Friday, December 13, 2013

Addendum

I'm sitting here on my back porch on New Year's Day looking out over the hills drinking red wine and wondering how much more chocolate I can safely consume today!  The temperature is a cool 59 in the shade and there is north easterly breeze blowing.  My corn bread is in the oven and I can't wait to bite into it with a generous slab of butter topping it.  I hope it's good with jalapenos, corn, cilantro and cheddar in it. You guessed it, I'm a foody!

As I look out over the hills I can't help but think about the settlers. 200 years ago that came to this land.  I've read enough books to know what a difficult time they had.  I can certainly understand it.  The soil is mostly limestone sprinkled with cactus.  I've had a difficlut time myself trying to carve a garden out of this land.  I can just imagine them facing more problems than I with no power tools, only hand held shovels and hoes.  I know many starved to death or died of disease.  There is a grave yard at the bottom of the hill with headstones carved indicating how some died.  I love to walk through that cemetery and imagine what life was like for them.  I once went to a very old cemetery about 50 miles from here in Frederiicksburg, Texas.  So many children died from disease or starvation during that time that they have a separate area just for them.  It's so sad looking at the tiny little graves and wondering.  One headstone indicated a woman had been killed by Indians but not scalped.  Sometimes I can visualize an Indian on the horizon riding his pony.  This was their land.  I can't help but wonder how they felt being pushed from their land, dying in battle to protect it and suffering from the diseases that the white man brought.  The white man considered the Indian uncivilized and the Indian felt the same about the white man and his kind.  It's unfortunate they could not have respected each other's ways and lived together peacefully.. History has proven that doesn't happen easily, if ever.The invaders are bullies and the invaded are always fighting to win back what was rightfully theirs.

The settlers came from all over, many from Germany, settling in these hills. Some came from Louisiana and further east.  They nearly all starved to death.  They lived from the land, killing wild animals such as deer, squirrel, possum.  Salt and coffee was hard to come by.  When they ran out of coffee they would use their seed corn brought with them for planting,,, roasting and grinding it to make a kind of coffee.  All I have to do is jump in my air conditioned suv and head to the nearest HEB or Costco to stock up when I'm running low.  I don't have to watch for Indians over the horizon or shoot a deer or squirrel for our next meal.  If my chickens aren't laying or the coyotes have eaten them all it's only 30 minutes or less for me to the local grocery to get a dozen eggs.

I can't help but think of the people who settled this land as I live my life of ease.  I wish they could see it all from the great beyond and marvel at it.  Who knows, maybe they can!

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