Ode to Don Quixote

They rose up like specters out of the floor of the prairie. It was an unreality suddenly outside our car windows, and we couldn't get enough of them.

Sure, in Utah, we've seen the big windmills down by Thanksgiving Point. But this was a whole field of them. Possibly hundreds of them -- in the middle of no where. It's kind of hard to see them in the first photo because they were so far away and the blades tend to blend into the skyline.



It brought to mind the story of Don Quixote and his insanity of tilting at Windmills. But these were a whole different story. Seeing these large concrete columns with their large wheels was something out of a science fiction novel. They were futuristic looking, and I couldn't help but think about their artistic look. It was almost like something you'd see on the cover of a book.



Our first clue that these were going to come up on the horizon should have been the large blades resting on the back of semi trucks driving past. At first I couldn't figure out what they were. Then when we saw them in the distance, it clicked in my brain. "Those are windmill blades!" I told my husband as another truck went by.

Sure enough, as we got closer to the large field of windmills, it was clear that the blades were the same as we'd seen on the trucks. It was mind boggling, the size of them. Considering that a blade was easily 30 feet long, and the towers were twice that size...

They are smooth, modern bits of technology that capture the wind and turn it into energy. Kind of like the idea behind a dam with water -- only far more aesthetic than a dam would be. The old time windmills were romantic, houses with the blades attached. These ones, are pure form.

Reminiscent to what I was talking about last week with the question of art -- What is art to one, is not necessarily the same to another. These would probably not be considered art to many people, but I think they are stunning.

Once again technology and machine have devised a form that is pleasing to the eye as well as useful and efficient. It reminds me of Newton's Daydream, only less cluttered. Kind of like sketching the human body in simple form, without outlining the muscles. Art.

It's amazing.

Return to the Neighbhorhood