AND WE'RE OFF, LIKE A HERD OF TURTLES

Oh my, my! Is there anything more glorious than an early autumn Hill Country morn? The temps have dropped into the fifties the last several nights, and I was able to throw all the windows open for a few hours when I got up. Plus, the grasses that cover our property have sent up plumes, and are beginning to waft and ripple with the breeze. I even saw smoke coming up from a neighbors property one morning, so I'm guessing they finally lifted our perpetual burn ban, at least for a while. If only these temps would last through the week.

This book of W.B. Thompson's paintings is all I could afford last time we went!

Believe it or not, John and I are finally going to take that trip to San Antonio that I won from the Visit San Antonio Facebook page almost a year ago! We kinda got side-tracked by all our trips to the E.R. this year! Anyhoo, we've both been to San Antonio numerous times, having grown up here in Texas, but I don't think we've ever once been there when it wasn't blazin' hot and humid! We were really sorta hoping that this trip, being in late September, might be the exception. However, last time I checked, it looked liked the temps were going to pop back up into the 90s just in time for our arrival. Ah well, c'est la vie!

Never fear. I'm sure we will manage to have a marvelous time nonetheless. How could we not? Not only did our prize package include four free nights at the lovely Valencia Hotel, right on the Riverwalk, free passes to Fiesta Texas, the Witte museum, the McNay, and the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, a trolley tour, and lovely meals at two restaurants, but it also included a very generous gift card to cover travel expenses. And, since we have virtually no travel expenses, living only about 90 minutes away, we can use it however we wish. I'm thinking a trip to the little gallery in La Villita that carries the art of one of my very favorite artists (pictured above), stops at a couple of local art stores I've managed to scope out, and maybe shopping for a few colorful garments a la Frida Kahlo, might all be good places to start. What do you think?