Sage Hill - The Inn Above Onion Creek

A good book and, a glass of wine with your best friend in front of a fire on a cold wet day.  Doing all that at a beautiful and tranquil bed and breakfast in the Texas hill country less than 30 miles from home.....priceless.

Before I jump too far ahead let me show you my usual "I am off" picture from the driveway, in this case, on the road leading from my house.

As you can see it isn't my usual gorgeous sunrise, and also you can see I need to replace the windshield wipers.  Suffice it to say it was nasty, ugly, wet, and horrid.  So we did what any self respecting women would do....we went shopping!

 Through prior arrangements with the inn we were able to meet at 10:00 and leave a car in their lot.  Wimberley, another small touristy town is just about 12 miles from the inn so off we went to visit the shops and art galleries, but mostly to have lunch at The Cypress Cafe on the square.  Their "inside out nachos" are delicious and huge - and I left my doggie bag in the fridge in our room when we checked out (dirty words).  About the time we had reached our limits on dodging rain drops and cold winds, we were within the check in time so off we went back to the B&B.  

Despite pickups trying to do a proctology exam on my Explorer I managed to safely turn into the grounds and follow their winding mile long driveway to the inn.  The Live Oaks are amazing and the wildflowers are going to set them off beyond belief.  All along the way were Deer X signs and cautions to drive slow.  No problem! As you can see it is still nasty out.

 That's a two way traffic road...proceed with caution and slowly.

Sage Hill – The Inn Above Onion Creek is in Kyle, a small (well it used to be) town between San Antonio and Austin.  Kyle was established on July 24, 1880 when land was deeded to the International – Great Northern Railroad by David Moore and Fergus Kyle.  The town built up around the railroad and is now pretty much a bedroom community of Austin (in my opinion).

 The inn....see the little porch above the smaller house Right next to the chimney?  That was our room!  These are 1/2 the stairs we climbed to get there and so worth the effort!   Not sure if next time I will go for a lower room with a sleeper sofa or just suck it up and climb those stairs again for the views. 

We stayed in the Schlemmer room and in the room was this description of Mr. Schlemmer.  

"Nicholas C. Schlemmer, a station agent in New Braunfels, was appointed first postmaster of Kyle in 1880.  He refused the appointment upon seeing the town.  William E. Roach of Mountain City accepted the appointment.  A year later Roach officially appointed Schlemmer, who accepted this time.

Schlemmer's time in Kyle included other business endeavors.  In 1884 Schlemmer's Store was opened in a wooden shack on Center Avenue (now Center St.)  In 1885 he rented a large rock storefront on Front Street where the post ofice was located, and the small grocery became a general merchandise store.

In 1890 he built the large rock building on Center Street and changed the name to Schlemmer Mercantile Co.

In 1889 he married; four children were born in Kyle where the Schlemmers resided until 1904 when he entered the American Consular Service in Europe.

N.C.'s brother, Louis, became manager of the store.  It is the present location of Tenorio's Cash Grocery, which is called Center Grocery as of this date, located at 110 W. Center St.

L.C., N.C.'s brother purchased the first car in Kyle, a Buick, according to the Kyle News of April 20, 1928."

 This is the front or the back depending on how you look at it...at any rate it is the other side of the building than the one above. 

 This porch overlooks acres of property that will soon be covered in wildflowers.  Below is a Bluebonnet plant that should be showing color in the next couple of weeks.  This is one among thousands.  Bear in mind each little star shaped cluster produces one magnificent bloom.

There are trails, paths, and grounds to walk and find treasures.  One thing for sure, you will relax and your will take your time...and if you get tired there are plenty of places to rest.  Random shots from our walk.

Of course no trip is complete without some rust in it...and I found some down the path from the inn.  Not a truck but rust nonetheless.

And I found evidence that Big Foot actually lived and died in Texas.  Unfortunately the only thing remaining is his fossilized foot.

All good things must end, but we just put this place on hold, because we will be back whenever we need just a sit and relax and let the world tend to itself time.  Kyle is the childhood home of Katherine Ann Porter, a woman who had quite the life story including four divorces when divorce wasn't as accepted as now.  She is the author of several magazine articles and short stories, but wrote only one novel, The Ship of Fools based on a trip to Germany she had made many years before writing the book.  Her own story is capsulized at Katherine Ann Porter's Story.  This is the home of her grandmother, where she lived after her mother died when she was only two.  You can arrange tours and that has been added to our bucket list for a future visit to Sage Hill.

We had to circle the block to find parking and this little beauty jumped out at me.  Love circling blocks, almost as good as back roads.

 Only a couple of blocks away is the Donaldson House.  The capitalized wording is from the Texas Historical Commission sign.  Recorded Texas Historical Landmark - 2009.

CORA JACKMAN DONALDSON HOUSE

CORA FRANCES JACKMAN (b. 1853) WAS THE DAUGHTER OF SIDNEY DRAKE AND MARTHA (SLAVIN) JACKMAN.  HER FATHER, A CONFEDERATE GENERAL DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND LATER A STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND U.S. MARSHALL, SETTLED HIS FAMILY IN HAYS COUNTY IN

1865. CORA MARRIED CHAUNCEY B. DONALDSON, OWNER OF THE 738 ACRE LIVE OAK SPRINGS RANCH.  AFTER THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND CORA HAD WALLACE BROS. LUMBER COMPANY OF KYLE  BUILD THIS HOUSE IN 1913 FROM A RADFORD ARCHITECTURAL PLAN BOOK.  THE TWO STORY RESIDENCE FEATURES QUEEN ANNE AND CLASICAL REVIVAL DETAILING IN ITS CROSS GABLES, IONIC COLUMNS, BAY WINDOWS AND ENTRY WITH TRANSOM AND SIDE LIGHTS.  NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE HOUSE SINCE THE 1930'S. 

Next door to the Donaldson house is the Auction Oak.  When the Kyle was founded 200 acres of land were given to the railroad (The International and Great Northern) and they held auctions under this oak tree on Auction Day, October 14, 1880.  Free train rides were given to the auction and most of the residential lots were sold.  In 1881 the railroad gave four acres around the oak for a school, Kyle Seminary, which burned in 1889.  Today the oak is on private property and is maintained by the home owners.  Notice, despite the shadows, the sidewalk and how it too accommodates the Auction Oak.

Time to put on our ghoul hats and head off to a couple of local cemeteries.  The first was St. Vicente Cemetery, which is predominately Hispanic.  Before the early 1900s when Vicente Gonzales donated the land for the cemetery, the majority of Hispanics were buried on the property owned by the ranchers who employed them.  Blas Mendez was the driving force behind establishing the cemetery and also was instrumental in having the cemetery named after the man who donated the land allowing Hispanic citizens a place to rest in dignity.

 The Hispanic culture is evident in the many colorful headstones and markers.  The graves are decorated with flowers, mementos and tile work. 

There were plain crosses, some made of cedar branches tied together, others of wood and tile, and a row of these made of metal tubing screwed together.  

I would love to know the story of these graves, placed outside the fence of the cemetery.

The one that really caught my attention was this one.  Someone knew this lady enjoyed her Lone Star far more than roses, daisies or carnations.

Further down the road is Skyview Cemetery which is predominately African American.  There are over 170 marked graves - some with what we consider normal markers, but others with uninscribed limestone rocks, bricks, and there are many that are not marked and only indicating gravesites by the sunken areas.  The oldest marked grave is that of Mary Kirby (1895)

The cemetery will soon be ablaze in color as the Iris begin to bloom.  There was a promise in one patch but it was still a bit early.

 

One reason we like to wander around old cemeteries is the artwork found in them.  This is a prime example. 

Although we do find the beauty, it is mixed with the sad often.  I can visualize a young black man, with a strong build and sinewy arms, sitting on a sagging wooden porch after a long hard day in the fields.  Exhausted and with a heavy heart he painstakingly carves away at a rock to mark his baby's final resting place.  R.I.P. Baby Freeman.

After a couple of stops for necessities...nothing fun...I took Pat back to her car and headed on home.  Someone was happy to see me pull into the driveway.

Enjoy the journeys you take, but remember to listen for the whispers of those back roads you travel.

Cars, Dogs, and the House that Jack Built

My daughter blessed me with a large amount of craft supplies from a lady downsizing into a smaller house.  It was enough that her car was filled with boxes and bags.  So I headed west to take it off her hands.  My ladies at a local nursing home are going to have a ball when I come in with the stamps and papers along with all the other goodies.  

I left at the crack of dawn, as soon as it was light enough to see the deer easily.

Heading to have brunch with my grandson along very familiar roads, I made a game out of picking up the camera every hour to snap a picture out the windshield.

Obviously shooting through the window doesn't produce good results since I only got three pictures out of a 6 hour trip.

Lovely lunch with my grandson at the bowling alley.  T Bears in San Angelo served me a yummy omelet with hash browns and toast.  Perfect!  After a too-short visit I headed on down the road to my daughter's and off we went to visit with a friend then out for dinner and for me to celebrate National Margarita Day.

The next morning started with a visit with a dear friend at her son's house...The House that Jack Built!

Everything from the floors to the ceilings to the - well everything has a story and is salvaged.  It is one of the most fascinating places I have been and need to go back to finish the story.

I was greeted by Wodin, a big bad Rottie that sold out for a jelly bean.  After I shared, he was a love bug and a half.

I said the house was built from reclaimed and salvaged materials.  To begin with he salvaged a small cabin from a lady that asked in a quavering voice if he was going to tear it apart.  He melted and looked her in the eye and said "No, mam, I am going to fix it up and live in it!" and he has kept that promise.

The cabin is 100 years old. and was brought to his lot on a trailer frame.  The frame still has the tongue sticking out at you!  :)

The cabin was not even close to being in this good of shape when he bought it.  Hard work, a bit of sweat, and determination has made it a cozy home.

He is adding to it and putting on a second floor to the addition.  

Since he had to take a wall down to connect with the new house, he hung a tarp that was a Popeye's billboard in a previous life.  Works beautifully.

 

 Not being a builder you will have to forgive my terminology...but these are savaged (see a trend going here?) trailer home frames that will be the support for the second floor.  Jack, with the help of his mother and a small piece of machinery, raised these.  And one fought back, swinging free and coming to rest on the floor of the living room to be.  Thank goodness it chose the floor and not one of their thick skulls to land on!

 

 Behind the chairs and that framework is the place the stairs will be.  Double wide stairs with a padded wall at the bottom.  :)  Why?   Kids with flattened cardboard boxes and double wide stairs requires the wall at the bottom be padded. 

 The kids also will have a secret location that they have to find, so I took no pictures of it.  Jack's house makes me want to be a kid again.  The above picture is the opening where the elevator will be...not just a plain ordinary elevator of course, this elevator will be a replica of Dr. Who's Tardis.  It will also do double duty as an exit to the outside.

 The hot tub will be moved around the corner to a atrium/sun room. 

Already there is a garden...LOL....actually it does have a flower in it, and the bricks are to protect that flower, which is a beautiful red wildflower that Mama wants protected.  In fact Jack had to reposition the front entrance so not to endanger this precious flower.  When Mama speaks, sonny boy listens!

Inside everything is again salvaged and/or has a story behind it.  Come on in, we'll be back outside in a little bit for some yummy finds.

A house with secrets hiding places, Tardis elevators and sledding stairs would surely come equipped with arcade games.  See the picture behind the red game?  That is one of three that are quite old and bought for a song.  Unfortunately Jack's girlfriend had to carry them on the back of motorcycle to the nearest UPS Store.  Think that has to be true love!  Of course they were riding the bike to east Texas to look for a rottie puppy.  Wonder where the puppy would have ridden had they found one.


Jack is a master at finding a bargain, as seen in a couple of his light fixtures.  The chandelier was for sale for $25, so of course Jack started haggling them down to $20.  Finally his buddy flopped down the $25 and said "let's go".  Still a pretty light for $25 if not the great bargain that had been hoped for.  Too bad Jack broke one of the "petals" and had to replace it, for a mere $200.  He has two of these, each with 5 petals each.  $25 isn't too bad after all. 

He did pay twenty five for this one...twenty five CENTS!

Both as well as others in the house had to be rewired.  Piece of cake.  The painting on the the red and black was done by Jack, of course.

At one point in his life, Jack worked for a man on a regular basis (think it was landscaping).  Anyway, this man had an anvil beside his patio.  Jack instantly had anvil envy and asked about it.  Apparently the man's wife didn't share his love of the anvil and made him take it out of her house.  Jack told him that if ever he got rid of it he wanted it.  The man told him that it wasn't going to happen.  But then the man passed away and Jack was in the will not only for the anvil but for the stump it sat on...and Jack was a happy man.

There was so much other wonderful treasures and stories inside, but one that really fascinated me was Jack's chain mail and swords.

In the House that Jack Built is the chain mail that Jack built.  He made the adult version on the left and the child's version down below.  In the middle is a close up of the child's version.  He handcrafted each link.  

To get out of it the young model had to lean way forward and shimmy herself out with a little bit of help from Uncle Jack.  She is 9 or 10 if that gives you a size idea.

I have no idea how the knights of yore went to battle in these things...they are HEAVY!!  Even the child size would have a major impact on my body, but I guess one of those Excaliber type swords would have an impact too.












To go with the armor he had two swords, at least he showed me two, there might be more.  The first one is, you guessed it, one he made.  Out of a lawn mower blade!!!

The second one he bought.  Because he liked it.  Because it had every indication it was also hand made.  Only Jack would have seen the imperfect stamping on the hilt, or the obvious hammering of the blade.  He liked it, he bought it, he brought it home.  Some time later he was watching a movie called "Pirates" and his quick eye caught a prop as a door was opened.  Backing up the tape he checked it out and sure enough, it was his sword!  

 

OK, like I said lots more to see, but I wanna show you what is lurking outside!!!  Drooling here.

Very few words needed....I died and went to Heaven.  Enjoy the views.

 

Not satisfied to building a house out of salvaged material, reading every word ever printed, making chain mail and scouting out treasure far and wide....he built and raced/races a truck.

Then there is the shed....LOL...this tale never ends does it?  And I only saw and heard a portion of the story.

Jack says this is what happens when a redneck gets drunk...

Hanging from the ceiling  ... 

Guess only one picture of a bike turned out...there are two hanging in there.  This  one he found on a trash heap, not sure where the sidecar came from.

This jewel is a fire extinguisher!!  I think I might have trouble picking it up to put out a grease fire in the kitchen.  Jack found it locally when he helped clean off a lot.  He thinks it is from the 1950's.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is an abbreviated tour of The House That Jack Built...except for one last thing...that annoying thing, really and truly it is That Annoying Thing.  Be smart and do not follow the link...but you have to, you just have to....

That Annoying Thing on You Tube

but don't stop at this one....watch them all.


The rest of the day was spent at the Home and Garden show at the Horseshoe Arena with friends of Trish and Bruce.  They have such nice friends, just love these two!

Then we came home and got my granddoggie, Sophie the Wonderdog!  And off we went to obedience training.  We kind of messed up her puppy training with Trish needing to be here so much in 2013, so Sophie is retaking the class to solidify what she learned last year.  She definitely is the star of the show and the best there...Grandma talk.

 beautiful Miss Sophie sad because her daddy had to go to work.

She is going to be a therapy dog, so is learning some tricks as she goes along.  I couldn't decide if I liked the one with the tongue out or in, so being a typical Grandma, you get to see them both.

Going through her paces.  Such a good girl.  

Too soon it was time to head home, on past the wind farm and into the Texas hill country that I love so much.

Until next time, head on down those back roads, listen for the whispers - they have a lot to say!!