A bit of beauty...

That Weaver woman often writes posts that make me ponder things a bit more closely than perhaps I would otherwise. I wonder about her a lot. I think about the little weaver birds of Africa who raise their young in these unique intricate woven hangings of grass. She wrote about beauty recently.



People are making an effort to try to improve the appearance of our downtown area. To beautify it. And it definitely needs beautifying.


And so murals have been painted to try to distract from the ugly walls that were left exposed when some old storefronts were torn down.

They made an open area with picnic tables, and a stream water feature, which I have only seen working once..

Some other building owners had a bit more ambition. On the four corners of the main intersection stand four ancient brick buildings. About $1 million has been spent to save one of the buildings, which was about ready to collapse, it has been unoccupied for some years now. Plans are to put in an arts center.



This used to be the old bank building. It is now occupied by a cabinet maker. Local artists painted scenes on the side.


But the most amazing painting was done around the top of the building. I imagine the owner spent quite a bit of money to hire the expert painter and her crew who recreated in amazing colors and details what it must have looked like when they were built back at the turn of the century (1900!).


A bit of the town's history has been drawn on walls of the building on the right in the aerial shot.


The old ice house was still standing when we first moved to this town. Now an auto body repair shop occupies the land.

Our town used to be a stop on the Frisco line.

And a local Boy Scout troop, worked to fixed up the old "Welcome Sign".

There used to be a depot here, once upon a time. And a grand hotel, as well.

And finally, a couple of horses have been installed on the front lawn of the local bank.

This bank has branches in several of the surrounding towns, and these bank branches all have quite a few more horses than we have, but at least we have some.


And a sad sign of the times is that they must be chained to the ground so that nobody steals them.

I love looking at these horses. Scraps of metal turned into something unique and... yes.... beautiful.