Artful Icons...the cow parade

 

It seems wherever we go, there's a particular icon that's significant to the city or the area. The local marketeers, with a goal of inspiring artists and raising money for a town's pet project, provide thematic, plain, fiberglass sculptures and the local artists work hard to create a distinctive masterpiece from the singular design they've been provided. The results are colorful, imaginative and fun. Local businesses usually bid for their favorites at auction and then display them throughout the town.

With a little research, I discovered this concept was the original brainchild of Walter Knapp in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998, then spread around the world. They used lions in Zurich, the city's symbol, but the themes change to reflect the area. Since the original theme in the US was cows, they refer to the event as a Cow Parade, though we've seen buffaloes, mermaids, cowboy boots and more.

Take a look...

Lobsters – Rockland, Maine

Mermaids – Norfolk, VA

Steers – Buenos Aires

Cowboy Boots – Cheyenne, WY

Buffalo - Yellowstone

Catamounts – Vermont

Moose- Bennington

New England Signs

During our recent trips to colonial New England towns and on our drive through Vermont, we netted a few more signs for our collection that we thought we'd share. Enjoy.  

A typical Vermont bumper sticker.

Palm reading in Salem – and what were you thinking?

Falling objects? The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!

Aha.. Don't throw rocks! This is where the falling objects are coming from.

No, it's not rocks. It's houses. We must be back in Oz.

If the pig suit fits, …

A sign just for us.

Get your pistol permit. Really? Are they crazy?

No tree climbing.

Makes sense in an apple orchard though we were tempted to climb just to get those big guys just a little out of reach.

We didn't see any beavers, but we were watching out for them.

From the Mountains to the Sea

 

Mountains, for some folks, have the same effect as the sea for others. Mountains can provide solace, tranquility, a sense of openness and a release from the world. David, as well as our son Brennan, used to climb mountains in their spare time when we lived in Rockies. There are 54 peaks in Colorado above 14,000' (4,267m) called the Fourteeners. They climbed nearly all of them. I climbed a few … sheer heights do not fall in my favorites category.

That “Rocky Mountain high”, however, is right up there with the emotions we've experience on Nine of Cups at sea. The sky goes on forever. Sunsets and sunrises are marvels. The views go on forever. The air is fresh and clean. It's blissfully quiet. There's no one else in the world to interrupt your thoughts or reverie. It's sacred.

Our mountain climbing days are over, but not our love for the mountains. We're willing to travel inland just to view them … they're majestic. The best, though, is seeing snow-covered mountains while sailing. The Patagonian canals and Tierra del Fuego were great for that. It was a double hit of wow.

Here's a few of the mountains we've met in our travels...

Chimborazo -Ecuador

Avenue of the Volcanoes – Cotapaxi Volcano, Ecuador

Mt Evans views

Aconcagua – Argentina – highest mountain in Argentina

Grand Teton

El Dientes in Tierra del Fuego

Blue Mountains of Australia

Mt Rugby, Port Davey, Tasmania