Welcome to My Red Cape. Long ago in another time my husband Jack and I lived in a little old red house. It was the stuff of dreams to us for the few years that we were there. I live there still a number of hours every day in imagination, with old dolls and paintings and fabrics and feather trees. I draw inspiration and happiness from the memories of that space in time and share some of it here with friends who remember how to step with Alice through the looking glass and take delight in whimsies and antiquities. ~Edyth O’Neill

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Hill Country Ranch home

 Not long back, land here was thought of not in acres or hundreds of acres, but rather in "Sections' of 640 acres a section.  It is very poor form to ask anyone how much land they have, rather like asking "how much money do you have in the bank?  The large old ranches are being broken up now and real estate sales people have a different point of view.

 It is nice to be able to visit one of the old ranches that has not suffered from "development".   This pretty rock homestead has been lovingly maintained by several generations of each of the only two families that have owned it.  This county was settled in 1846,  200 years later than many of the properties we study in the Northeast.  So what is antique here is much younger. 

The buildings and very extensive grounds are carefully groomed and managed. Interesting outbuildings have been preserved. Barns are farther back out of sight.  There is a large tennis court for family use and a beautiful pool tucked behind the house away from casual view.  Understated luxury would describe the lifestyle. The sweetness of the morning air and birdsong and golden slant of the sunlight tell a story of timeless simple pleasures.  The front porch of the main house sports a Texas flag on one corner and a US flag on the other.  The home began as a log structure, was rocked and added onto several times and the gingerbread porch came along in the 1880's.   Interiors are very simply but comfortably furnished.

An old mesquite tree can be beautiful.




 



 

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