Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/356372
PHOTOGRAPHY CASEY DUNN ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY JACK THOMPSON, JENNY ANTILL ROWING UP LIBRE. We were raised in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, where I attended the American School of Tampico, some 60 kilometers from the ranch. The setting was very remote, and during rainy season, you could only fly into the ranch by small plane. Living remotely as we did meant you had to make up your fun. We fished, dug tunnels and played. The best times came from working cattle on horseback with the cowboys. Lunchtime was always my favorite — the cowboys' wives packed amazing lunches. We would all stop under a shade tree and start a fire to heat up tacos and tamales or thread Serrano chilies on sticks and grill them over the flames. THE CONSTANT GARDENER. When crops were in rotation, my father would let me plow up an empty field and plant whatever I wanted. I once planted a huge design of sunflowers — my own version of an earthwork installation. My father was always building things out of materials found on the ranch, so flagstone and tree trunks became corrals and fences, and I used the leftover materials to build my own creations. LESS IS MORE. The ranch house did not have electricity, but we had generators that were turned on at night, only for a few hours. When the generator would start to sputter and the lights faded, you would always hear a collective "Awwwgggh," which meant you had to stop reading your book. I read many a Nancy Drew book by flashlight and grew up loving magazines, as they were my window to the world. My uncle flew back and forth between the ranches and the States, and he always brought new American magazines. My sister Sawnie, my cousin Dallas and I would fight over who got to read my mother's American Vogue first. There was a bus station in the closest tiny town, about 40 kilometers away, that got just one copy of the Spanish magazine Hola, and my mother and the rancher's wife down the river would clamor for it. COLORFUL CHARACTERS. The ranch was an active cattle ranch. I loved that at night you could see all the stars and hear the cattle low and the coyotes howl. Many a weekend was filled with house guests and bird hunts. My paternal grandfather was quite a character — a rancher and farmer who was also an excellent gambler. He started the ranches in Mexico where I was raised. Though he suffered from diabetes, he refused to give up his habit of drinking a case of Mexican Coca-Cola every day. Born in Colorado, he moved to Texas to prospect for land and eventually landed in South Texas. At some point in the '50s, he decided he wanted a ranch in Latin America. After visiting many places, he picked Tampico when he found a ranch for sale that he fell in love with. He was married to my grandmother, who was a full on coco-nut in her own right. She loved fishing, bourbon and Parliament cigarettes, in that order. We have great photos of her with these huge saltwater fish from her adventures. She fished all day at the river with her friend and cook, Pinkie. They enjoyed a few bourbon nips throughout the day and Parliament cigarettes, and I spent many a happy afternoon lying on that river bank, lighting The DOWN THE STORY OF LANDSCAPE DESIGNER CEDAR BALDRIDGE BEGINS IN TAMPICO, MEXICO. THE DAUGHTER OF A SUCCESSFUL RANCHER, SHE GREW UP AMONGST COWBOYS, CACTUS AND A CAST OF INTERESTING CHARACTERS. NOW THE ENGINE BEHIND A THRIVING LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FIRM THAT SHARES HER NAME — WHICH IS A FITTING NOM DE PLUME FOR SUCH AN ENDEAVOR — BALDRIDGE HAS FORGED HER OWN PATH BY DOING WHAT SHE TRULY LOVES: DEVELOPING A BELOVED CLIENTELE OF THE AESTHETICALLY BLESSED, AND DESIGNING HER OWN CASA AS BRIGHT AS A PIÑATA. STEVE HEMPEL EXPLORES HER COLORFUL WORLD. TO EARTH Cedar Baldridge's library is painted Benjamin Moore Peacock Blue 2049-40. The chairs were designed by Cedar and built by Gracie's Custom Interiors. Canadian caribou taxidermy (dubbed Caribou Grant) from Round Top Antiques Fair. Portrait from San Antonio-born artist Deborah Kass' Warhol Project, purchased from Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Taxidermy bonito fish from Mexico. Vintage Oushak rug. Cedar Baldridge's hat is from a saddle shop in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The warthog tooth necklace was fabricated by Karla's in McAllen; Baldridge found the tooth and designed the sterling-silver bezel. Vintage Native American turquoise and coral necklaces. The shirt is Baldridge's uniform: a white man's Brooks Brothers shirt monogrammed by The Monogram Shop in Rice Village.