife dental team, will help make you and your family more comfortable than you ever thought possible. Both doctors received their degrees from the University of Texas at Houston, and each year they continue to study advanced, postgraduate dentistry with some of the best-known clinicians in the country, In addition, Dr. Randy Mellard is a specialist in periodontology (gum therapy), and has advanced training in implant dentistry. But despite their clinical accolades, Dr. Mellard and Dr. Mellard do something all too rare in today’s rushed world... they listen, and get to know each patient one-on-one. So whether you’re looking for advanced cosmetic and restorative dentistry or simply a dentist to help maintain your family’s dental health, join us. We’ll give you something to smile about! Dr. Mary Mellard and Dr. Randy Mellard have been married more than twenty years, and have four children. They are native Texans, and enjoy being active in our local community.

Important Awards: Fellow, Academy of General Dentistry - Dr. Mary & Dr. Randy Mellard Master, Academy of General Dentistry - Dr. Mary Mellard Lifelong Learning and Service Recognition Award - Dr. Mary Mellard (one of 10 dentists in the state)

Comprehensive Dental Care

Cosmetic and Aesthetic Dentistry

• Great with children and adults • Professional dental cleanings • State-of-the-art equipment • Digital x-rays significantly reduce radiation • We make your comfort our priority • Periodontal specialist on staff

• Advanced training in cosmetic dentistry • Invisalign® “invisible” orthodontics • Galileos ® 3D Dental Imaging System • Implants to replace missing teeth

Twice nominated as Texas Dentist of the Year (2007 & 2009) - Dr. Mary Mellard Master of Science in Periodontics, University of Texas -Dr. Randy Mellard

Services Offered:

Sedation Dentistry for fearful patients or long procedures All-on-Four Smile in a Day Same day crowns (Cerec) Implants Six Month Smiles Cosmetic makeovers Invisalign Non-surgical treatment for gum disease

CARE for the whole Children deserve a wonderful dental experience. We encourage parents to bring their children in for a visit any time after their first birthday. Your child will love it here!

Now Welcoming New Patients

(210) 782-8421

www.mellarddentistry.com

Creating the healthy beautiful smile of your dreams in a comfortable caring atmosphere

I just went to see Dr. Hawkins yesterday for an exam and cleaning. I was promptly seen, the procedures were done painlessly and in a timely manner with the latest equipment. My necessary dental work was explained fully to me. Everyone in the office greeted me warmly and made me feel special. - Elaine

As a Master in the Academy of General Dentistry, Dr. Chet Hawkins posses the highest level of education recognized for a dentist. As a graduate of the Pankey Institute, he’s had the finest post-doctoral training in the world. “I want to establish a master plan and then develop a blueprint for my patients’ long-term care,” he explains. “We want to solve the causes of the problems before we do anything else to their teeth. Then we can rebuild or repair with confidence that the fix will last as long as possible. We also educate our patients about other health issues related to oral disease. There is a connection between periodontal disease and heart disease that people need to know about.” Dr. Hawkins and his wife, Deby, have been residents of Boerne for 7 years and are excited to serve the residents of Boerne.

We have been going to the Hawkins Dental Office for 25 years. This office is far superior to the average dental office. Their exceptional practice is due to their sincere desire to provide the very best service to their patients. They maintain the latest technology and genuinely care about the welfare of the people who they serve. I cannot find the words to express the high regard that my family and I hold for this dental practice. - Gene Pleasant, friendly staff. No wait. Dr. Hawkins listens to your issues and then provides clear solutions. Great dentist. Also, great hygienist. Overall, great experience. - Cindy

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HISTORY

By Marjorie Hagy | thefam2001@yahoo.com

20 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

Each year in the week or so before Christmas, the news anchor will start ribbing the weatherman about having snow on Christmas Day. “So Joe,” he’ll kid Joe, or whoever it happens to be, “Are you gonna make it a white Christmas this year?” One year I’d like to see the weatherman lose it and tell off the smarmy news anchor. He would say, “I report the weather, Steve, I don’t make it. Do I ask you ‘Hey Steve, when are you gonna stop all these murders?! And also, this is South Texas, Steve, not Fargo, North Dakota. In all of recorded history, we have NEVER had a white Christmas. So you do the math, Steve." And he'd storm off the set (what else would an angry weatherman do but storm off?) while the camera pans back to an awkward and silly-looking Steve. He’d be right, by the way, in that it never has snowed on Christmas Day in these parts. It has rarely ever snowed in December, and never, in my own memory, enough to stick. Not even to make one of our sad little South Texas snowmen. Those little scrawny 6” tall poor relations of the big, fat, rotund pipesmokers up north. It may not be quite to the taste of our Yankee brethren, but there’s something still awfully nice about our kind of Christmas Eve. With the stars sparkling in the clear, high sky on the way to Midnight Mass, Christmas morning with the sun streaming in through the windows and just the right kind of weather for a Christmas afternoon football game in the front yard. That’s not to say it never snows. You know it does, and what’s nice about the way we get our snow around here is that its so rare as to be an Event. A magical time out of time where you let the kids stay up all night watching it come down and even grandparents are giddy with excitement and families get up early to listen breathlessly to the list of schools closed for the day. Can you imagine living in a place where snow is such an expected fact of life that it becomes a nuisance and a painin-the-butt, where by the end of winter there are stacks of the dirty, slushy mess piled up in every corner and you have to buy special gear for your tires? Ugh, no thanks. While I now HAVE seen the changing of the leaves in Minnesota and found it a profound and almost religious experience, if the price you have to pay is a winter full of snow I’ll take these boring oaks right here in Boerne. I prefer my snow to be a holiday. In January and February of 1985, we had the biggest snowfall we’ve ever had here. Between three separate snows, we racked up a total of 13”, and everybody in town had at least one snowman of Frosty proportions. My oldest daughter was about a year and a half old, and we put plastic bread-loaf wrappers on her feet for galoshes and played out in the snow for weeks. Not knowing the habits of

snow, I wandered out into the yard one of those mornings when it was at its deepest and my feet crashed through the frozen crust on top and plunged into the soft powder underneath and I stood there, immobile, and hollering for rescue. I now know what snowshoes are for. I have heard rumors that people skated on the Cibolo along River Road, but the most I ever saw was ice at the edges. The coldest it ever got around here must have been in January of 1949, when there was a cold snap in South Texas and late that month the temperature got down to 5 or 6 degrees below zero, and hovered around that for days. This was just after the City of Boerne had finally put in butane gas lines, to much rejoicing amongst the citizenry, and people happily got rid of their wood stoves, stowed them away in the barn, threw them out, sold them or gave them away to their poor country neighbors who didn’t have modern-day gas heat like the lucky folks in town. Trouble is, the gas regulators will freeze, and that’s exactly what they did in this bitter cold spell, and the people who’d jettisoned their stoves were up the old creek! There was a lot of packing up of necessities and heading over to friends with fireplaces, and families camping out together on floors in living rooms. That still sounds like an awful lot of fun to me. Well, in theory. In reality, I must say that I do have some experience with that kind of thing, and the cold hard truth of bedding down with your parents and siblings- including a brother prone to suddenly blurting out nervous questions at the exact psychological moment when everyone was finally dozing off- was not quite so romantically Currier & Ives. We grew up in Pleasant Valley, and the electric co-op in the 70s was given to prolonged blackouts in times of duress. The result being that the Hagys, more than once, became victims of forced family slumber parties in front of the fireplace. I still wake up screaming from nightmares about sleeping so uncomfortably near my father and my brother. My mom, a transplant from Michigan was so used to making do in the cold and by nature, of an optimistic tendency, would break out the marshmallows and do her best to make a party of what must be endured. However, my dad was clearly NOT delighted with the family camp-outs. His idea of fun was something other than huddling over a fire with two daughters whose biggest concern was whether the curling iron would be functional in the morning, a neurotic son who (we noticed when forced into close proximity with him) was given to obsessive-compulsive behavior, and melted marshmallows stuck in his beard. I remember him as a hunched-over bearded silhouette outlined against the blazing fire, whose pipe emitted an endless stream of smoke rings, and who- we discovered to our infinite chagrin- was a snorer. I awoke in the

“

His idea of fun was something other than huddling over a fire with two daughters whose biggest concern was whether the curling iron would be functional in the morning

DECEMBER 2014

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” 21

middle of the one of those unspeakable nights with the horrified conviction that a bear had somehow snuck into the room and fallen into an uneasy sleep in our midst, but it was only my dad, sawing logs. And someone was suffering with digestion troubles. That’s all I’m gonna say about that. Another winter time hazard was the pipes freezing, and as everyone knows if you don’t leave the faucets dripping overnight you’re gonna have grief in the morning. My motherfrom whom my brother inherited his OCD- had calculated the exact drip-rate required to prevent the pipes freezing without unduly wasting one drop of water, but there she hadn’t factored in my brother and his more insistent OCD. He apparently couldn’t rest with the thought of all those faucets drip-drip-dripping away, and snuck around in the middle of the night and turned them off. What a messed up family! you may be exclaiming at this point and all I have to say is... well, yeah. You guys who know me, this may explain a lot. As a result of all this nocturnal faucet-fiddling, we woke up the next morning to a lot of hollering and the bare, cold facts that we couldn’t shower or brush our teeth. I mean it wasn’t exactly braving the elements on the frozen tundra, but it was a distinct pain in the butt. Like most people throughout the history of this little town, our family used to get our Christmas tree right out of the hills. This was something of a rite, going out into the woods and searching for the perfect cedar tree...which is an oxymoron. When it comes to Christmas trees, there IS no such thing as the perfect cedar, not that my family ever found anyway. In actual fact, the only similarities between cedar trees and pine trees or fir trees is that they are all of the TREE family, and they’re all evergreens, but that does NOT mean they are all suited for Christmas tree use.

A cedar tree is a shape-shifter. Out in its natural habitat, it stands in a field looking conical and lovely, perhaps with some woodland creatures frolicking around its base. But once cut it down and drag it into the living room, and a cedar tree will expand on you. It will tend to grow bulbous around the middle like a prosperous Victorian gentleman who overindulges in port wine and is troubled by gout. The trunk will swell to impressive proportions too, and your father will be forced to say unChristmas-like words as he tries to force it into a Winn’s Store Christmas tree stand made for the more civilized dimensions of a commercial spruce from a Christmas tree lot. Also, serious trimming of boughs will be necessary, say about...well, approximately half the tree will have to go, as your father’s vocabulary becomes more colorful and your mother nudges up the volume on the Religious Christmas Favorites record spinning on the record player. And a cedar tree’s highest bough is not strong enough for a star, or an angel, or really anything, without serious structural alterations. One year when I had my own kids, their dad fashioned an ingenious device with a 2x4, some coat hangers and a curtain rod, which the kids were warned not to approach and/or fiddle with under any circumstances. Just like Charlie Brown’s tree, all a cedar tree needs is a little love, and it’ll turn out just fine. And smell? I don’t know about you but I really do love the smell of a fresh-cut cedar tree. Most people in Boerne through the years, like I said, got their trees from the surrounding hills just like this. The charcoal burners from Schiller, out around Bergheim, used to augment their winter income by cutting some of the better looking cedar trees and hauling them into San Antonio on their charcoal-selling trips and hawking them from their wagons along residential streets, and they usually sold whatever they cut. Some of them brought trees into Boerne, too, for town folk who didn’t have access to land to cut their own. Like everywhere else, Christmas was always a big deal here in Boerne. Starting back in the 30s, there was always a Christmas parade in town, after which Santa Claus would sit up on the stage at the old high school auditorium- now Middle School North on Johns Road- and the kids would go up on stage with him and get their little bag of goodies, an apple or an orange, and oldfashioned ribbon candy. The school kids would put on a Christmas play for the community and it was a big party up at the high school. That was the auditorium that was torn down about 12, 15 years ago now after the roof collapsed under the weight of the rain. Some of the stores along Main Street stayed open late on Christmas

Eve- but not John Eddie Vogt's Store. He'd shut down early that night, and while Mrs. Vogt took the kids for a ride, he went home and played Santa Claus, putting the presents under the tree. In the window of Vogt's Store was one of the big Christmas attractions in town, the mechanical Santa Claus, who moved around in there and ho-ho-ho-ed to the delight of the kids, as well as some devoted dogs. In fact, one older lady's dogs loved going downtown and watching Santa Claus so much that when Mr. Vogt closed up shop, she bought the old Santa and took him home where her dogs and some donkey friends of theirs could still watch it every Christmas. And when she died, she arranged that the man who inherited her place would still set him up for their entertainment each year. The dogs and the donkeys were mesmerized by him. When I was in high school, the shops along Main Street would stay open late on Thursday nights in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and little trios and quartets from the Greyhound Band would wander around playing Christmas carols, while other kids from the high school choir and people from various churches walked along singing. All the stores served hot cider- wassailand it was very far removed from the carnival atmosphere of the kind of festivities we’ve seen around here lately. It was charming and really wonderful, a real small-town holiday. Merry Christmas everyone, and thanks for reading!

*I want to give a special thanks to Nelda and John Eddie Vogt, who always let me ransack their memories. These people are encyclopedias of Boerne stuff & they’re the nicest people I can think of! Thank you!

22 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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MY TOWN

24 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

In 1992, Daniel and Esther Edeh founded the Ministry of Mercy Orphanage in a tiny village in remote Nigeria called Otutulu. What began as a moment of compassion by taking in a motherless child has grown to a fully functioning orphanage currently housing over 300 children. Local residents, namely the Styskal Family of Cordillera Ranch, began making trips to the orphanage on missionary and humanitarian trips. Eventually, the Styskal’s home church, Cibolo Creek Community Church in Fair Oaks, decided that the orphanage would be the recipient of their gracious giving. After many pilgrimages to the village and the orphanage, travel was arranged for Esther and Daniel to fly to Boerne for some medical check-ups, and as a long-awaited opportunity for them to meet the many people that had donated to the orphanage, in turn allowing the community to meet these two amazingly vibrant and wonderful people.

BRIEFLY WALK THROUGH WHAT THE ORPHANAGE IS AND WHY YOU’RE HERE: Well, the orphanage started on August 1, 1992. It didn’t start as an orphanage. A profoundly mentally retarded young girl was handed over to my father’s family by Mrs. Caroline Gross, who served as a missionary from your country to our own country, when she could no longer cope with this girl. She was growing older and the girl was growing too strong that she could not cope with her. So [she found] a good family that would be able to take care of this girl. After some time, a motherless baby was brought to my wife and I and we were asked if we could take care of her. By that time, we had a baby girl and we agreed to take that motherless baby so that my wife could breastfeed two of them and bring them up as twins. And that’s how we started. How it started spreading was that two of them were very ill. We took two of them to the hospital and two of them needed a blood transfusion. I couldn’t transfuse two of them and my wife couldn’t because she was breastfeeding a set of twins, so we decided that I would donate blood to our motherless baby. It was a very hard decision. After some time, God provided somebody who finally donated to our own charity and the news just spread of what we are doing. So people started bringing motherless babies. When we officially started, we had nine babies. Today, we have two orphanages and two of them together are getting to four hundred in number as a family. CIBOLO CREEK COMMUNITY CHURCH: When we started, Caroline Gross was really taking care of everything about the home that was being established. People started asking the question, “What would happen if [she] died?” We said, “That is left for God to decide.”

DECEMBER 2014

But sooner than later, God started bringing people into our lives. Like you, I’ve never met you. I’m sure it’s true that [you know] somebody who knows somebody who knows us. And the same way, people started hearing about the orphanage. And our dear sister, Mrs. Julie Styskal, had the privilege of visiting and took the news back to a local church here, Cibolo Creek Community Church. With few pictures she brought, they felt that it was a place to invest and they started helping us. In fact, Mrs. Styskal has made several trips to the orphanage. Not just visiting, bringing medical teams and social workers. I think if not up to, about 25 times. She has made this trip for the past ten years. That’s how she got Cibolo Creek Community Church to be involved.

playing with them. And from there they took us to a place…this…what do you call this…uhh?

WHAT IS THE MOST FUN THING YOU HAVE DONE HERE? Well we came on September 16th of this year and we were warmly welcomed by our friends. Before we came, there were arrangements for us to have some medical checkups, which we did. There were lots of medical issues that we had to tackle. Then I went to North Carolina for a week seminar which was so exciting and I learned a lot. CHE, we call it – Community Health Evangelism. When we talk about excitements, everything here excites us. Your road network, your electricity, your water, traffic rules and regulations being adhered to! So yeah…everything here is awesome! I think we see that corruption is not deeply into the system as it is back home.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT? I think the best food we have eaten here is every food that is available. We like and love your food. Everything is awesome! I don’t know your food by name, but virtually every dish that is prepared for us is great. We have been enjoying all sorts of meat: pork, beef, chicken, everything!

HOW WAS SEA WORLD? Oh wow! Lots of sightseeing. Our friend, Mrs. Julie Styskal and her children took us to Sea World. We were able to not only see whales, but relating with them and

ROLLER COASTER? Ohhh no! Yeah, I believe in venturing so I thought it was something that I would do for fun, but I discovered it is no fun. I wouldn’t do it again; I think I am done with it. They have a spot there that they have camera set up that can take your photo and I told Julie to print it out for me so that I can have it. But when they printed out the photo, she couldn’t see me there. And the reason was that when I held onto the bottom of my seat, I said, “Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” and I was buried [in my seat]. It was no fun, no fun. I don’t think it’s meant for people of my age.

WHAT’S LEFT ON YOUR TRIP? After we are done with medical checkups, we are hoping to go to Colorado and spend two weeks there. Our daughters are there and we would like to see them and maybe a few other friends there, before we continue to Nigeria. We are already very very homesick. We want to go back to our children [at the orphanage]. Since we left, more babies have come to the orphanage and we can’t wait to see them.

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26 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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DEEP SPIRITUAL

THOUGHTS

If God knew that Adam and Eve were going to sin and ruin the whole deal, then why create us in the first place? Since God knows everything and can certainly know what we’re going to do before we do it, then as soon as He had the idea of man, why wouldn’t He just back up and say “Man, forget it. It’s going to be a mess, anyway.” Why would God be angry…EVER? He is perfect love. He knows all of our sins before we even do them, and forgives them eternally. Then why invest in the emotional turmoil of becoming angry with us? If I am saved, yet struggle with a particular sin every day until I die, will I still keep my salvation? Can He ever throw His hands up in the air and say “I’m done with this”? Does God ever give up on you? If He pursues a person throughout their lifetime, and yet they sin horrifically, does He ever turn His back on them? Did He pursue Hitler until the moment he died? Hell – is it literally a pit of fire? If so, will you really burn for all ETERNITY? How can the human mind even process that pain FOREVER? The impossibility (and horror) of this gives me the shivers. For a God of perfect love, Hell is one seriously angry concept. How does He handle people that were raised in a certain religion, even if it was the wrong one? We didn’t pick our parents. If my parents raised me Buddhist, and at the age of 17 I was a devout Buddhist, and then I died in a car crash – did I ever have the opportunity to seek the TRUTH? I was brain-washed toward a certain religion, so does He give me an opportunity at the pearly gates to know Him? Or am I tossed into Hell for all eternity because of my lack of knowledge? Is there a particular sin that is simply unforgiveable? Can I kill enough people to render salvation something I can’t have? God did so much cool stuff in the Bible – the Red Sea, the Plagues, Sodom and Gomorrah….how come that stuff doesn’t happen in today’s age? Wouldn’t it be awesome if an army of angels showed up and wiped out ISIS with a heavenly battle that obliterated them? Or if the skies opened and a loud voice boomed down, “Seriously America – knock it off!”? Noah lived to be 950 years old. Why did God change this and cap our lifespan at 120? And what changed? Did Noah look 9 years old when he was 100? Or did he grow to adulthood and then simply not age for 800 years or so? If Christ is the beginning and the end of our eternal fate, He’s pretty much the most important element of our entire existence. With so much on the line, why doesn’t He make Himself visible? If I pray every day to Him for my entire life, it would seem like He could show up and talk with me….at least ONCE. Right? Yes, I know that He can talk to you, as I’ve heard Him myself. I know He is there, but He talked to Moses and Noah and countless others not only with His voice, but with a miraculous presence. I want that, too. He could just show up at the foot of my bed and reassure me a little and tell me I’m getting things right. Or He could show up and tell me to clean it up a little and to make some changes. Whatever it is, with my eternal fate on the line, I want to see Him. I get that faith doesn’t necessarily get tangible, tactile evidence of my belief, but it doesn’t mean I can’t want it. The mysteries of God are endless. Heck, even the concept of eternity is impossible for the human mind to comprehend. My God that can create this universe, and probably chuckle at my ridiculously simplistic (yet genuine) questions, has a power and knowledge that is literally staggering. If you mix that power and knowledge with a love for me and you that stretches throughout all time, then all we can do is marvel at it, close our eyes and pray some more.

By Kendall D. Aaron :: kendall@hillcountryexplore.com I have commented multiple times in this column that I am no Bible scholar. Yeah, that bends people out of shape because then they shriek “Then how can you write a ‘spiritual’ article?!” My answer is simple: “Because I’m a person in pursuit of God.” With that said, the Bible (and religion in general) confuses me frequently. It’s a difficult concept for the mind, and while the pursuit of Him is never a bad thing, it can be a frustrating thing at times. There are just so many questions that are next to impossible to address, much less understand. Yes, a full-fledged bible scholar might be able to unpack a few of the deeper questions, but at the end of the day, I’m still left with a myriad of questions that don’t trouble me, but they do confuse me. Simply as a part of my own journaling, I jotted down a few of the perplexing mysteries of religion (perplexing to me, at least). Some of you may have the answers, and if so, I’d love to hear the answers. For those of you out there that might be nodding your head about the confusions of God, I pledge to pass along the answers should I find them. Will there be sex in heaven? If God hard-wired men and women to pursue sex, does He simply take away this desire? As a red-blooded male, I’m not sure I approve of the idea of an eternity without sex.

28 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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Kendall Woods Dental 30 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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ADVENTURE

The alarm on my phone goes off. I have no sleep to blink or rub from my eyes because it’s only been two hours since laying down. The time is 1:15am on a Saturday morning and while I’m filled with anticipation for the coming day, it feels as if 50lb weights are strapped to each of my limbs. I stumble downstairs, having slept on the sofa upstairs to spare my wife the annoyance of being awakened so early by an alarm, and start getting ready for the 4 1/2 hour drive ahead of me. I curse whoever came up with the brilliant idea of putting Halloween on the day before MY big event. I had the plan all laid out. I was going to bed by 9:00pm to get at least four hours of sleep before waking up at stupid early fifteen. But when you have little kids, for some reason their joy takes precedence over your need to

S G N I W E H T L E E T S F O

S L E G N A

By Ben Weber (and he took all the photos too!)

remain awake to prevent death on the road in the middle of the night. As it was, my children were having such a great time passing out candy to roughly 1 billion trick or treaters in our neighborhood, I didn’t get to bed until 10:30pm. Then true to form I couldn’t stop thinking about what needed to be done or packed or not forgotten in a few hours. With everything loaded, I cracked open my rocket fuel (Rockstar energy drink, fruit punch flavored, yummy) and pulled out of the driveway. Time: 1:30am. First stop, San Antonio. You see, I don’t do things like this alone. I make sure someone is there to suffer with me. And keep me awake so we don’t “pass” in a fiery inferno of twisted metal, plastic and photography equipment. Strangely enough, there was good music on the radio that early

so the drive to the Sea World area wasn’t so unpleasant. At approximately 2:00am I pulled into my fellow idiot’s driveway, let’s call him Frank. As planned, Frank was ready to go at 2:00am; he loaded his equipment and we were off. Where you may ask? Houston. To what end? An air show. Stop laughing and let me explain. Frank and I are huge aviation fans. My dad flew B-52 bombers for the Air Force and I grew up around his love of aircraft. Obviously it rubbed off. I had (actually still have) books and toys and posters and t-shirts with planes on them. I built scale models and went to air shows at Randolph and Lackland in San Antonio. It’s been a lifelong obsession of all things aviation. Frank’s

My dad, Rodney M. Weber - Pilot training.

32 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

background was similar. Even though we’re much older, we still turn into little kids when we see or get around airplanes, and for years San Antonio air shows have been as reliable as the sun rising in the morning. Until two years ago. Frank and I had been planning on attending that year’s air show for months. We had been before but this time was going to be different. This time around it was going to be just us. No wives. No kids. Just a couple of professionally amateur photographer plane nuts renting some photo gear that was waaay above our pay grades and spending the day at our wonderland. Then roughly a month before the show, the sequester was put into effect. You know that thing that was so horrible everyone thought the powers that be would never let it happen? Well, it happened. And as a result, it grounded all “nonessential” military flying which included the flight demo teams, Blue Angels and Thunderbirds. And since half of the air show is other military aircraft, it put the skids on the whole event. I was devastated. Truly crushed. Tell a child Santa isn’t real. Or that their dog died. That’s how I felt. But this trip was going to be our vindication. So what if San Antonio, a city with two of the largest Air Force training facilities (Randolph is a primary stopping point for pilot training and one of the places my dad trained at in the 70s), wasn’t allowed an air show? So what if the show was in Houston and we had to buy tickets (San Antonio shows were always free)? We didn’t care. We were going. Maybe it was because we were excited about what was going to happen that day. Maybe it was because it was the wee hours of the morning. Whatever the reason, the drive, which I had made just two weeks prior but in the daytime, flew by. Before we knew it was 5:30am and we were driving through Katy and only 30 minutes from where the show was being held. So close we could almost smell the jet fuel.

After navigating the stupidity that is the highway system in Houston, we arrived at our destination. Almost. Since it was 6:00am and I had been driving since 1:30am and only on two and a half hours of sleep, I wasn’t really using common sense or reading the context clues. I saw a gate that said Ellington Field with a line of cars going through. That must be where I go. I see military guards looking at IDs of the cars in front of me. Context clue ignored. Didn’t seem that out of the ordinary. I mean, there were military aircraft at the show and that particular field is part military part civilian. As I pulled up to the guards I handed my driver’s license to the MP who was probably 10 years younger than me. He took the ID and stopped. You know that look on someone’s face when they smell something a little weird and can’t figure out where it came from? That’s the look on this kid’s face. “What are you doing here?” “Going to the air show.” “Do you have any documentation?” “I have the tickets.” “Sir you’re in the wrong place.” Oh. Ummm. Stupid damn GPS and zero sleep. One MP, the one who asked for documentation was not so friendly. I can’t blame him. I was wasting his time and holding up the growing line of cars trying to get through the gate that were really supposed to be there. The other MP, the one with my ID instructed me to make a U turn and get my ID on the other side of the station. He then kindly told us where to go. No, it wasn’t hell. We set off in the direction where he said we would find signs. There were no signs.

DECEMBER 2014

Twenty minutes of driving, stopping, asking for more directions, stopping, thinking we found the spot, then thinking better, we FINALLY made it to the parking area. We were jazzed. Hopped out of the car and… holy jeez it’s cold!! Cold and windy. After a great 15 second debate, we agreed it was best to sit in the car and try to nap until the gates opened. We were only two hours early. Why not? Frank was snoring in 5 minutes. I was still hopped up on my rocket fuel and couldn’t keep my eyes closed. After getting spooked by some tow trucks that showed up close to us we decided to find yet another parking spot, grabbed all our gear and went to stand in line out in the cold. When the gates finally opened we bolted to get our spot along the fence line for prime, unobstructed airplane viewing awesomeness. Actually, I bolted. Frank drives like an old woman and walks like one too. We found our spot, laid claim, and set up our gear. Then we waited. Time flows at the same pace no matter what is happening. It’s our circumstance and perception that causes it to speed up or slow down. And when you’re wearing shorts and a light pull over fleece jacket, facing into wind with a chill of about 45 degrees… time practically stands still.

I’m a grown man sitting in a B-52, and at the same time, I was a little kid at that moment. So many stories came back to me, and more emotion than I care to admit. Maybe that’s why I came to the air show to begin with; it brought me a little closer to my dad. This was HIS plane, and sitting in this tiny co-pilot’s seat was about as close to him as I could be on this cold Saturday morning. I walked back down the steps, making room for all the kids clamoring to get a view inside the huge jet, and did a final walk around before turning to head back to my chair along the fence before the show and the flying officially starts. The day officially starts and the planes begin to fly. WWII warbirds, acrobatic planes that make you glad you’re the one with both feet on the ground, a fly-by of a P-51 Mustang and a German ME-262 (the first jet airplane to enter any military service), some Vietnam era jets and then the grand finale: The Navy Blue Angels. If you have never seen this group perform you’re missing out. The skill that is demonstrated in precision handling jets traveling at 400mph is incredible. The military

To pass the time, per our original plan, one of us stayed at our spot along the fence, while the other ran around like a kid in a candy store taking photos of the static displays. For those who aren’t familiar with air show speak, those are the planes on display that do not actually fly during the show. When it was my turn to go play, there was really only one plane I was after and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I got there. I mentioned earlier my dad flew B-52s, and there happened to be one on display at the show. I’m always excited to see one in person, but this time was different.

On January 1 of this year my dad passed away. Even though he had been in and out of the hospital for most of 2013, for me it was unexpected. Seeing the plane that had brought us together and been the source of so many memories was going to be tough. As I approached the beautiful behemoth, I was filled with the feeling of seeing a loved one after a long absence. There was no sadness. Only a friendly, familiar warmth as I approach and ran my hand along the gray riveted metal that makes up one of the engines. I walked around slowly, making sure to look not only through the camera viewfinder but with my own eyes unobstructed by glass and plastic. I notice details I had never seen before. A ladder up to the cockpit shows me a view I had also not seen before. The co-pilot’s seat. That’s where dad would have sat. I realized how small the space is. With a plane that big, it’s easy to think the crew has tons of room to move around during a flight, plenty of room to get up a move around and get the blood flowing. I guess that explains why he once told a story of almost getting frost bite on his toes during a mission through Canada and Alaska. I climbed into the seat, slowly put my hands on the yoke, and just stared at the marvel of it all. Countless dials and switches. Levers and lights and buttons. I held on firmly and just looked at my hands. This is what my dad’s hands looked like while holding a virtually identical yoke. Yes,

uses these groups, Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, as recruiting tools. Who wouldn’t want to sign up after seeing fighter jets fly 18” apart while going REALLY fast? And that speed makes for a fun challenge when taking photos. Between the two of us, Frank and I probably took about 2,000 images just in the 20 minutes the Blue Angels were flying. Thank goodness for digital cameras. After the smoke and crowds had cleared we made our way back to the car. It was now roughly 6:00pm and we were beat. It’s easy to say photographers have an easy, glamorous job. But you try it and see how easy it is to carry 20lbs of camera equipment all day while trying to take good photos. Not as easy as it may look. AND we still had to drive back home. Frank and I got the adventure we wanted. As admitted aeronautic nuts, we were more than satisfied to leave with memory cards full of images and the smell of jet fuel all over the interior of the car. San Antonio might get an air show in the future, or maybe not. It doesn’t really matter, I suppose. We’ll be there, wherever it is we must go. We’ll go for the planes, and for the images that they’ll give us. For me, I’ll go for the exhilaration of the show itself, but I’ll also run my hands along the controls of a B-52 while I sit in the co-pilot’s seat. And I’ll simply smile.

www.hillcountryexplore.com

Tingo Vino Cellars is a beautiful wine bar, craft beers, appetizers and gifts shop located across from the Cibolo Creek duck pond on River Road only 2 blocks from Main Street Boerne Texas. Tingo vino Cellars has wines from 9 different Texas Wineryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adding new wines every month. Our beautiful wine bar & shop is located across from Cibolo Creek, and is only a block from downtown Boerne. With our outdoor patio facing the creek we have created a casual atmosphere that anyone can enjoy. Host your event during store operation hours or reserve Sundays for private parties.

BUY ONE GLASS OF WINE, GET ONE FREE OR 10% OFF A BOTTLE OF WINE

one coupon per visit. redeemable for craft and domestic beer Coupon expires 12/31/2014. Bring coupon to redeem.

Tingo Vino Is Open Wednesday-Saturday hosting live music every Saturday evening.

412 River Rd. | Boer ne, TX | 830.331.2772 | tingovinocellars.com

34 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

D L O S 108 Northview Ln. $625,00

8.36 Acre gem in Boerne, TX. Custom 4/2.5 home located in Ranger Creek. Features include controlled entry to property, park-like setting, pool, outdoor speakers, and an outdoor porch.

437 Stone Creek $239,000

Totally renovated. New ceramic tile and laminate and carpeting throughout! Freshly painted in neutral colors. New stainless oven/range, dishwasher and fresh landscaping in front yard. Oversized back yard (lot size is 1/3 ac!) Room for swimming pool, garden, putting green!!! Close to walking trail and downtown Boerne. Reduced for quick sale!

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PRICED TO SELL. Waterfront property in River Mountain Ranch with private access! Custom home built with views of the Guadalupe from the master bedroom, family room, and balcony. Outdoor balcony runs the length of the home and features a fireplace and surround sound speakers. Private road on the property going down to the river. 3.57 acres. MLS #1077562

angela@smvtexas.com www.boernetexashomes.com

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Bluebonnet Realty

COOKING

CZECH THE halls This month, Chef Denise Mazal zaps our taste buds awake with a delicious Czech holiday treat. STRUDEL! Wow your holiday guests this season with the delicately flaky crust and sweet filling. Compliments of and to the chef.

Many thanks to the staff and chefs at Little Gretel for assisting with the production of this special section.

36 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

Apple strudel Ingredients for dough: 350 grams all purpose flour 1 egg 150 ml warm milk Pinch of salt Ingredients for filling: Âź cup bread crumbs 3 lb Granny Smith apples, peeled, grated (lightly squeeze the juice out) 3 Tbsp cinnamon Â˝ cup raisons 1.2 cup pecans 125 grams sugar Egg wash: 2 egg yolks 1Tbsp milk Powder sugar for decoration

DIRECTIONS To make the dough: In the mixing bowl combine flour, salt, milk, egg. Knead the dough until is smooth. Form the dough into a ball, brush it with a little oil, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest form 40 minutes in room temperature. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board. Using your hands, gently stretch the dough thinner on all sides. Stretch it until it starts to look translucent. Spread the bread crumbs, apples onto the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon, raisons, pecans. Roll strudel onto parchment paper so that the seam is down. Brush with eggs wash. Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Cut in diagonal 1.5 inch wide slices. Sprinkle with powder sugar

Chef Dame Denise Mazal Member of Czech Culinary Associations, WACS and LDEI Honored by Best Chefs America BCA

DECEMBER 2014

www.hillcountryexplore.com

SHADES of VAPE Shades of Vape offers personal vapor electronic cigarettes, E-juices/E-liquids, and Vaping accessories. If you want to put the cigarettes down and transition your life style, we can help. Whether you smoke socially, have a heavy habit, smoked for decades, dip snuff, chew tobacco or simply want something to help curb that sweet tooth, we have a flavor and device to help.

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BEHIND MARY’S TACOS

38 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

Customized Solutions

From start to finish we want you to be comfortable with your Performance Land Cruisers experience. We can tailor our services to meet the level of input you want. As early as guiding you during the initial purchase of your vehicle, transport, suggestions for customization or conversion options we will be there every step of the way. Your Performance Land Cruiser might be your every day driver, your ranch/utility or your conversation piece vehicle. But rest assured it will continue to perform for years to come and we want you to enjoy your vehicle for whatever purpose you have for it.

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LIFE

By Paul Wilson

A few days after my fiftieth birthday, I had an epiphany. It was one of those otherwise unspectacular moments that would become pivotal to the rest of my life. I was lying in bed early one morning thinking through my day when a disturbing thought punched me right in the face. “I now have less life ahead of me than I have behind me.”

Or was I just another middle-aged, white male embarking on a mid-life crisis?

Career. It is completely normal. Where it all goes wrong is at irresponsibility, immaturity and stupidity.

I’m telling you, it was very visceral. It wasn’t a panic attack. It was more like one of those desperate “I’m running out of time!” feelings. I remember my eyes exploding open at the realization of this urgent dawning.

Well, it was a crisis of sorts. And it was around the midpoint of my life. But this was very different! Let me explain.

I happen to think a good crisis somewhere around the halfway point of our life is actually a very healthy thing. Somewhere around that time in our life, most of us need somebody to take us by the shoulders and shake us out of our mid-life malaise.

Unless I completely crush the current life expectancy for American males and live to be one hundred, I have lived the longest stretch of my life at this point in the ballgame. While I am not quite prepared to think of the rest of my life as being downhill from here, I’m certainly closer to the end than I’ve ever been. I laid there for a quite a while longer that morning, thinking about all that I still wanted to do in my life. Most disturbing to me was the list of things I had neglected for so long. Had I run out of time to do all of them? By the time my feet hit the floor that morning, I was on a crusade. I was a man on a mission.

Generally, we use the term “mid-life crisis” in a derogatory manner to describe the irresponsible shenanigans of someone trying to relive the past. People having the stereotypical mid-life crisis start combing what’s left of their hair differently, wearing the clothes of a hip college crowd, and buying a car that says something that hasn’t been true of them for a very long time. New car or truck purchases among middle-aged divorcees (a classic midlife crisis move) are almost always black (tough) or red (sexy) vehicles. Can you say compensating? However, if we study the dynamics of a mid-life crisis, we can learn a thing or two about the human spirit. A mid-life crisis is simply the angst of dormant ambitions trapped under a layer of life called Marriage, Parenting &

A good mid-life crisis is healthy. The operative word here is “good.” There is a good mid-life crisis and a bad one. A good mid-life crisis precipitates long overdue introspection and fuels important changes needed to shift our life out of neutral. A bad mid-life crisis jettisons personal responsibility and does stupid stuff in an immature attempt to be something you failed to become over the previous thirty years of your life. Don’t confuse the two. There is an enormous difference between pursuing long neglected goals and trying to be something you aren’t anymore. They are not the same thing. One is noble. The other is not even close.

40 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

Part of my work as a life coach is helping clients understand that the fundamental building blocks of living are thinking, choosing and doing. Our thoughts influence our choices, and our choices determine our actions. Once a client understands this important truth, it puts them in the driver seat of determining their destiny. Ultimately, anything we want to see happen in our life will come down to taking action; doing something about what we want to become. If you don’t eventually take action, it will never become a reality. There are Dreamers and Doers. Only Doers see their dreams come true. Take, for example, your Bucket List. You have one, right? I am big fan of Bucket Lists. A Bucket List is a catalog of “Things I Want to Do Before I Die.” It can be a list of exciting adventures, significant accomplishments, or important priorities. It’s not as important what a person has on their Bucket List as it is that they have one. My Bucket List is going to be different from yours. Mine is the stuff of pushing myself further than I thought I could go, the acquisition of new skills and a quest for adventurous experiences.

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?” is the question that saturates my Bucket List. Your ambitions, your personality, your view of the world are different from mine. Therefore, your list of what you want to accomplish or experience before you die is not going to be the same as mine and that’s okay. What’s important is that you have an idea of what you’d like to accomplish with the limited time and energy remaining in your one and only life. A good Bucket List gets you off the couch and into the game. It should be both inspirational and motivational. But trust me, you are not going to accomplish anything on your Bucket List if you don’t first get busy doing what it takes to make it happen.

How people dress and what they drive can be a clue to adult insecurities. The frequency of resume citing and name-dropping interjected into most every conversation is also a telltale sign. The tough talking “I don’t give a damn” bravado portrayed by both men and women are classic signs of fear. Most Facebook pages are a digital billboard of photos and posts that scream, “I crave your approval.” From the amount of spray tanning, teeth whitening, hair styling, cleavage bearing, makeup applying, and gut sucking going on at parties for the over-forty crowd, you’d think we were all back in the eighth grade again.

anger, guilt, and resentment that haunt you while putting off what needs to be done. It leaves you feeling like a loser. This is why procrastinating is never satisfying or fulfilling. It is always accompanied by negative emotions that take a toll on our spirit.

Insecurities are fears resulting from painful experiences in life that undermined our confidence and left us with a lingering sense of inadequacy. We eventually adopted these beliefs about ourselves and permitted them to define us. We convinced ourselves we really are (fill in the blank): stupid, ugly, incapable, talentless, uncoordinated, worthless, or all of the above. All because of something that happened or something someone said to us years ago. None of which is true, of course, but we have chosen to believe it is.

QUITTING I have always thought of myself as a very tenacious person. My wife might call it stubborn or hardheaded, of course. I just don’t like to give up on something that’s important to me. I will keep at it until I figure it out and become proficient at it. From learning a new skill to protecting an important value, I can be very persistent.

Most of the painful experiences that have shaped our insecurities go all the way back to the time we were children. That means, then, we have lived with these insecurities almost all of our lives.

I rolled out of bed that day with a brand new determination to finish what I had started. Waiting any longer was to risk losing what I had always wanted to do with my life. And I’d have nobody to blame but myself.

Maybe it’s time we see them for what they are and stop letting them define our life. Growing up doesn’t have to do with getting taller. Sometimes it means maturing to a point where unfounded fears based on experiences from the past no longer rule us.

Here two years later, I am closer than I’ve ever been.

My concern here is how these insecurities and fears immobilize us from pursuing our dreams and ambitions. Our insecurities can paralyze us from even attempting to do something we’ve always wanted to accomplish. It’s sad to think how often our fear of failure or our dread of what people might think keeps us from our dreams.

You have to act. Otherwise, our dreams remain fantasies inside our head and never see the light of day. The more time I spend coaching people who want to live their life with greater purpose, the more I realize that most of them face three obstacles. They are:

Procrastination is the desert where dreams go to die. The harsh land of Someday has suffocated the life out of many “I Want To’s.”

Fear Procrastination Quitting FEAR I am surprised by how many adults let their fears and insecurities define the boundaries in their life. I shouldn’t be. I have been one of them from time to time. We mistakenly assume that fears and insecurities are things of the past; stuff we wrestled with when we were kids. All of us remember Junior High School! But here, later in our lives, we have outgrown our insecurities and become confident, courageous adults, right? Wrong! Adults are some of the most insecure people around. Age only makes it more unbecoming. Watching grown men and women try to compensate for their fears and insecurities is a fascinating study of human behavior for a people watcher like me.

DECEMBER 2014

PROCRASTINATION Procrastination is particularly sinister at robbing people of their dreams. It deceives us into thinking there is still time to get to do what we want with our lives. Then we wake up one day and we have run out of the time, or energy, to do what it takes.

While we all procrastinate in different ways, we almost always do so for one of the same two reasons. Sometimes procrastination is about paralysis. We are either so overwhelmed with not knowing what to do or with how much needs to be done that we find it difficult to take the first step. “Paralysis by analysis” renders us immobile as we try to anticipate all the variables, figure out all the solutions and eliminate all the risks before we pull the trigger. At other times, procrastination is about avoidance. This is classic procrastination at its worst. Putting off what needs to be done when you possess the talent and the time to do it is an especially unbecoming character trait. The unfortunate downside of procrastination is what it does to our self-respect. It erodes our sense of personal integrity. Procrastination stirs dreadful feelings like fear,

Whether generated by paralysis or by avoidance, procrastination can become the archenemy of your Bucket List or any other ambition in your life. Putting off what you need to do to see your dreams become a reality puts you at risk of waking up years later wishing you had started earlier.

However, lying in bed on that morning of my half-century epiphany, I realized I had left a lot of unfinished projects in the wake of my last thirty years. So many that it really annoyed me.

The time to start on what you’ve always wanted to do begins right now. The only thing that can stop you is you. Whatever our ambition, if we cut through all of the explanations and excuses, the only thing keeping us from achieving our goals is quitting. Call it whatever you want. You got derailed, distracted or even discouraged. But when you decided not to take another step forward toward achieving your ambitions, you quit. Every person who has a dream will encounter a million obstacles. You must find your way through, over, under or around each of them if you hope to get where you want to go. But you’ll never get there if you quit. The key to getting where you want to go is to quit quitting! Your dream - that thing you’ve always wanted to do, to be or to become - doesn’t have to remain a wish or a fantasy. It’s not just the stuff of positive thinking and naive ambition. If you can imagine it, you can create a plan and a strategy for pursuing it. Then, with enormous amounts of diligence, discipline and determination, go for it! Expect delays and obstacles along the way. They are inevitable. They are your teachers and your trainers. What you learn by navigating your way through each of them reveals the depth of your passion and the character of your commitment. The only thing that can ultimately steal your dream away from you is quitting. And that’s on you. If you quit, you have nobody to blame but yourself. And that’s what we call regret. And regret, my friend, is a heavy burden to carry around with you for the rest of your life. So, I just have one question for you. What’s next on your Bucket List?

www.hillcountryexplore.com

The Yoga House, located in Boerne, TX, offers beginner friendly yoga classes and workshops. Here at The Yoga House, there are no contracts, no memberships. We provide an environment free of marketing and sales reps – no hustling or hassling – just yoga and a growing community of yoga students who love to learn, practice and relax with others who love yoga and good company. Our house rule is simple, “keep yoga simple”. We offer restorative, challenging and fun yoga classes in an affordable way; in a basic space where the main focus of the space is yoga. Come try a class. No experience necessary.

Rachel Villanueva

(210) 625-0280

9417 Aqua Dr., Boerne, TX

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.

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1440 River Road • Boerne, Texas 78006 • 830.816.5095

C ibolo C reek H ealtH . org

42 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

SAN MARCOS | (512) 667-6440 | 4200 IH35 SOUTH SUITE 200 SAN ANTONIO | (210) 549-1686 | LOOP 410 & BANDERA SAN ANTONIO | (210) 369-9654 | 2131 SW MILITARY

FITNESS

By Cathie De La Rosa

Hey Boys and Girls! Wow, I can’t believe by the time you’re reading this we will be close to wrapping up our 90 Day Fitness Challenge. Time flies when you’re having fun! I’m super proud of the group I’ve been privileged to work with. They’ve set goals, reassessed goals and set new ones. They’ve gotten knocked around a few times but have maintained positive attitudes. I’ve challenged them to up their cardio to help with weight loss and they responded. All but Stuart. Since his goal has been to try and build some muscle, I’ve had him doing minimal cardio during this time. I’ve been kind of in their faces about exercise. The bottom line is if you want to burn fat, you’ve got to work your body. That means cardio - heart beating fast, breathing hard, sweating, work… and as one of them pointed out, exercise is hard! Yes, it is. I remind them if they keep at it, they will get stronger and those initial aches of their body complaining will get less. But they can’t quit. Each day they are persistent is developing that lifestyle change that is important to them. Repeated acts will build long-term habits. I challenge them to exercise and eat well every day and they will be on the way to having results that last longer than an 8-week “diet”. I’ve also had them focusing on long-term goals as well as small, short-term goals. I’m so glad that all of

them have a long-term goal in mind of wanting to live a lifestyle of health and fitness; to be strong and healthy for themselves and for their loved ones. Short-term goals range anywhere from getting into smaller jeans, riding a bike and not feeling awkward, dunking a basketball, running a 5k, getting under a certain number each week and managing their favorite sweet treats. One of the biggest challenges for my group is managing favorite foods that they love to eat; learning to include them, but reduce and keep them in moderation. I’ve challenged them to think about everything they eat with this thought, “does it help me reach my health and fitness goals?” If the foods do, they should go ahead and eat them. If they don’t, they should have a small amount or put it on the backburner until they’ve reached a goal. I think for most of my group, they’ve faced the challenge of eating out and not only making better choices, but learning they don’t have to clean their plates. Since we aren’t doing diets or anything crazy restrictive they are able to enjoy foods they like, but are learning moderation, balance, and hopefully making healthier choices too. Of course what I celebrate with all of them are the things they’ve achieved during this time: • Weight loss, slow and steady, nothing extreme. • Changing sizes in clothes means inches are being lost. • Developing new mental strategies and ways to live and think.

Understanding their relationship with food, why do they eat? When? What triggers them to eat when they’re not hungry? This is such a huge step to put food in a proper balance in their lives. Learning to not turn to food when they are stressed, happy, mad, bored etc. Looking at food as fuel and what kinds of fuel do they offer their bodies. They’ve also learned to acknowledge and see the difference between real hunger and an appetite for something. In this last month we have left, I will continue to challenge them to assess not just their food relationship, but also to faithfully learn to schedule and balance physical activity like they do anything else in their days. No excuses. I will challenge them to turn things up a bit more. Can they step up exercise? Are they really being diligent about their portions and types of foods they eat? Are they thinking in positive ways about themselves? Are they mindful of the goals they have in place for themselves? My hope and plan is that when we wrap up the challenge, they are in a place to keep moving forward and hitting their goals that go beyond our challenge and carry them into the year of 2015, stronger, leaner, more fit and most of all, healthy.

STUART As time has gone on, how has the challenge changed for you? Is it easier or harder? Prior to the challenge, I never lifted weights. For the first few weeks, my mind and body were adjusting to working out. Now, it’s normal. Now, it’s a part of my routine. It’s easier to make time for my workouts, and the weights I lift have steadily increased, so you could say it’s harder. What habits are developing for you that you think will be permanent? I believe I will continue to fit a workout into my busy schedule. The cool part of continuing to work out is that this could be part of my legacy to my kids. When teaching kids life lessons, actions speak louder than words, and so I want be an example of healthy living. Some of the habits I am developing now could rub off on my boys and daughter. Which activities are your favorite? I have spent the past couple months focused on lifting weights – primarily upper body and core. I’m in-

clined to say my ab workouts. It is probably the most noticeable physical change. Which activities do you hate? All upper body workouts. How has Cathie supported your efforts during the challenge? Cathie has been our loudest cheerleader. She is great about offering workout tips/pointers or suggesting additional activities. Plus, she gets on these motivational speech soapboxes that really encourage us to continue the fight. What will you focus on the most during your last 30 days? Since these last 30 days are in the middle of the holiday season, it seems fitting to focus on my diet and not over eating! I recognize excessive eating will be counterproductive to my goals and I want to push forward… not go backwards.

44 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

LARA As time has gone on, how has the challenge changed for you? Is it easier or harder? It has become easier to make good eating choices but harder to make good workout choices. The cold weather doesn’t help, but then I remember how much better I will feel after, so I push through.

ELIZABETH As time has gone on, how has the challenge changed for you? Is it easier or harder? As we moved into the final stretch, I found that I needed to increase what I’m doing. I don’t need to do more, I just need to increase the intensity and go heavier on the weights. I realized I wasn’t feeling like I had done a workout. My body had adjusted to the workload. It’s easier in the sense of getting the workouts in, but it’s harder in terms of experiencing the more intense workouts. At the end of the workout I feel fantastic, though! What habits are developing for you that you think will be permanent? I thought the eating habits would be the most difficult. It certainly was at the beginning, but now I have a firm grip on the reality of choosing a couple of my delicious cookies for a snack rather than the better choice of fresh fruits and veggies.

What habits are developing for you that you think will be permanent? My hope that the change in eating habits will stick around for good. At first it was hard to make good choices when going out to eat, but over time even that has become easier. I am finding my new normal to be healthier in general. Jogging has become a regular, not one that I enjoy, but I do enjoy the peace that comes with being out on the road alone in my thoughts.

Which activities do you hate? I’m really not enjoying the extra laundry that working out five times a week brings to my laundry room. Aside from cycle class (which is so hard!), I don’t like the stationary bikes, treadmills and similar machines. I’d rather be outside, moving through the neighborhoods. How has Cathie supported your efforts during the challenge? Cathie has been very supportive of the beginning of my journey to getting in shape and being a much healthier version of me. She has been in my corner to celebrate the victories as well as helping to come up with a different approach to weeks that didn’t go quite as well as planned.

Which activities do you hate? Pretty much all of them. How has Cathie supported your efforts during the challenge? Motivational messages and touching base at least once a week with an encouraging word or a reminder that this is not a process that will happen overnight. What will you focus on the most during your last 30 days? Pushing myself harder than before to finish strong and make everyone who has supported me and spoken into me proud!

RON As time has gone on, how has the challenge changed for you? Is it easier or harder? I would say that losing weight has become harder as I get closer towards my goal but the challenge itself, or better said, the habits created by the challenge, are easier. What habits are developing for you that you think will be permanent? I won’t lie to you. I still lie in bed most every morning dreading the idea of getting out of bed and exercising. But at the same time, I know how bad I will feel if I don’t do it. It takes less and less time to convince myself to get out of bed and move.

Which activities are your favorite? I really enjoy the community feel of the group exercise classes. Everyone coming together to take care of their bodies, supporting one another and the energy in the room usually stays with me all day!

Which activities are your favorite? None of them.

Which activities are your favorite? Walking is what helped me lose the first 80 or so pounds and I think it is still my favorite activity. It’s more than just exercise; it’s a decompression time. Which activities do you hate? I tried spinning for the first time just recently. I hated the idea of trying it. I hated the time I was doing it. But then when I was done, I thought to myself, “Let’s do it again!” I don’t know that I hate anything yet. If I do, I usually only have to look in the mirror at the transformation of my body and I know every sacrifice I made was a good one. How has Cathie supported your efforts during the challenge? Cathie has been a great supporter. She has provided tips on exercise, dieting, goals and so much more. It’s been nice to share successes and failures with someone who has been in my shoes. She knows the path. She’s been there. She’s done it. She talks it and walks it. What will you focus on the most during your last 30 days? I am adding more time to my workouts. I am forcing myself to try new things, like spinning. I want to have a strong finish.

What will you focus on the most during your last 30 days? During this final stretch, I will focus mostly on the continual process of improving my food choices. I am also looking forward to continuing a steady weight loss each week. There’s a pair of Rock Revival jeans calling my name!

DECEMBER 2014

www.hillcountryexplore.com

Old

Timer

Old Timer is our resident cranky old guy. We all know one or love one, and we’ve become quite fond of Old Timer, and enjoy letting him spout off about stuff that he sees happening around town.

BECAUSE

I SAID

SO Boerne is chock full of some really neat historic buildings. As much as Boerne changes and we are slowly overrun by the tidal wave of “growth” coming out of the black hole of San Antonio, we have been able to maintain many of these historic buildings, which I personally find pretty cool. That being said, as a curmudgeon, I have a variety of ideas for what should be done with these old buildings. Most of them have some sort of retail business in them nowadays, and I suppose that’s all well and good. Sometimes, though, we just need to make some changes. As such, I have taken it upon myself to reassign the tenants of some of our favorite buildings around town. Why? Because I can. Enjoy.

SHANOAH GALLERY This building is on North Main, and has since closed. My buddy used to run it. The building is seriously a health hazard. Nothing works inside, it leans to the side, and the toilet is literally about to fall through the flooring. The only fix here is to knock the bitch over. Replace it with a park bench. THE OLD LIBRARY A local family just bought this building and is moving in their retail boutique and bakery. Nope. I think that this could be a sweet spot for a sports bar. Sitting at all those windows, watching the world go by while sipping suds would be pretty badass. YE KENDALL INN I have always though that the Inn needed to better capitalize on its location and proximity to the river and the old pool. Because of this, I want Schlitterbahn to buy it and put in a giant slide down to the river. You could set up a lazy river that creeped around to the old pool, through town square and back again. I want this. Make it happen. SODA POPS Because it’s the size of a postage stamp, I’d like to put a friendly face in here that hands out brochures to local businesses and directs tourists on hot lunch spots, events, etc. Instead of its current use as a tourist trap, let’s turn it into a “tourist-point-in-the-right-direction” instead. CHAMBER of COMMERCE It has always irritated me that the Chamber is eating up prime real estate space on Main Street. Why? Cause I’ve got a history with those guys. I want them out. When they’re gone, we’re going to level the entire building and put in a parking lot. Boerne needs a parking lot more than it needs the Chamber on Main Street. HIP DINGO Their logo upsets me. I want a really nice cigar bar here. I want to see a bunch of men sitting around in a cloud of smoke on Main Street. It’ll upset those that freak out about 2nd hand smoke, but that only makes me want it more.

PLAZA PACKAGE LIQUOR Nobody touches Doug’s liquor business. Ever. As long as he’s there, Boerne holds to the last threads of our history. Doug never leaves. When he does, I’m leaving too. 259 RESTAURANT This place has that great Biergarten in the back with the horrific Road Hawgs name. Sigh. Throw ‘em all out. I want a dance hall. A real, authentic dance hall in here with live music and an actual Biergarten in the back…complete with women dressed in traditional German outfits. You know what I’m talking about. This would be amazing. BEAR MOON BAKERY Yeah, yeah, I know they’re popular, but I like Snowflake Donuts more (only cause they’re cheaper). Let’s move Snowflake in here, let Bear Moon move to Snowflake’s old place and watch the Donut Price Wars commence. Win/Win. CASA DÉCOR (Tin Roof) This building is utilized entirely wrong with a furniture joint in it. It’s time for Bumdoodler’s to move out of their teeny tiny little spot with no parking and move to BIG spot with no parking. BERGMANN’S PLUMBING (just empty lot now) What does Boerne need here? A Chuck E. Cheese’s obviously. All those little rascals playing along the river could drag their parents to the pizza joint and tear it up. Besides, it would save countless Boerne parents from having to drive to SA for birthday parties. TRADITIONS AT THE DEPOT This shall henceforth become an outfitter’s store. They will sell guided fishing trips along the Cibolo, where you can dodge the trash on the river and hopefully catch a turtle (because everyone knows there’s not an actual swimming fish left in that damn river). Also, they will sell a wide variety of duck elimination equipment and will even clean the birds for you once you’re done. It’s population control, people. Stupid ducks. All right I’m done.

CITY CENTER BUILDING This is a tough one. It’s huge and three stories tall. What could possibly fill it? Oh wait, I know: CHILI’S. That’s right – Boerne seems to love our local Chili’s, so let’s move them onto Main Street and give them the world’s largest Chili’s. EPICURE No more $15 sandwiches. I want a SUBWAY here. FLASHBACK FUNTIQUES This is a cool little building, and while I like some of the stuff that Flashback carries (because I used to own half of it as a kid), I think the space would be better utilized by Carriage House Gallery of Artists. They’ve been hidden at their little location for years, and Boerne needs another original art place on Main.

At least he doesn’t want to get rid of the ducks. Why would he? We’re beautiful and only increase property values with our mounds of poop and dead bodies in the street.

46 EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

What did you get for Christmas last year?

A gift to last a lifetime? M ake this a “one of a kind” Holiday for the ones you Love.

TEXAS TREASURES

F I N E A RT G A L L E R Y & S C U L P T U R E G A R D E N 605 S. Main St. • Boerne, TX 78006 • 830-816-5335 • www.texastreasuresfineart.com