Back now, from a pause in the process, as a week expecting some recovery from two weeks of horse showing, turned into a full schedule of chaos, about which I will not bother to blog.
Here at Bronze Fox Farm we have finally had some rain! The place has been parched for weeks, and almost immediately the pastures have begun to green up. I do not expect a beautiful Autumn, though. Many trees in the woods have dried up and dropped leaves to survive until Spring. The oak mites, unfortunately, are undeterred by drought. I have managed to get another case of them from spending a little time in the woods.
The anticipated upcoming event of a showing of Harry’s artwork will be opening on October 10. Apparently, invitations as not exclusive, so here is the announcement…
| McCaughen & Burr Fine Arts 117 W Lockwood Ave, St. Louis 63119. 314-961-7786 Established 1840 is pleased to present a retrospective of works for sale by renowned St. Louis artist Harry Weber October 10th, 2025 5-8 pm Artist’s Talk 6:00 Exhibition will feature 48 bronze works spanning Weber’s career, with subject matter including historical figures and scenes, athletes, sporting, and more. Featured will be the complete set of ten artist proof bronze maquettes completed for the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. The exhibition will also include drawings beginning with early works from Weber’s time serving in Vietnam up to today. |
This is the maquette that won a national competition for the larger-than-life size bronze statue of the pioneer for the City of St. Charles, MO installed on the city’s historic Main Street in 2006.
| HARRY WEBER Harry Weber was born in St. Louis, MO in 1942. He earned a degree in English from Princeton University and served six years in the United States Navy, including a year tour of commanding River Patrol Boats in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star with V for valor and the Presidential Unit Commendation. As a sculptor, Weber has an international reputation. His body of work includes over 150 large, commissioned sculptures in public view in twenty-seven states, the Bahamas, China, and Africa. These include historical figures, notables in the arts, politics, and sports in thirty-one different cities across the country. Two of his sculptural groupings have been named National Lewis and Clark sites by the National Park Service. He was selected in a national competition to sculpt a statue of Dred and Harriet Scott, which now stands in front of the Old Courthouse where the infamous decision was handed down. His sculptures of famous sports figures are prominent features at fifteen different professional and amateur stadiums, including Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Choctaw Stadium (Texas Rangers) in Arlington, TX and the TD Garden in Boston, MA. In 2023, he was awarded a Star on The St. Louis Walk of Fame which honors St. Louisans who have made significant contributions to the culture of the United States. He has also been inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. |
We attended a talk in Washington, Missouri on Saturday with the newly formed Rivertown Arts Council. Dan Burkhardt gave a very interesting and entertaining presentation, and there were many local artists in attendance. Our spirits were uplifted.
Of course, my spirits also soared when I received my pictures from the professional horse show photographer. Particularly since Brianna, one of the photographers with HLJ Images from Kansas City, rode with Kris as a child, and Jane and I met her through Kris as a young rider. She had a fabulous jumper, and though she is too busy now with work to ride, she is one of the nicest people I have met through horses. And a brilliant photographer… Here are a few, much better than a blurry picture off a video, from the St. Louis National Charity Horse Show 2025!
The birds are migrating, and I had a chance, before they departed, to see male and female tanagers and get some pictures. Beauty and drama in the bird world on the back porch!
At least the five cats are not interested in birds. If the barn cats come near the back porch, we do chase them back to the barn, but we rarely see feathers anywhere, indicating trouble. There was a Cooper’s hawk around for a few days, and I saw it get a finch, but that is the natural circle of life. Domesticated cats are not part of that!
We had a beautiful visitor on the porch a couple of days ago. I took pictures, thinking it was a corn snake, perhaps. I didn’t have the telephoto lens on the camera, so I leaned in close. The poor snake was rather stressed by our efforts to direct it away from the kitchen door. While we were doing that, Eddy came into the house, and very nearly stepped on the snake, but didn’t notice it. Well, then I looked into my iNaturalist app to identify the snake and learned that it was an Eastern Copperhead! Yikes! I did not realize they are so beautiful. I knew they were one of Missouri’s “venomous” snakes. And I did notice the plain brown head and its triangular shape, but I was entranced by it’s beauty. Luckily, this individual was not at all aggressive, and he went happily on his way after our photo session!
Many, many years ago, when we first moved to this country, I decided to make a zoo in the orchard behind the house. I had a turtle, and a toad and a skink in boxes, and I was very excited to find a snake, which I picked up with a stick and threw into a box to add to the collection. I proudly showed the “zoo” to the Priory boys playing soccer on the field by the orchard (we lived on the grounds of the Priory boys’ school). One of the boys informed my father that I had a poisonous copperhead snake in my zoo. I was very sad indeed when my father killed the snake, and that ended my zoological career. Looking back, I wonder if that “copperhead” was more likely a brown roughsnake. People are very afraid of brown snakes, presuming they are copperheads. This one definitely was a copperhead – and it wasn’t a brown snake at all. I put several pictures into the iNaturalist app and there was no question. We didn’t have that option in the early 1960s!
In other things of beauty, on this incredible planet, in the middle of the North American continent…
Every day there is natural beauty to distract us from the news, which is a great blessing.
Be safe, be well, be grateful, be kind. Slava Ukraini! Peace…
Galloping Through 