Hill Country Memories (Summer 2011)

In the Texas Hill Country, near Austin TX this weekend where I survived many a hot summer and frequently enjoyed the rustic beauty of Central Texas, earlier in my life.

Neither Dallas, nor my present hometown of Houston, possess the rugged physical beauty of the hills and ravines of the Texas hill country. Whether on Inks, Travis, LBJ, or Lake Austin, traversing the area reminded me of the God-created beauty of the landscapes, including distant memories that were watercolor-blue on my mind.

Weaving around the sage and cedar, on the hot blacktop of state highway 71 as it meanders west of Austin; one feels the tension between the old, ageless limestone walls, shade bearing live oaks and the new glistening houses of suburban neighborhoods, with modernized-Texana names like River Bend Crest, Falcon Ridge, or Rio Cactus.

Ten years of “free-blue-sky” life played out under the puffy Cumulonimbus clouds which roll on forever. Enjoying the cold water of the highland lakes, the simple life of Coppertone and Coors, ski boats and hill country socializing during evenings at Rosie’s Cantina, we grew from boyhood into manhood.

The other part of my story was lower down, out of the hills, among the classic architecture of The University of Texas and the old traditional state capitol in the city of Austin. We were lovers, thinkers, planners and dreamers, and our lives were before us. How little did we realize or contemplate our futures?

Summers were a time of relaxed schedules, romantic pursuits, making pocket money, and generally staying out as late as one could, without interfering with school, jobs, or one’s parents. I wasn’t nearly as bothered by the hot weather as today, but that could be more about the way the sun brought out the supple tans of our young friends proudly wearing colorful bikinis that time of year.

During the ten years between 1976-77 and 1987-88, the Texas Hill Country was not as populated as it is now, and the droughts had not yet severely hurt the chain of lakes tied together from Burnet to Austin. Almost every summer during that period, activities brought me back there for a time, however, I did not realize what a beautiful blessing it was. That concept however, was clear to me this weekend:

[those years provided the plentiful opportunity to be exposed to sun, sand, power boats, gasoline, cars, recreation, girls, good food/drink, sparse traffic, beautiful vistas, good roads, friendly police, rivers that ran strong and cold, and the safety granted by God to make it back and forth, up and down, around hills and dales, to and from Austin, at all hours of the day. The blessing of those years, struck me this weekend; it was unmerited grace.]

Nonetheless, the Austin area still today feels smaller, slower paced, more relaxed, hipper, and friendlier; that might just be the observations of a frequent visitor. The grind of living in the highly-populated hotbed, fighting traffic and modernism, might change my perspective quickly, harshly; but it hasn’t yet?!

I saw two disappointing things this weekend on Highway 71

Travis County Life Flight Helicopter:
(photo credit: mine)
http://imgur.com/jJAAZ


Dry Perdernales River:
Dave Shaffer photograph from the bridge
http://tiny.cc/n1p5s

Not sure whether the massive surge of population causes the kind of reckless driving and overuse of available water I saw here, but these two incidents reminded me that people, places, things (memories) tend to degrade over time. These two photos are sad footnotes of pleasant memories.

What do you remember about your childhood summers?