Recently we inherited a Charles Marion Russell repro bronze of two cow guys hunkered down by a campfire having coffee, with a horse hanging around above them. We had always enjoyed the piece at our friend's house-- coffee pot front and center, probably one of those deep blue speckled enamel jobs, two hardworking guys facing each other, talking, taking a break. The horse is still saddled up, blandly looking into the middle distance, maybe wondering when the oat bag will be strapped on. ( Russell first worked as a cowhand at age 18 in Montana in 1882.)
After the film "Brokeback Mountain" came out we began flippantly referring to the statue as "The Gay Guys Having Coffee." Having seen the remarkably fine flick, we can report that the guys were heavily yet reluctantly into beans, as well as coffee, and improved their larder immensely when they dried meat from an elk(?) one of them shot.
In truth BBM is not a foodie movie, and we are now respectfully calling the statue: "A Coffeepot, Two Guys and a Horse."
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