CROSS THE BRAZOS AT WACO

"Cross The Brazos at Waco, ride on and I make it by dawn; Cross the Brazos at Waco, I'm safe when I reach San Antone."

Those lyrics, recorded by Billy Walker and Marty Robbins, kept playing in my head as we approached Waco last night, and again when we got up this morning. We came here to see Magnolia Market, but it wasn't nearly as interesting to this old cowgirl as the sculptures of the wranglers and longhorns beside the Brazos River.

Magnolia Market is a group of buildings housing a home-decor market, small bakery and flower/ seed shop. Owned and operated by HGTV's Chip and Joanna Gaines, the compound includes a playground for children and two old grain silos that the couple has plans for later. The market didn't move me, because I'm not into decorating with silk flowers, cotton bolls and milk cans. It was a bit pricey, too, but folks were lined up at the door half an hour before it's 9 a.m. opening. They pawed over dinnerware and table linens, bought tee shirts and magnets, signs and magnolia-scented candles. I purchased a rectangular butter dish because I needed one, and a Magnolia Market magnet. It was just another upscale decorator's shop to me, because I like to fill my home with objects d'art that have special meaning to me. To each his own.

When we left the market, we circled back to the banks of the Brazos River to see a group of bronze longhorn cattle and drovers by Texas sculptor Robert Summers called, "The Waco Chisholm Trail Heritage." The sculptures are on one side of the historic Waco Suspension Bridge, where cattlemen used to drive their herds across the river. It's a single-span suspension bridge that's now used by pedestrians and bicyclists, and naturally I had to walk across just to say I had crossed the Brazos at Waco. 

The sculptures were marvelous in their depiction of a vaquero, a black drover and a trail boss. Cowboys, their horses and the longhorns were caught in motion, as if the men really were driving the cattle across the river.

We took I-35 South down to Boerne, and again were rewarded by the wildflowers. Texas Bluebonnets, the state flower, are in bloom, and it was worth putting up with interstate traffic just to see them.

Tomorrow the George Strait Team Roping Classic starts, and we need to have the truck in line at the San Antonio Rose Palace by 7 a.m. I probably won't post again until Saturday night, so I can sum up the team roping.