Touring the new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Exploring San Antonio is one of my favorite things so I jumped at the chance to tour our new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.  In my Veteran's Day post I wrote about the history of the original Spanish Colonial Revival style Municipal Auditorium built as a WWI memorial.  For this post we'll tour more of the outside and also head indoors.

A unique WWI Memorial is preserved in San Antonio

San Antonio is known as a military town so it shouldn't surprise me when I come across something special in honor of those who served.  In October I was invited to a tour of our newly opened Tobin Center for the Performing Arts built on the site of our old Municipal Auditorium.  I learned that the original building, which has been partially preserved during construction of the new center, had been built in 1926 as The Municipal Auditorium and dedicated as a memorial to those who died in WWI.  While there are a number of buildings and stadiums around the country dedicated to war veterans I don't know of another quite like this beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival structure.  It's fitting to feature this special memorial as remembrances of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of WWI are underway.

Walking in the rain

Hurricane Vance brought rain all the way over the Sierra Madre from the Pacific coast of Mexico.  We've had a lot of rain and it has been fun watching it pour down since Tuesday evening.  The rain gauge says 4" but it seemed like even more.  That wiped out half of our annual rainfall deficit in a couple days.  Thursday morning the rain stopped enough to head out with the camera and get rare shots of the garden all wet.  Plus it's been a while since I took you on a garden tour.

Peeking out the front door.  We don't see a lot of puddles since most rain either runs off into the creek or soaks in quickly.

Wildlife Wednesday November 2014

It's time for Wildlife Wednesday hosted by Tina at My Gardener Says..... on the first Wednesday of each month.  November is for the birds.

Oh when the red, red Robin comes bob-bob-bobbin' along....

The day after Halloween

It's time to put away the costumes and Halloween decorations, but not in San Antonio where the celebrations continue with Dia de Los Muertos or Day of the Dead observances.

Looking at these photos you might think we have taken a trip to Mexico but this fountain-turned-altar is set up at Maverick Plaza in La Villita or the little village along the San Antonio River Walk.

Happy Halloween

Meet Patches the neighbor's cat.  She's a hairless cat which gives her an awesome Halloween costume. Oh, those eyes!

Visiting Wildseed Farms for Autumn Fun

In early October I joined members of my neighborhood garden club for a trip to Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg just over an hour away from San Antonio.  Wildseed Farms is the largest working wildflower farm in the country and is well known as a mail order source for wildflower seeds.

It's a beautiful facility designed to match its surroundings of historic Fredericksburg.  We were greeted by John Thomas, President and Founder of Wildseed Farms, who guided us on a detailed tour of the main buildings.