Art, Joplin and a horse named Poppy....

Tuesday evening, there was an artist's reception in Teton Village at the Tram Club. I biked there from the ranch. There was wine, Prosecco, passed hors d'oeuvres and artwork with a beautiful patio to sit on and enjoy the mountain views...ahh. The featured artists were Anke Schofield and Luis Garcia Nerey. They create whimsical wildlife themed art, and the one with the bear and fox pup was "only" $8,300. I kind of like it ;) Sadly, some of the fun summer events in Teton Village are starting to wrap up in a few weeks. They host all sorts of fun things for families, locals and tourists alike such as concerts, fireworks, raptor and wildlife encounters, mountain biking and ropes courses and more. There will be a 1-2 month "quiet" shoulder season before the ski slopes open in December.The Jackson Hole Resort is a family owned, well-oiled, well-planned, innovative money making machine, and they spare no expense to make sure everything is state of the art for their summer and winter guests.

Afterwards I strolled over to the 5th (of 6) Grand Teton Music Festival free Tuesday concert. This week, it was 20th century composers including Joplin, Copland and more. This week's visiting guest Host was Jerry Hou, a Taiwanese conductor and musician that has worked with the Rochester and St. Louis symphonies and now at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. He gave interesting insights on each of the six pieces before they were played.

I grabbed my usual seat, center, 2nd row and glanced at the plaque on the seat in front of me... Laurance Rockefeller. In light of the fact that he donated thousands of acres which became the nearby Grand Teton National Park, I'm guessing his philanthropy also extended to the local arts scene and concert hall that I was sitting in. Kind of cool...

On Thursday, I took a long loping ride on a great horse named Poppy. We crossed 2-3 bridges and creeks, climbed a ridge, looked out over the valley, then descended to the Snake River. From there, we criss-crossed the river and its rocky islands for miles. During one crossing, the horses were belly deep in the rushing water. It's amazing how they find their way across the slippery rocks. Beautiful ride... one of my favorites so far. Still loving life out here!

 

On another subject, here's a photo of some geese I took the other morning shortly after sunrise. I'm going to miss their squawking when I head back east ;(  Just another part of ranch "white noise" that I've grown accustomed to, along with braying horses, the rushing river, bugling elk, hee-hawing donkeys, hooting owls, the nightly crackling bonfire in the crew area, and the big bell being rung to call everyone to meals three times a day...