Antique Rose Emporium

I couldn't take the waiting on the rain for one more day so I decided to take a trip to a local place that I have never been to before.  I know I saw a sign for one of these places somewhere else in Texas, maybe near Brenham, so I wanted to check it out.  It is kind of out of the way.  I had never been down the road before.  I had to take another smaller road and then an even smaller road across a low water crossing.  Fortunately the water was still below the crossing level.  Then I saw this sign pointing up yet another small gravel road winding through the trees.

I parked right outside this entrance.

There was a sign saying all photographers had to have an okay to take pictures so I went into this little building and was granted permission to take photos for my blog.

You may already guessed by now that is a garden store of sorts with grounds you can walk around.  This building looked intriguing so I walked down the path leading to it and found....

several little patio gardens, one on each end of the building.

These garden walls were painted a really bright blue color inside.

This little building had all kinds of potting soil and fertilizer.

You may not be able to read the sign on this little building but it says restroom in case you were looking for one.

I definitely don't have a green thumb so maybe I should plant one of these bottle trees in my backyard.  It might take too many wine bottles though.  I have some friends who might offer to help me collect bottles.

Next I wandered around to this little gift shop.  There were chimes and birdhouses outside.

Inside there were hats and lots of other goodies.  The only attendant was a large black cat who refused to make eye contact as long as I had the camera in hand.  If you found something you wanted, you just took it to the "check-out" building where I got permission to take pictures.

They even had books in the gift store.

Since this is a rose emporium, naturally they had roses and some neat little signs.

You wouldn't want unmannerly climbers would you?

I have some friends who are vigorous climbers.  They like to go hiking all the time.

This little building would be a lot more welcoming if there weren't so many big, black, threatening clouds in the background.

See what I mean?

It wasn't very crowded during my visit, just one or two other people and this very large gray tabby.  She was almost too friendly...until I pointed my camera...then she gave me the cold shoulder.

This little greenhouse was in front of another building whose purpose I later discovered.

As I said, I'm not a plant person, but doesn't this look soft and cuddly like fleece?

And who could resist this winter vegetable garden?

They had blooming flowers and birdbaths and pots for sale too.

And some ornaments to brighten your garden.  I liked the metal cactus.  No worries about over or under watering there.

The grounds were very interesting and would be even better in the sunshine.

As I said earlier, this is where you go to check out your purchases.

This was certainly a far more interesting garden store than most I have been in and you can also get married here!  I think that this is what the building behind the little white greenhouse was used for.

An interesting visit even with the unfriendly skies.  I think I would like to come back when it is sunny!

End of Day

Could it be an end to the rain?  I know how much we need it but truly, I am tired of gray skies and tired of cleaning up little weenie dog footprints from the floor.  Of course, I would rather clean up those footprints than something else....

Hmmmm.  This looks like darker clouds moving in again.

Well, at least I can deliver you another end.  I could have sworn that I did not have word verification turned on but, alas, I emailed out a blog post to someone and that dreaded double word verification recently enacted by blogger came up.  Thanks to Rick, I was able to quickly dispatch it.

Sunday-What will it Bring?

Sunday was an interesting day.  Saturday night the National Weather Service issued a warning for the Hill Country and San Antonio areas.  They drew a line across Bexar county (which is actually the city of San Antonio) and said that areas to the north of the line should expect sleet and snow flurries while the south half of the city should expect rain and freezing on bridges.  Now all this news was really bad to hear as we live just northeast of San Antonio and worse yet, two of my RV friends were planning to head here to pick up some important mail. I called and let them know about the weather as they are down near Lake Corpus Christi.  I told them I would call in the morning to let them know how bad it was.  Sunday morning, it was cold here (34 degrees which is horrible for us) but it wasn't raining.  Since it was supposed to hit between 8 and noon, I checked the television for news updates.  The Hill Country was indeed getting snow flurries but it appeared we might escape and get only rain.  I contacted my friends who decided that they would still head north but keep a sharp eye out.

Sun, where are you?  We miss you.

We want to sunbathe in front of the window or out on the porch if you can warm it up enough!

Friends arrived safely about 12:30 and we met for lunch.  Another RV friend here in the San Antonio met us so we had a nice little GTG.  It was a great way to spend a not so great day.  We are supposed to get rain again tonight.  Those reservoirs and lakes should be gaining back ground soon.

Mission San Jose National Historical Park (Jr Rangers)

Saturday we were looking for an interesting activity to enjoy with the grandchildren.  We found it at Mission San Jose National Historic Park in San Antonio.  Founded in 1720, the mission was named for Saint Joseph and the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, the governor of the Province of Coahuila and Texas at the time. It was built on the banks of the San Antonio river several miles to the south of the earlier mission, San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo).  You can see the mission in the background but first we went into the Visitors Center.

Once inside the Visitors Center, there is a wealth of information available.  The missions were more than just churches, they were whole communitities.

There were lots of pictures to look at depicting early life in the missions.

There was also a relief map of the San Antonio River area which showed where the missions were located.

We arrived in time to be part of a ranger led tour of the mission.  Our ranger guide was young and very personable.  She tailored her narration to the whole group including the kids.

This is the entrance to the mission grounds with the church on the far side.

The ranger did a great job of telling the group about the kind of life the inhabitants of the community led.  The missionaries were there to teach the Indians a whole new way of life in addition to converting them and it was very clear who was in charge at these missions.

Here the kids and their Dad were inside of the defense post on the corner of the grounds.  The hole in the background was for a cannon.  Up above was a ledge with smaller holes for guns.  There were usually only a very few soldiers to defend the mission but the mission was well built and very secure.

This was one of the many ovens scattered around the grounds.

This is a side view of the church with the quarters for the Franciscans located on the right up above.  Down below were classrooms used to teach the Indians trades.

This is a front view of the church.  Although this is a National Park, the church itself is owned by the local diocese which has a unique partnership with the park.  This church is in use for regular services.  The ranger told us that we were welcome to go inside and look around as long as services weren't in progress but she would not give her narration in there and disturb people who might be there using the church.

You may have noticed the folders that the kids were carrying as we looked around the visitors center and during the tour.  They were participating in a great national parks program for kids called the Junior Ranger program.  They had to fill out their booklets and turn them in to the ranger in the visitors center.  Our tour ranger saw them talking to another ranger at the desk and quickly came over to say that she wanted to "swear them in" and present their badges because she enjoyed having them on her tour.  They each received a badge and a really nice cloth patch.  She also stamped their booklets and then had them each stamp their own booklet with a special mission stamp.

The kids were thrilled with the whole process and I highly recommend this program if you are traveling with kids from 6 to 12 years old.  They had a "special set-up" for picture taking of new rangers so naturally we had to take advantage of it.  Here are our new Junior Rangers.  It was all they could talk about the rest of the day.

We finished off the trip by stopping at a nearby "panaderia" which is a Mexican bakery.  It was quite small from the outside but the whole inside was filled with cases of interesting looking cookies, donuts, and breads.  We let everyone choose what they wanted and the kids picked out big cookies with colored sprinkles on them.  Unfortunately I missed getting a picture which is too bad because it was a very colorful and friendly place.  Every time my son asked what something was, the lady behind the case wanted to give him a sample one so he could try it.  We walked out with a bag of goodies.

Although it was cool and very overcast when we visited the mission, there is a park with picnic tables for a lunch if you like.  We only had time to see this mission but the others are not far from there and I look forward to visiting them at another time.

Could It Be Spring?

Could it be spring?  I know it's January but......

Inquiring minds want to know.......