all of life's a circle

Whoever invented the traffic circle (or any of its many aliases) should have been placed on the Queen's New Year's Honors List.

They are a brilliant method of moving traffic through intersections. Even though they fell out of favor in The States for almost a century.

Bend, Oregon was one of the American cities that pioneered the roundabout renaissance, It now has 32. With a piece of sculpture in the center of each.

On my past visits, I have told myself that I am going to search out and shoot each one. I haven't. But I may do it this month. I fly north on Saturday for Thanksgiving in Oregon.

But, if I was only interested in seeing art in the middle of a traffic circle, I could have saved myself a trip to Oregon. Barra de Navidad is right up there with the rest of haute culture.

Upon entering Barra de Navidad, there is a mini-traffic circle with a giant sculpture of two bill fish doing something like the macarena in the center of the street. It meets the first criterion of public art by tying into a local culture. In this case, fishing.

The second is no longer there. The traffic circle is. But the art is gone.

Calling it a "traffic circle" is a  a bit of a reach. It is actually just an island in the middle of a cul-de-sac. But, for a few hours one afternoon last week, it was home to a bit of street theater that would have done a Soho performance artist proud.

I was out on my afternoon walk when I just happened upon it. An homage to another bit of local culture. Equestrianism.

A colt was resting as if posing for posterity on the edge of the island. And it was not the least bit bothered by my circling and shooting. Its mother was staked out in an adjacent empty lot. But the colt was on its own.

The shape of its mulish nose made me wonder if the mare had been wandering on her own, as well.

Some of you will remember the scene in The Life of Brian where Brian's mother tells him why his nose was different from other Jewish boys. Because his father was a Roman. That made me wonder if the mare had had a similar chat with her offspring.

As nice as Bend's art-encrusted traffic circles may be, I will put up our Mexican entrant from Barra as being far more interesting.

And, if the Queen has not yet given away that honor for traffic circles, I have a colt to nominate.