A Walk About Town: Columbus and San Antonio, Texas

Posted on January 12, 2012 by pagesofjulia

A Walk About Town is a meme hosted by Natalie over at Coffee and a Book Chick.

Last weekend, Husband and I took a trip out to San Antonio, just because. It was a fairly uneventful weekend for us, in all the right ways.

First we headed out to my family’s country home near Columbus, Texas, for Friday night. I don’t suppose I shared this information here at the time, but back in early September it burned in one of the many wildfires Texas has experienced during this year of record-setting drought. Here’s what I wrote at the time to share with friends & family when we visited to survey the damage:

From the rumors we’d heard, we expected to find scorched earth, flattened, lunar – and it wasn’t that bad at all, so I guess the overall impression is a good one. Obviously we have been extremely lucky (I said, dodged a bullet and Husband said, more like a bomb), and some of our neighbors weren’t; driving in we saw several houses along our road that had burned down to the ground.

But, it was still hard to see the destruction. Our barn is a mess of sheet metal, with the burned-out tractor buried beneath it. Parts of our property are paved ankle-deep in ash, with a few big trees standing and no undergrowth. Parts seem virtually untouched. Most of it is in between, with greatly reduced undergrowth but many larger trees standing. We guess this is because the winds were high enough to take the fire through relatively quickly.

I’m an amateur at this stuff and have no idea how many of the larger scorched trees will live, but figure some, at least, should; and I know that ash can enrich the soil for the next generation of vegetation. I’m so relieved to see that we don’t now own a solid piece of bleak, sun-baked ash. I have hope for the relatively near future. And the fact that our house was saved is great. It reeks of smoke but the first time we can open it up for 48 hours should make great progress there – right?

Just want to say thank you to the fire crews who worked to save our house. Ours, and the nearest neighbors’, were both saved literally at the door step by their efforts. Many of our neighbors out there have their primary residences and means of livelihood on the land, which we didn’t, so clearly we’re far luckier than most.

We also packed up some clothes, toiletries, dry goods, and books to take to donate for those who lost their homes. It was surprisingly hard to find someone to take them in the town of Columbus; I think it took us 6 tries before we found a well-informed woman who said they had more than they could go through already (!) but directed us to the local radio station, who were filling a trailer to take to Bastrop. Bastrop lost many 1000’s of homes and we’re glad that our stuff will go somewhere where it’s needed.

It’s been kind of a disturbing thing to see but really, all the news is good where we’re concerned.

Several months later, we’re doing really well. Pops has replaced the tractor (insurance money!) and we’re about to break ground on the new barn. The house smells fine. The ground is green again just about everywhere. Still unclear on which and how many trees will survive, but really it’s going to be okay.

I took a few shots here (all clickable for larger views):

70-year-old pine, victim of drought, not fire


site of old barn with old tractor


There’s even some water in the pond again. (Not much.)

misty morning at very low pond

Saturday morning we headed on to San Antonio. When we first hit town we went straight to Freetail Brewing, a brewpub that Pops greatly admires. Unfortunately I took no pictures! But we had a lovely long lunch there, and sampled every beer they had on tap (no small feat at 14 beers – don’t worry, mostly we had little taster glasses). Our favorites were the Tadarida IPA (the hoppier of the two American-style IPAs available), the Rye Wit (just what it sounds; nice little peppery notes from the rye), and the Ate II (a sour wit with champagne yeast – yum!).

Then down into downtown San Antonio. We stayed just across the street from the Alamo, and walked the riverwalk.

bearded Husband on the riverwalk


night view


We were even happier when we found the quieter end of the riverwalk. The bar zone, at the center loop (see map here) resembles Bourbon Street in New Orleans or Duval Street in Key West or any other super-busy touristy bar zone, while the stretch up north was more the quiet, scenic stroll we were looking for.

the quieter end


We visited the Alamo during the day, right after checking in to the hotel, and it’s quite the hopping place; plenty of plaques and educational devices and exhibits, full of people of all ages and backgrounds (with the military very well-represented), and all free, which I think is great. Husband got the best picture after dark when heading back to the hotel:

Alamo at night

As I said, it was an uneventful weekend. We walked, looked around, ate and drank, and relaxed. Just what I needed: a little change of scenery.

Thanks Natalie for hosting! Maybe one of these days I’ll do a hometown Walk About Town… what is everybody else up to?

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A Walk About D-Town

Posted on December 15, 2011 by pagesofjulia

A Walk About Town is a brand-new meme hosted by Natalie over at Coffee and a Book Chick. I liked the idea the first time I saw it, but wasn’t sure my life would be exciting enough to warrant a weekly post! This week I do have something to share, and Natalie, I love the idea. I’ll do my best to be exciting enough to keep up. 🙂

Last weekend I took a road trip with one of my very oldest, best friends, Barrett. You might recall that I am still recovering from knee surgery; when we left on Saturday, I was 8 days into recovery. So we took a borrowed wheelchair with us, and Barrett used that as an excuse to rent us a big ol’ Cadillac for the drive! (I wasn’t ready to drive my car yet, and it’s too difficult to drive for me to wish it on Barrett; and he drives a Vespa.) On Friday night we had been to see another friend play in Sunward, a band from Dallas. It was their very first Houston gig, and a bunch of old friends turned up for it. So we dragged a little bit on Saturday morning, but did get off, in the Cadillac, with the wheelchair, headed (by coincidence) for Dallas.

We had an uneventful drive and hooked up with another friend Jimmy for an evening that started with sushi and sake (SO good) and then took us on to the Polyphonic Spree Christmas Extravaganza. This awesome and totally unique (one might even say weird) band, complete with choir on risers and often staging as many as 30+ members, hadn’t put on a Christmas show in 3-4 years, so it was a neat reunion for us. The first set is Christmas music for the youngsters – and this was preceded by We’re Not Guys, a band made up of four girls, three maybe middle-school age and one I feel sure was in grade school! They weren’t terribly complicated musically but it was impressive as hell. Anyway, then came the Spree’s Christmas set, then the Syncopated Ladies performed – this is a group of ladies of a certain age who do a dance routine. And then we got the Spree rock set – and I have to admit, I was getting stiff and uncomfortable in my wheelchair by then, and maybe didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have. But they do put on a show, with lots of positive energy, and I love watching ALL those musicians rocking their various instruments, and singing along. It was a neat thing to experience again, as it’s been several years since I’ve seen the Spree live.

From there we let Jimmy take us on to a dive bar whose name I’m not sure I ever caught – I think it started with an A – where I got a way comfier seat, and could elevate my knee; Jimmy brought me all the cans of Lone Star my heart desired, and a local classic-country band called the King Bucks was rocking out. And strangely – considering that the Spree had been the point of the trip – that was my favorite part of the evening.

The three of us stayed up too late catching up, and then started our day on Sunday with brunch and (for me) mimosas, then on to a decent beer bar in Jimmy’s neighborhood for the final moments of catch-up time with Jimmy. (Barrett and I had a 5-hour car ride together still to come.) It was action-packed – I never got Husband on the phone the whole weekend til we were halfway home! – but so good. I’m just sorry Jerko wasn’t able to join us in his own town (he had another gig Saturday night). I can’t wait to do it again. Thanks Barrett for driving and Jimmy for hosting; good times! I did find just one picture, only because I shamelessly stole from Barrett who hopefully will not sue me. This is Tim Delaughter (formerly of Tripping Daisy), the lead for the Spree, amid the confetti:

Thanks Natalie for the idea for today’s post. And what have you, lovely readers, done lately that’s interesting?

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NOLA: thankfully, a phoenix

Posted on April 25, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I spent last weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana with my parents, celebrating my father’s birthday. It was a milestone one, but I’ll leave the numbers out in case he’d prefer it that way. 🙂 The Husband didn’t get to join us because he had a different celebration going on: his parents were celebrating a milestone anniversary. What a weekend! Congrats and happy birthdays all around.

I’ve never had such a lovely time in New Orleans. It was one high point after another. I left work early on Friday to get there in the early evening, and walked Bourbon Street with the folks and had a delicious dinner at NOLA, one of Emeril’s restaurants. Saturday morning was my father’s big birthday event, the Crescent City Classic 10k race, a very big and very big-deal race through the French Quarter and out to City Park. I ran with Pops to the start and ran around a bit til the race came by where I was stationed on Rampart, and even jumped in to run a few blocks with him – I’m not a runner, really, but had a nice run myself while he had a very HOT but ultimately successful race. Next was breakfast with my mother, walking the French market, and then lunch with all three of us together again.

Then we went to the Louisiana State Museum to see their Katrina exhibit. This is difficult to describe. According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Katrina caused close to 2000 deaths when it hit Louisiana in August of 2005, and in the weeks of aftermath, including flooding and major loss of services. As a Houstonian, I was only indirectly affected; I had friends who evacuated, and I made new friends, as some New Orleanian evacuees stayed in Houston. Searching various sources tells me that my city absorbed the largest number; NPR claimed in 2007 that over 90,000 New Orleanians were still living in Houston. I’ve visited NO all my life, and certainly was aware of appallingly great suffering and the recovery that has been taking place ever since. I’ve traveled back to NO a number of times since 2005 – including for my honeymoon in 2008 – and I’ve seen how well the city is doing; but I’ve also seen that things are not the same as they were, and they never can be. I’ve seen the high water marks on the freeway walls – several stories up.


But I hadn’t taken any of the “Katrina tours” offered, and this was my first museum exhibit. It was beyond powerful. There were photographs, interviews, objects & artifacts, text, interactive educational displays (mostly relating to the “forensics” of how the destruction of wetlands contributes to flooding, the myriad ways in which levees can fail, hurricane formation, etc.), and multimedia displays, audio and video recordings of folks telling their stories. I cried. I promise you would cry too.

I think this exhibit should be required for visitors to New Orleans. This event will never cease to be deeply relevant to everyone’s experience of the city; the horror that took place, and the efforts necessary to rebuild and recover, are an important part of the city’s culture and what it has to offer today. I love this city and its people, the great food, the friendly attitudes, the art, the extraordinary live music, the irreverence and the unapologetic, frank approach to the party lifestyle. It’s a very unique culture, and I’m glad it’s back, although in a slightly different incarnation.

When we left the museum after this intense and emotional experience, it was time for a change of pace. We took a streetcar out of the Quarter to a pub my father had found. It was just our kind of place: long beer list of obscure and diverse beers with quirky, knowledgeable, friendly staff. We camped out there for most of the rest of the day, and I got to drink a bottle of De Drie Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek!! My father and I visited this brewery years ago, and I wrote about it for the newsletter of the liquor store I worked for at the time, and golly, there’s a picture floating around here somewhere of me with the brewer… it’s a very, very rare bottle to find, and it was very exciting to me to find it in NO – and very yummy to drink! (This was only one of many exciting and delicious finds.)

We left the Avenue Pub (highly recommended) late in the evening, and caught the streetcar back into the Quarter for some live music. We watched a sidewalk act for a while and then settled at Cafe Beignet to watch Steamboat Willie’s band play. Both were outstanding! I settled in feeling very content with my weekend.

On Sunday morning, on our way out of town, Pops took us by a statue he’d seen after Saturday morning’s race. It’s a memorial, in the spirit of New Orleans: using color and whimsy to commemorate a tragedy. Like singing at a funeral. It’s called the Scrap House, by Sally Heller, and is part of a commission by the Art Council of New Orleans of public art. Made of recycled materials, it depicts a little bayou shack stuck in the top of a tree.

We stopped on the way home at the Cafe des Amis in Breaux Bridge. This was another outstanding meal – I recommend the Crawfish Cornbread!

And finally, the bookish news: I finished Jacqueline Winspear’s A Lesson in Secrets, started Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (review to come), and listened to the audio of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five in the car with the parents on the way home (review also to come, but for now I’ll say WOW! like I do for all of Vonnegut’s work).

I’ve never had such a lovely time in the beautiful Crescent City. It has so much to offer. If you’ve never seen New Orleans, now’s the time. Be sure you go to the Louisiana State Museum (right on Jackson Square), and be sure you bring a handkerchief. Thanks Mom & Pops for a beautiful weekend.

Edit: Pops found the picture of me with Armand. Thanks Pops!

Julia at Drie Fonteinen w/ brewer Armand Debelder, Jan. 2006

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