We love to entertain, but time is hard to come by in the real estate business, so we tend toward serving simple fare…salads tossed minutes before guests arrive and meat fresh from the grill. We love Tex-Mex, though, and any recipe that looks like it might fit into our hectic lifestyle is a keeper. Here are a few that fill that bill.
Architectural styles come-and-go. The American-ranch popular in the decades after WWII has given way to the Neo-Eclectic, often a mish-mash of earlier popular styles. Here in Tyler, we see neighborhoods like Charleston Park which emulate the pre-WWII era (Azalea District) with styles like Neo-Classic, Craftsman and Victorian. Lewin Wertheimer designed and built a home in Venice, California combining elements of the Mission and Craftsman style homes from the 20′s and 30′s. Jeanine Matlow’s article chronicles the process, and Douglas Hill’s photos help to showcase.
Uncle Clifton had retired from Shell Oil and was in his 60’s when he fell out of a tree and broke his arm. When I heard the story, I knew right away what kind of tree it was and why he was climbing in it.
When we were kids,
my brother, sister and I would spend a few weeks of every summer with my Uncle Clifton and Aunt Mable. This was the best vacation any boy could have…there were farm ponds all around (many of them covered now by Lake Fork) and my uncle seemed to be friends with everyone, so we were always allowed to fish them. He liked putting out trotlines for catfish and often baited them with Catawba worms we plucked from “fishing trees”. (The “worms” are actually caterpillars that eat the leaves of the Catawba 
tree.) Plant nurseries will tell you that these trees are desirable because they make for great shade and beautiful blooms, but I suspect that many of the trees you see in East Texas yards were planted by fishermen who use the caterpillars for fishing.
Our Uncle Clifton is now fishing heavenly waters, but I think of him when I see a Catawba tree and remember all the fun we had catching catfish and bream on the caterpillars we harvested from these wonderful “fishing trees.”
The Texas Longhorn has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in recent years. As a kid, I saw them at zoos, now they’re ubiquitous, at least in East Texas. The Marquess-Arrow Ranch, in Ben Wheeler, has some beautiful animals, and I always enjoy driving by when they’re grazing near the fence. I shot this a couple of days ago and had to share.
My Grandma Neal used to piece together quilts out of scrap. I still have the one she made for me when I was six; she let me sew in the last piece on the corner…my uneven stitches are easy to spot. It has been around the world with me. In it there are pieces of old coats, pants, the remnants from re-upholstering a favorite chair…she didn’t waste much. One of the most colorful was the quilt she made out of the American flag that was used on Uncle Leo’s coffin when the Navy sent him home from WWII.
The quilt pictured above won a blue ribbon in the Piney Woods Quilt Festival, being held in Carthage April 20-21. If you have good memories of the quilter(s) in your family, you should go. You can get more info here, and see more photos of past winners here.
I was visiting Echo Lake last week. We have a waterfront listing there and I’d gone over to show the home. The couple wanted to see the airport hangar associated with this home (http://bit.ly/I7qPb6). I saw these flowers (think they’re “violet ruella“) growing beside the runway and just had to snap them. Note the red Texas Paintbrush prominent in the bottom right corner.
My apologies to the truck that was following me (way too close) when I spotted this stand of bluebonnets just east of Loop 323, but I DO brake for wildflowers. Central Texas is known for its bluebonnets but occasionally we’ll see them here in East Texas so I had to get a snap of this stand west of Tyler.
East Texas is a great place for gardeners…veggies and flowers do well in our sandy loam soil. Some gardeners, particularly those who enjoy more order in their lives, will enjoy Robyn Roehm Cannon’s article focusing on more formal gardens.
East Texas has attracted a lot of artists and artisans over the years. Canton’s First Monday Trade Days and the Edom Arts Festival are two good venues for seeing their handiwork. We ran across Rachel in Edom and were fascinated by the painstakingly fine detail of her woven baskets, and even more impressed when we learned she uses long-leaf pine needles to create them. The Cherokee and Coushatta tribes were making these baskets long before Columbus sailed, so it’s nice to see the craft continues.
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago—and the second-best time is now.”
~ Albert Einstein
Here in East Texas, we love our trees…both pines and hardwoods dominate the landscape here. But did you can produce enough oxygen for you and your family just by planting a tree. Click here for more detail.