We're still in Kansas and we are having an excellent visit! The children are in school during the week so MJ and Jack and I have completed several little projects around the house; we've made cookie dough for the freezer; we've explored a variety of thrift shops and we've taken a field trip or two.
This is "Pioneer Mother", a statue in Penn Valley Park. After spending the better part of two days at the wonderful World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial, we stopped by this Kansas City landmark.
This is "Pioneer Mother", a statue in Penn Valley Park. After spending the better part of two days at the wonderful World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial, we stopped by this Kansas City landmark.
The photo above was shot from the left side of the statue. The detail is much better because the light was at my back. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'm still trying to figure out this camera.* If you click on each of the photos you'll be able to see more of the detail.
This is the Pioneer Mother from the other side and as you can see, the shadows are a lot deeper. There HAS to be a way to compensate for that but I have yet to figure it out!
If you look closely, you'll notice that she is holding a baby. The statue was much to tall for me to shoot the photo at a better angle.
I imagine that the rugged looking fellow beside her is the guide and ....
....this fellow must be her husband. Look closely at the photo and you can see the back of the baby's head.
This is the second horse...he looks tired and thirsty. I hope it's the end of the journey for them.
Alexander Phimister Proctor of New York sculpted the grouping for a gentleman named Howard Vanderslice. Mr. Vanderslice's mother made the long journey westward to Kansas City in 1853 and he commissioned this piece as a tribute to the pioneers who settled in this area.
A much better photograph of this statue is at this Missouri Valley Special Collections page of the Kansas City Public Library website. They perspective is excellent and you can definitely see the baby in the Pioneer Mother's arms.
There's a bronze plaque at the base of the sculpture but it's quite worn. We had a difficult time reading the inscription. Then I found this page of the Historical Marker Database which shows the inscription on the plaque and the Bible verse carved around the base.
It was a perfectly beautiful day...warm and calm with blue skies. I do love a good field trip!
*Note: I finally caved and bought a book called Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter. I haven't started reading it, yet, but I'm planning to study it while we're traveling by Amtrak to Washington state the middle of February.









































