Music Under the Stars - Fri., Sept. 23, 2016

Bob and I often remark how much we enjoy living in San Antonio, a city of festivals, spiritedness, enjoyment of life, and a feeling of contentment. We have so many events to choose from and so much diversity in the culture.

Tonight we chose to go to the Music Under the Stars Concert at Mission San Jose featuring the USAA Band and Chorus. Before the free concert, we went to Chaba Thai, our favorite Thai restaurant, and picked up Chicken Pad Thai for two to go. We took our "picnic" with us to the concert.

Music Under the Stars at Mission San Jose in San Antonio

It was a lovely evening, but we were wary of the weather. (You see, last year we also attended Music Under the Stars; however, as soon as the first song had been played the concert was called because of thunder and the imminent possibility of lightning strikes. Then we had a big rain storm.) This evening the sky clouded up and we felt the slightest of sprinkles, but the clouds soon parted and we had a perfect 78 degree temperature with a slight breeze and 47% humidity. The fireflies were out, but the mosquitoes weren't.

The lights on the mission were part of the show.

Mission San Jose

Music Under the Stars

Attendees brought lawn chairs or blankets and food and drink. There were also chair rentals available at the mission.

A small part of the crowd enjoying an evening out.

The quality and variety of music was wonderful. The selections were:

• "I Just Want to Celebrate" - Zesses & Fekaris, arr. Wallace
• "The Star-Spangled Banner" - Francis Scott Key
• "Jubilate! Joy We Bring" - Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Liebergen
• "This Land is Your Land" - Woody Guthrie, arr. Gallina
• "Latin Carnivale" - arr. Victor Lopez (a medley of songs including "Hot, Hot, Hot," "Conga" and a few others)
• "Sway" - Ruiz & Gimbel, arr. Taylor
• "Fever"- Davenport & Cooley, arr. Holmes
• "Oye Como Va" - Tito Puente, arr. Mossman
• "Malaguena" - Ernesto Lecouna, arr. Kerchner
• "The Yellow Rose of Texas" - traditional, arr. Hibashi
• "L-O-V-E" - Kaempfurt & Gabler, arr. Collins
• "Save the Last Dance for Me" - Pomus & Shuman, arr. Ragsdale
• "I've Been Everywhere" - Geoff Mack, arr. Althouse
• "My America" - Joyce Eilers
• "March of American Hymns" - arr. William Swor
• A salute to the Armed Services - arr. Jari Villaneuva (Themes from each branch of the service were played and those who served in those branches or had relatives in those branches stood while each theme was played.)
• "God Bless America" - Irving Berlin, arr. Moss & Christopher

The show lasted 1-1/2 hours. Did I mention Mission San Jose is only 3/4 mile from Travelers World RV Resort? It's really close to home.

In other news, Bob is feeling great. The other day he was running on a treadmill at lunch in Gold's Gym and did 10-minute miles for six miles. It's about the best he's ever done and he felt wonderful. He is heavy into his training for the Honolulu Marathon in December. I think he is running 14 miles on Sunday and then 16 miles next weekend. Then they taper off for a bit. Also, his neck is healing well. His left ear is numb as they did have to cut a nerve when the did surgery. He jokingly says about that ear, "I could get my ear pierced without anesthesia because I can't feel anything."

At Travelers World RV Resort where I work, our new owners (Sun Communities, Inc.) are making all kinds of upgrades to the park. The most major one is the addition of five new park model cabins for rent. They were just installed a couple of weeks ago and are being cleaned and furnished. We already have three of them rented for most of the winter season. The other two have some daily and weekly renters so far, but are not full. Because of the popularity of the furnished cabins, Sun is going to put five more park models in sites that are not used often. Two of the cabins will be two bedrooms. They hope to have those cabins in by the end of 2016. Other remodeling and changes are coming too. Onward and upward.

Enjoy your weekend! Travel Bug out.

Alamo Sightseeing Tour, San Antonio, TX - Mon., June 8

Monday Bob and I played tourists. At 8:20 am we hopped on a shuttle bus to start our Grand Tour of San Antonio.

The shuttle took us into downtown where our tour started with The Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero). Our guide gave us time to see the church and walk around the museum.

Our tour guide in front of The Alamo

Opening time at The Alamo (9 am) -
people waiting to get into the church

Bob in front of the Long Barrack - movie and museum inside

Gorgeous flowers

Bob and I had never taken time to view the museum in the Long Barrack, so we did it today. We thought we still had five minutes to get back on the bus, but as we were outside listening to a ranger give a history talk, we saw the bus driver motioning for us to come to the bus.

We hustled over and got on the bus, sheepishly I might add because we were the last two and everyone was waiting on us. The whole bus was completely full (31 people), except for one seat. I took the seat. When Bob got on the bus, a child sitting in one of the seats had to move to sit on their parent's lap.

Our next stop was Mission San Jose. This is our favorite mission in San Antonio. Our driver giave us a 1/2 hour tour, then gave us another 1/2 hour to look around on our own.

Bob in front of our sightseeing coach

Visitor Center display of the five missions in San Antonio

Mission San Jose

Interior of church at Mission San Jose

A scalloped door

Next we headed to Mission Concepcion where our guide talked to us about the artwork inside the walls of this mission.

Hand-painted art on inside walls

Interior stairs - Mission Concepcion

From Mission Concepcion, our tour route took us to Market Square, an area with Mexican shops, restaurants and a bakery. We had 1/2 hour to look around and shop (and get a treat at the bakery - we were hungry).

Next stop, Buckhorn Saloon and Museum and Texas Ranger Museum. Our first order of business was lunch so we got our admission sticker for the museum then walked a block to Toscana Ristorante, an Italian restaurant. It was okay, but we wouldn't go back.

We head been to the museums before, but we walked through again. I am fascinated by the big game heads, fish, and other displays in the Buckhorn.

Famous big game hunter

Cobra and mongoose

The following two stags locked horns in battle and died locked together. Things like this happen in nature.

Bob at the Buckhorn Museum

Stuffed ring-tailed cats

A Texas landscape at the Buckhorn

Bob in the Buckhorn Saloon

Selfie through a mirror

When we finished at the museums, our bus picked us up for a short ride to the Japanese Tea Garden at Brackenridge Park. The garden was built in an old rock quarry and is quite lovely. It took us about 15 minutes to walk through the garden.

Japanese Tea Garden

Suspended turtle

Looking back at the pagoda

Interior of the pagoda

From the tea garden, we went back into downtown for the 35-minute narrated river tour. In the three years we've been in San Antonio, we had never done the riverboats! I'm happy to report it's a good value. Seeing the River Walk from the river is a treat.

The five bells below represent the five missions in San Antonio.

San Antonio's River Walk

Lots of bridges

Mariachi band serenading diners.

San Antonio's Convention Center

We returned back to the RV park around 5:00 pm. Both of us were happy we finally did the tour.

Mission San Jose in San Antonio -- Mon., Sep. 17

Think back in time. What do you remember? If you're like most Americans you remember living in a home, visiting with relatives, worshiping, celebrating holidays, and enjoying a life with a certain continuity to it.

Imagine if another culture conquered ours. All of a sudden, your language changes, your traditions are usurped and new ones imposed by someone else, and your traditions are suddenly considered pagan and wrong. Added to that, new diseases spread through your family and 70% of them die because they have no natural or built-up immunity. Welcome to the world of the Coahuiltecans (pronounced kwa-weel-tekens), several hunting and gathering bands of American Indians.

Mission San Jose tells the story of these Native Americans and their rough life in the 1600s. Even before the missions, the Coahuiltecans were being crowded out of their hunting grounds by the nomadic Apache and Comanche from the north. 

According to the National Park Service brochure:

"But a greater threat was the European diseases introduced by the Spanish, which eventually decimated their numbers. Struggling under such hardships, Coahuiltecans proved to be relatively willing recruits for the missionaries. In exchange for labor and conversion to Catholicism, Indians received food and refuge in missions."

In reading the displays in the Visitor Center, it is quite clear that the Catholic Church was not just helping the Indians, they were helping Spain create a foothold in the New World. 

Again, quoting the National Park brochure:

"Tales of riches spurred the early Spanish explorers northward across the Rio Grande...As dreams of wealth faded, the Spanish concentrated more fully on spreading the Catholic faith--the basis of Spanish colonial society--among the frontier Indians. Financed by the Crown, Franciscan missions served both Church and State. As an arm of the church, the mission was the vanguard for converting the Indians spiritually. As an agent of the state, the mission helped push the empire northward. Missions also offered Indians sanctuary from their enemies."

"The chain of missions established along the San Antonio River in the 1700s is a reminder of one of Spain's most successful attempts to extend its dominion northward from New Spain (present-day Mexico). Collectively they form the largest concentration of Catholic missions in North America."

The Spanish missions helped form the foundation for the city of San Antonio. Here are photos of Mission San Jose.

Indian quarters.

The church (with kiln in front of Indian quarters).

Indian quarters. Kilns throughout grounds in front of Indian quarters.

 

Convento

Side door into church.

Detail of cherub head on door frame.

Beautiful arches of the Convento.

Church interior.

 

Teaching with stone: The frescoes and elaborate stone work were functional as well as artistic. The symbols and decorations were tools for teaching faith to Indians who had never heard of any of this before and couldn't yet understand their new language. 

There is a separate brochure dealing entirely with "Teaching with Stone." Here are some of the highlights:

Symbols of Catholicism and Spanish culture:

• Heart: symbolic of love, piety, understanding, courage, devotion, sorrow, and joy. The three hearts found on the facade represent the Holy Family.
• Pomegranate: symbolizes church because of the inner unity of the countless seeds in one fruit. A traditional symbol of purity, the pomegranate and its seeds symbolized the countless and growing number of converts. The juice's deep red color symbolizes the blood of Christ.
• Shell: symbolizes baptism. Shell designs are frequently found above doorways and windows, symbolizing baptism as the entryway into Christianity.
• Rose: red represents martyrdom; white represents purity.
• Angels: serve as a link between God and Man, heaven and earth. San Jose's angels are cherubs and bear Native American features in their design.
• Pinjante: replicate cut paper ornaments used to decorate for festive occasions.

On the main church entrance door below there are six saints represented. The oval rose window is an architectural term for the decorative window above the main door of a church. This is not Rosa's Window which is found in another photo.

Main entry into church.

Rosa's Window (also called Rose Window)

 

Rose Window explanation.

Today I learned more about the acequias, or aqueducts, built and used by the missions and surrounding farms. You can still see the acequias today. There is one behind Mission San Jose which powers a grist mill and I took photos there today.

Inside the grist mill.

Convento

Church side view.

Bell tower--chimes every 1/2 hour.

The granary.

 

Love this cactus growing on the roof.

Flower and shadow.

 

Outside of Mission San Jose walls.

 

My afternoon was beautiful and informative. Tomorrow the San Antonio Zoo. Stay tuned.

Welcome to Steve at My Life Outdoors. His wife just wrote an excellent blog about hiking with children. You can check it out at the link.

Travel Bug out.