Road Trip – Independence Trail

Click photos to enlarge

There are two ways to get from one place to another: if you just need to be at your destination, then of course you take the highway. It’s fast, efficient, usually direct . . . and rather dull. The other way is if the journey itself is the destination; a leisurely ramble along a back road, stopping at any place that takes your interest, watching the scenery of fields, and stands of trees, little creeks and big rivers, ranch houses and little towns that once were much bigger, appear before the windshield of your car like an endlessly unfolding Japanese scenic scroll.

The Texas Independence Trail is one of those – a circular ramble through that part of Texas lying roughly between San Antonio and Galveston, and inland from the coast as far as Lockhart, Bastrop and Brenham. This route describes that part of Texas which was settled in the early days, the days of entrepreneurial settlements, and the hard-fought war for an independent Republic of Texas, as well as those days when settlers from Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia came to fulfill their own dreams of possessing acres of land. Many of their descendents are still there; the names they gave to their towns still printed on the land: Runge, Panna Maria, Karnes City, Poth, and Seguin.

Texas Road Trip - San Antonio - Presidio La Bahia

Click images to enlarge

The presidio of La Bahia is just outside present-day Goliad, about two hours drive south of San Antonio; another one of the Spanish-era military or mission complexes, star-scattered across Texas and the Southwest. The Presidio was built in the mid-18^th century, on the advice and under the supervision of a very able Spanish colonial administrator, Lieutenant-General Jose de Escandron. The chapel of Our Lady of Loreto was constructed in one corner of the 3-acre quadrangle; it was intended to minister to the souls and spiritual needs of the soldiers stationed there, and in the village huddled on the hilltop – very like a little Spanish town, under the protection offered by the local castle’s sheltering walls.

The chapel remained the only portion of the compound still whole and more or less complete by the 20^th century; the original compound walls having been reduced to little more than regular lines of rubble. In the 1960s, the site was excavated, and the circuit of walls – and the barracks and quarters erected against them were faithfully and purposefully reconstructed. The old Spanish presidio was built to appear as it did in 1836 – that fateful year when La Bahia, and another mission-garrison of Texian rebels - the Alamo - became legend.

At least as strategic, and in better repair than the Alamo, it was garrisoned against invasion by Santa Anna’s grand army by a scratch Texan army of volunteers. On Palm Sunday of 1836, those Texians and volunteers still able to walk after a crippling battle and surrender at Coleto Creek and a week of imprisonment in the Loreto Chapel were divided into three groups by their captors.

They were marched out of town in three different directions before being executed in cold blood by their guards, on the orders of General Santa Anna himself. Forty wounded Texians were dragged into the courtyard in front of the chapel doors and executed as they lay on the ground. Those deaths became a rallying cry, when Santa Anna was decoyed farther and farther into Texas in pursuit of Sam Houston and his ragged army. When Houston turned and fought, the battle cry of his army was “Remember the Alamo!” and “Remember Goliad!”

Of all the battlefields and scenes of history and tragedy in the Texian war for independence, the citadel of La Bahia at Goliad is the only one today looking anything like it did in 1836. The Alamo has had a modern city has grow up around it, subsuming the original compound under modern buildings. The battlefield at San Jacinto little resembles what it looked like 170 years ago.

Only La Bahia looks anything like it did way back when – a classic quadrangle, lined with barracks and towers at each corner, on a gentle rise above the river. Below the walls are empty fields and groves of native trees and narrow roads leading towards little towns just beyond the horizon. I am told that the commemorative encampments within the circuit of walls are breathtakingly evocative; tents and bonfires and lamplight, within and no electric light, no city noises. It’s enough to raise the hair on the back of the neck of those susceptible to atmosphere. The candle-light tours of the citadel – including the Loreto Chapel, conducted every year on the eve of that fatal Palm Sunday are extremely popular.

How They Do Christmas in Texas

Of course they do it full-out all over South Texas; but especially for town celebrations like Christmas on the Square in Goliad, Texas, two hours drive south of San Antonio, on a clear cold morning with everything – including the windshield of the car white and furred-over with frost. It was glorious, though, to see the sun come up, and arrive in Goliad – which has to boast the most-exuberantly ornamented Beaux-Arts-style courthouse building around.

Christmas on the Square was two days of local artists and crafters, food-booths purveying everything from hand-cut home-made potato chips to gorditas, hamburgers and meat-onna-stick, live music, a dog costume contest, and of course . . . the arrival of Santa, mounted on a long-horn steer.

I was there because of my books; for they had a special table for local authors. What better venue to talk up a family saga, full of drama, bloody war, treachery, true love, adventure, Texas Rangers and Comanche Indians, and lots and lots of cows, than where it all began with a bang, short distance away at the old Presidio, where the survivors of Colonel Fannin’s company of Texians were led away and executed by Santa Anna’s soldiers, in 1836.

Click photos to enlarge

Decking the Halls, the Rooftops and the Sidewalk, Too

It’s that time of year again – the weather has turned cool and perfect, the scraps of Thanksgiving dinner have been put away, and those of us who felt moved to get up at 4 AM on Black Friday to score an incredible deal at a big-box retailer have returned triumphant from the hunt – so now we move on to the next seasonal ritual . . . well, besides writing the standard Christmas letter and addressing the cards. It’s time to decorate the house. And the yard. And the trees . . . and the sidewalk.

Time bring out the tubs of figures, ornaments, and inflatables, to pasture the wire-form deer on the lawn, sort out the tangle of green heavy-duty extension cords, and unwind the strings of lights. And find the little packet of extra bulbs.

Time was, just a couple of strings of lights along the rooftop was the norm, although some people got a little ambitious and adorned the trees. Now it seems that there is a sort of neighborhood competition going on, over who can incorporate more seasonal adornments per square foot than anyone else. And this long weekend is when most of my neighbors have gotten started.

I walked around with the dogs on Sunday – already my next-door but one neighbor has strings of icicle lights uncoiled on the lawn, and a tall ladder leaning against the house. Farther down the block, another man pegs a series of giant candy canes along the edge of the lawn and walkway, linking them together with a string of lights; a stack of decorated wreaths here, another skein of lights being attached to the roof-edge by a woman on a ladder.

One of my other neighbors has a flock of penguins in felt caps, made from tall bleach bottles, who settle on his lawn around an igloo decorated with tinsel every year. Only a handful of my neighbors feel compelled to go the “full Griswald” – which is comforting, but even the normal run of decorating seems to be a lot more complicated than it used to be, and take much more time to install, and to break down again after New Years. Indeed, a resident in the next neighborhood over seems to have gone to the next extreme and just left everything up, year around. (Behold, a tiny portion of Ed Clark’s Christmas House!)

Still, I own to taking mild pleasure in the sight of it all, lighted up after twilight; and some neighborhood streets look very fine indeed, such as those in Windcrest, which makes a concerted effort every year. It’s just that I am one of those people, content to deck my own house with a minimalist string of lights and a holly wreath on the door.

Eternal Turkey Strong to Save

It was automatic, the family ritual for disposing of the post-Thanksgiving left-over turkey – and all the other dishes. On the day after, warmed-up everything. On the day after that, hot turkey sandwiches. On the day after that – when the stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy had usually been completely consumed – then cold turkey sandwiches. Followed on subsequent evenings by turkey ala king, turkey loaf and turkey croquettes. Finally, when the turkey carcass had been substantially reduced to small scraps and bones, it all went into the stock-pot and we had turkey stew for another two weeks. Generally, by the time we polished off the Thanksgiving turkey, we would only have had a weeks’ grace before commencing on the Christmas turkey. These days, if I have prepared one for Thanksgiving (not a guarantee, actually – for some years I have been by myself and fixed something small and non-traditional) I have usually been so sick of leftover turkey that for Christmas we have fixed just about anything else as a main dish for Christmas dinner.

But leftovers, like the poor, and the Christmas shopping rush – will always be with us. This recipe, for a pot-pie with a cheddar-biscuit crust is especially tasty, for the chief reason that it doesn’t look, or taste like an obvious leftover. This is one of those recipes that I copied by hand from a magazine, or a newspaper, into my own little collection.

Turkey Pot-pie with a Cheddar Crust

• Simmer until just tender in 3 cups water – 1 lb peeled, cubed butternut squash. Turn off heat, and add to hot water and cubed squash – 1 cup frozen lima beans. Allow to sit a moment, before draining and reserving cooked vegetables, and 1 cup of the cooking water.
• In a large skillet, melt 3 Tbsp. butter, and make a roux with 2 Tbsp. flour. Wisk in the 1 cup cooking water from the vegetables and 1 cup chicken or turkey broth, with
• 2 Tbsp minced fresh sage, 5 oz. pealed pearl onions.
• Simmer for 10 minutes and add 3 cups cubed cooked turkey, and the lima beans and squash. Pour into a 1 ½ quart shallow baking dish,
• Combine in another bowl: 1 ¼ cup flour and 1 ½ tsp. baking powder. Stir in 1 Tbsp cold butter, 1 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar, 4 slices crisp and crumbled cooked bacon. Stir ½ to 2/3 cup cold milk to make a loose dough, and pipe around the edge of the baking dish.
• Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes. This will not appear anything like leftovers. Trust me.