November 27, 2021: "Lightscape!" at the San Antonio Botanical Garden
	November 9, 2021: The Fort Worth Botanic Garden
	Return to the Index for 2021

Well, another Thanksgiving has rolled around, and, as we've done for the last couple of years (what with many of our friends having left Dallas), we are going to spend Thanksgiving in San Antonio with Prudence and Ron, Nancy and Karl, and Guy. We drove down on the 24th, spent four days at Ruckman Haus, and then returned home.

Getting to the Ruckman's House in San Antonio

You have probably seen an album page where we visit San Antonio, but in case you haven't, I want to show you the route to San Antonio from Dallas and where Prudence and Ron and Guy are located.

On the left-hand map below, you can see the normal route from Dallas down to San Antonio. Not much explanation is necessary; sometimes we take the bypass around Austin, but most times we don't, and the trip to the San Pedro exit in San Antonio is usually four hours plus.

We head north on San Pedro Avenue a couple of miles and then either hang a left on Ashby and a right on Breeden or just a left on French to get to the Ruckmans' house on the northeast corner of Breeden and French.

In case you have not seen them, I have put below first an aerial view of the Ruckmans' house (it is the house on the corner and the garage/apartment building north of it where Guy lives) and a front view of the house (taken in 2010).

My Birthday

On Wednesday night, Prudence and Nancy were nice enough to remember my birthday (which had been the day before) and they got a cake from H-E-B for us to have after we got back from supper that night.

Ron had an old friend of his and his wife (John and Kim) staying with them for a bit; those are the two people at left in the left-hand picture below. Other than them, I am sure you can pick out Prudence, Ron, Fred, and me in the two best pictures we took in the garden room that evening:

Thanksgiving

The Ruckmans and the Gleims have their routine for Thanksgiving. Karl brines and then roasts the turkey, Nancy brings a side dish, Prudence and Ron so salad, bread, and another side dish, and, when Fred and I are here, I do dressing and gravy. (I usually call it "stuffing", because that's because I usually cook it in the turkey, but Karl and Nancy cook the turkey at their house. So I have to prepare it without the goodness of the turkey juices getting infused into the dressing.)

Prudence lays out all the dishes in the room they used to use as the dining room when the B&B was still open. Of course, they didn't have the garden room, with its larger table, then. Jax, for some reason, doesn't like to walk on wood floors, so he can usually be found on the living room carpet or under the dining room table when he is in the house.

Of course, one fills one's plate in the dining room, and then takes it out to a place at the larger garden room table.

Ron is actually a hostess's dream guest, as people who give parties are often ignored by their guests when they announce that everyone should fill their plates and take a seat. The polite guests, who do as they are asked, often find themselves seated, with a full plate of hot food, waiting for the laggards (Oh, you prepared all this, Marge, you should go first! Oh, no, Elvira, you're the guest; please help yourself. Oh, but all these dishes are so very pretty, Marge, I don't want to be the first! Harold, you go ahead and fill a plate for me. But no, Elvira, ladies first; please go ahead...)

So you get the picture. When things are ready, Ron doesn't hesitate. His plate is filled and he is digging while everything is still hot; more power to him. So in the pictures below, don't fault Ron for getting his food, sitting down, and digging in. At buffets, this is entirely proper- once the gentlemen give the ladies at least a few microseconds to take advantage of their, well, advantage. Of course, at Thanksgiving, the fact that the guys have had to interrupt a football game to even come upstairs for dinner is probably a major factor.

Anyway, I don't quite remember who all Prudence and Ron's guests were, other than Guy, Kim and John, Fred, and myself, so forgive me if I don't tell you who everyone is, along with their entire backstory and relationship to their host and hostess:

As you can see, our group was large, but then that's part of the Thanksgiving tradition. Growing up, my parents always had at least one guest for Thanksgiving dinner, usually someone my father knew who didn't have a place to be on Thanksgiving (which usually meant a single person, invariably male, from his office). This is a tradition I have always tried to emulate when I am the host, and I cannot remember every cooking a meal just for myself or, when I was in a relationship, just for my partner and myself. The more the merrier.

Friday Winedown

On Fridays at the Gallery, Prudence has her Friday Winedown, when she invites anyone who cares to come to visit the gallery for an hour of wine and conversation (and art). Usually, a core group will go out for dinner somewhere. This Friday, we went to Caparelli's, about a mile from the gallery. There were ten or so of us and, as usual, we all had a very nice supper at this very nice Italian restaurant.

I'm not sure what I was doing on the phone, but it definitely wasn't a selfie.

Prudence, Nancy, and Karl

This is one of Prudence's artists and her husband.

Another of Prudence's artists, Margie Hildreth, and me.

A Stroll Along the Riverwalk

On the last day of our Thanksgiving visit, Prudence, Fred, Kim, and I took Jax down to the southern end of the Riverwalk to enjoy the afternoon. Here is an aerial view of the part of the Riverwalk that we were on (the aerial view has been oriented so that east is at the top):

As we often do when we are coming down to the southern portion of the Riverwalk (called Mission Reach), we parked in the Blue Star Arts complex that is just south of S. Alamo St., right on the San Antonio River.

Jax and I Before Our Walk

There at the Arts Complex there is a Riverwalk Access; you will usually find these at all the street crossings (bridges). Further south, each of the missions will also have an access to the Riverwalk. Here, it is a few steps and a ramp going down to the level just above the River where the walk it.

We decided to head north first, and right there at the S. Alamo St. bridge I stopped the group to take a picture- Prudence, Jax, Kim, and Fred.

You can see in this picture, and many others, that the Riverwalk isn't simply a sidewalk down along the river, but a scenic walkway with water features, beautiful plantings, and all kinds of interesting things to look at. You can also see that it was a beautiful afternoon as we were walking northeast.

Less than a quarter-mile further north we passed the old Guenther Milling complex with its iconic tower (it is now a restaurant and venue) and went under the Guenther Street bridge.

The Riverwalk at Guenther Street

Looking back, I thought the view was pretty neat, with the added colors from the buoys just north of the bridge. To get the scene all in, I took a couple of pictures and stitched them together. The result is the picture at left.

We continued on north around a bend in the river, and there we decided to stop and let Jax have a bit of a rest. We picked a good spot, and I took a couple of good pictures here.

Looking Across the River

At left is a neat composite picture that looks across the river, where at this point there are private homes on both sides. I can only imagine this is a very desirable area now that the river's been "gentrified". There is also a neat water feature here, and you can see a separate picture of it below:

While I was taking these pictures, Prudence, Jax, Kim (Prudence's houseguest) and Fred had continued on up the Riverwalk, so I turned to follow them. As I did so, I started one movie, and then when I caught up with them there was something interesting to be the subject of another.

In this movie, you'll get to walk along with me and see and hear the Riverwalk. (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

Right when I caught up with the others, I found a guy and his dog playing fetch, although the dog was having to work a bit harder than usual. (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

Eventually, we turned around to head back south, and as we began our walk back to Blue Star, I took a couple of pictures:

Here's Fred, of course, at the Riverwalk.

This is the old tower at the Guenther complex. There used to be a sign on its top for "Pioneer" flour.

This part of the Riverwalk above the Blue Star complex has been finished for quite some time, although the houses all around pre-date the extension of the actual Riverwalk southward. I can only imagine that all the houses that border the Riverwalk, large or small, are now very desirable.

So we walked back to Blue Star, and when we got there we decided to continue on past it and walk south another half mile or so, just because it was a beautiful day and we wanted to see what we could see.

Like the railroads were a century ago, the Riverwalk has been a spur to new development. With the river changing from a muddy channel, overgrown with weeds, trash trees, and river plants, and with no recreational usage to a landscaped, park-like affair that attracts people to walk, bike, and jog, developers have found that living near the river is now a desirable proposition.

Particularly near bridge crossings, new apartments, condos, and even new homes have sprung up, and these are commanding high prices. And with people living in these new areas, we also have small businesses following them here. South of Blue Star there is a good example of this development- an area called The Flats at Big Tex. Apparently, this had been the site of another milling operation, as there have always been a row of silos along the walk that we've seen in years past.

But now, a new community has been built here, with an apparently wide range of apartment styles. Being still a bit isolated, the community has all its own amenities- one of the best of which is that it is right on the Riverwalk. The silos have, apparently, been finished out inside, air-conditioned, and turned into little stores or art studios.

You can see the complex in the aerial view at left (courtesy of Google Maps).

We decided to stop here and have some lunch, going to a small restaurant that offered sandwiches and wraps and a seating area outside where we could enjoy the day. We then walked around the area a bit, looking at some of the shops and stuff that are here.

Also courtesy of Google Maps, here is a view looking south along Blue Star Avenue (which begins just south of the art complex and ends in a circle at the south end of the new development.

As part of our exploring, we found this colorful artwork. On the aerial view of the Flats at Big Tex above, I have marked where this artwork was, as you can see it plainly on that view.

We headed back to Blue Star, returned to Ruckman Haus, and had a good afternoon and evening with the entire gang. We left for home the next day, just after John and Kim themselves headed back to Arizona.

We had a great Thanksgiving with Ron and Prudence. We did do one other thing while we were here- and that was to visit the Lightscape event at the San Antonio Botanic Garden, but I think that the event deserves its own album page.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	November 27, 2021: "Lightscape!" at the San Antonio Botanical Garden
	November 9, 2021: The Fort Worth Botanic Garden
	Return to the Index for 2021