Horses have wonderfully expressive faces and artists have been trying to capture this since the time people first started painting in caves.   So the best part of my trip to the Cowboy Hall of Fame was the art with horses.

Horses often look like they are just about to say something to you (like the famous Mr. Ed), if only one would stop to listen.

They have their opinions about what the humans are up to, and they mostly are too polite to say.

This statue celebrates the life and career of Khadafy Skoal (named after some dictator or other).   He was originally slated for a career in horse racing when his humans noticed that he did not care for jockeys.   He started his career at age 7 and was named Horse of the Year in 1990, 95 and 96.  (He was very well liked by his fellow horses).  He retired in 2004 and died late in 2013 at age 31.

Much as I liked these other horses I must admit that my favorite horse of all time is Pegasus.   Those wings just give him an unfair advantage over mortal horses.

Back in grade school, whenever we had to do a section on poetry, the teacher always picked “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer.  It made no difference what grade we were in, the poem for the poetry unit was always “Trees”.  (And I have no idea why, it was just the way of things).   So here it is, the first line of “Trees”:  ” I think that I shall never see.  A poem as lovely as a tree.”   Obviously Mr. Kilmer was a bit confused by the subject, and he would have been even more confused after a short walk through our downtown.    We do have the usual sorts of trees, but then there are a few special ones.

I love this tree.   It has been downtown for several years and was purchased from the artist after being part of the art in the streets program.   It is made of steel and river rocks.

This tree is more recent, and has these lovely spinning leaves which give it a rather festive air.   I took this snap during a recent street event.

But this is the best tree downtown (or anywhere in the city).   This is part of the newest batch of art on the streets.   This handsome creature is formed from steel wire and looks to have a few river rocks inside.   I do love the local deer, and I hope this one stays and gets to be part of herd.

“Poems are made by fools like me.  But only God can make a tree.”

I got the notice rather late in the day after running errands and such.  It was free day at the local museum and I had not been there in a while, so off I went for the last days of the latest show.  As usual I got completely sidetracked by the lovely shadows of museum lighting and other irrelevancies.

There was a current display of art from Brazil.  I loved the enigmatic nature of this canvas, with both the figure we see and the unseen figures of the shadows.

This unfinished etching by Rembrandt has a shadowy quality, perhaps it really is finished.   (The green in the picture is a reflection from the exit sign).   (The exit sign is in case you don’t notice the huge gap in the wall).

Chihuly managed to flog a number of pieces to the museum’s permanent collection.   They are pretty enough, but the shadows make them extra fabulous.

The author as a pair of legs.  I love how this makes me look extra tall and slim.

And what was I up to?   Just snapping away at  random things which caught my eye.

This particular shadow was cast right in front of a painting by Andy Warhol.   I don’t think that he could have done a better portrait of me, that captures my essence. 😉