Cadillac office

I'm not sure I could be very productive if my office were in a building like this:

I mean, wouldn't you feel a bit Downton-Abbey-ish just coming in the door in the morning? 

My friend Susan seems not to let this bother her, though, as she works on the second-floor of this splendid edifice, and has for some years. I don't think they'd keep her on if she just sat around ringing bells for servants all the time.

The house is used as offices by San Antonio College, having been donated to the wonderful Community College District by the Koehler family (pronounced, in German-Tex, as KAY-ler) who built it in the 1890's. (You can read more about its history here, as well as find out how to have a party, wedding, or other event inside. After you've seen some of my pictures, you might want to do this!)

I biked over to SAC yesterday, and Susan was kind enough to give me a comprehensive tour of the building, being one of only a few souls still working. Wow! What an amazing place!

I confess that I probably went a little bonkers with the camera. I hope, if you enjoy old houses as much as I do, especially the lovely little details of decor—like the exquisite tiles on the left, from the kitchen wall—and architecture, that you don't mind the length of this post. (Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

First of all, to prove that she really works in this dreamy place, here is Susan's office:

(The only advantage my workspace has over this one is that I haven't had to be in it for the last week...I get a longer Christmas break than she does. Nyahhh!)

Staircases are understandably a striking centerpiece of houses like this. Here's looking up the main stairs...

...and down...

A meal in this luxurious dining room would be heavenly. But I hope they don't try to have work conferences here. It would be really hard to concentrate, I should think. All that gorgeous wood!

There's even TWO dining/meeting areas!

Susan thinks this lovely tiled space was once a conservatory:

tour guide striking an appropriately Downton-ish pose

Of course, it certainly didn't hurt that I timed my tour visit for the holidays, when everything was especially fancied up. Can you imagine a better setting for a Christmas tree than this "nook"?

As spectacular as the spacious rooms are, though, it's the decorative details that really catch the eye in houses like this. Here's an absolutely exquisite window in one of the bathrooms:

And here are more of the tiles. I had to take pictures of every one of these walls that I saw...

The last tile masterpiece isn't on a wall but a floor; specifically, the top step of the side porch. Which is also graced by extra-delicate stonework...

The final Downton Abbey touch (although without the bells that you see in the opening credits) was this signal board in the kitchen. Some people really did have this many rooms and needed to send servants to the right ones, I guess!

One thing Koehler House has that they don't even have at Downton (at least not that's appeared in any episodes so far!) is in the basement...

This, and a few other murals supposedly painted by the original owner himself, depict the activity...bowling! 

Yes, the Koehlers had their own private bowling alley. The neatest thing about this single lane is the beautiful wooden ball return on the right!

(You might notice in the mural that the bowlers are drinking, too; appropriately, since Mr. Koehler is best known as the owner of the Pearl Brewery. Which has now become a popular mixed use development that I've written about before, not far from the house.)

The grounds are as lovely as the interior of the house, with some really spectacular trees...

All in all, a really wonderful treasure that SAC is, I must say, taking very good care of. Thanks again to Susan for taking time to show me around!

Wordless Wednesday: the view from the clothesline

Paddle locally

A couple of weeks ago we took a short paddle on the Saspamco Paddling Trail just outside of town. I've written about this stretch of the San Antonio River before, and we were pleased to note that the improvements begun earlier in the year are continuing.

Like the metal steps leading down to the water at the put-in/take-out spots. This time we put in at the CR 125 overpass, which is about the halfway point in the Trail. Here are Sandra and Joline, waiting for me by the steps at our put-in:

looking down the steps toward the CR 125 bridge

We opted for a shorter paddle than last time because the river's flow was fairly low. However, we had none of the usual low-water trouble, i.e., having to walk the boats. In fact, there were some overhanging trees that might have been a little tricky to get by at a higher water level:

Overall, a nice little paddle. And only a bit more than a half hour from home. Can't beat it!

---

Henry has a longer post about this trip, with more pictures, here.

Wordless Wednesday: someone has a magic touch

Wordless Wednesday: no-passing zone

A road out of place

The Texas hill country really is hill country, not mountain country. So you don't usually see signs like these within 100 miles of my back yard:

And I didn't get my camera out in time to catch the 10 mph hairpin turn sign. A 10 mph hairpin! Wow! If you were to fall asleep leaving Leakey and wake up in the middle of this stretch of Ranch Road 337, before you get to Medina, you could easily have a moment of confusion as to what state you were in.

Henry had told me that we'd take this winding road home from our Thanksgiving visit with friends near Leakey. (He had even wanted to take his sports car, in order to give me a white-knuckle passenger experience. But cooler heads prevailed and we were in my Prius.) 

But I didn't really know what to expect, and it was a pleasant surprise. Here are some views:

RR 337 winds downhill...

...and climbs back up again

view from a scenic overlook

an impressive roadcut

Click on this last one to enlarge it enough to read the sign, which obviously hadn't frightened the bikers on the left. We saw several groups of these folks enjoying the rush of motoring on a somewhat dangerous, but fun, road.

But, no matter how we might have thought we were in Colorado for a little while, we were really still just in Texas. You "come down to earth" again fairly quickly, back to the flatlands and the iconic livestock:

It's neat to know, however, that such scenery, and such roads are so close to home. 

Giving thanks for the hill country

...and also for generous friends who host Thanksgiving feasts there!

This is the view of the West Frio River you get from the front porch of our friend's vacation cabin near Leakey. Pretty sweet, eh?

It might surprise some readers that we didn't actually paddle this river; there's really not enough water for that. But that didn't keep us from admiring the scenery and the lovely, clear water:

The surrounding landscape is also pretty scenic, and we enjoyed our drive to and from the cabin as well as our time there (more about the amazing road we took home in my next post)...

We also enjoyed seeing lots of birds, especially in the early morning hours...

The sunrise Friday morning wasn't too shabby, either!

And, there was more landscape color on offer than I was expecting, here in our fall-color-deprived part of the world...

Of course, didn't neglect the two main traditional Thanksgiving activities, eating and visiting with friends. And we didn't exactly "rough it" in the country, either.

On the left is a shot of our feast table, pre-feast...pretty swanky, I think, for a hill country get-together. And though I don't have pix of the edibles, you'll have to trust me that they were very, very, good!

As was the visiting. Here are some of our friends enjoying the view on the chilly morning after:

No, you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows, or where to go for a relaxing holiday.

---

Henry has a longer post about the holiday, with more pictures, here.