Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden - Pinwheels

Just beyond the Central Garden at the entrance is a bed of pinwheels, roped off as a polite reminder not to walk across it.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden has a new installation in the Children’s Garden: 4,000 blue and silver pinwheels. It’s small in terms of square footage, but it’s really cool to see, particularly on a robin’s egg blue sky day. The “Pinwheels for Prevention Garden” is installed in observance of Child Abuse Prevention Month. Each pinwheel represents a child in Virginia who has been served during the past year by Prevent Child Abuse Virginia’s Healthy Families program.

Reference: Pinwheels in Motion.

Historic Tredegar - The History

Francis B. Deane founded Tredegar Ironworks in 1836 and named it for a Welsh town and ironworks. Deane hired 28-year-old Joseph Reid Anderson in 1841 as commercial sales agent. By 1847, Anderson owned the company, obtaining U.S. government contracts for cannon. Tredegar also manufactured locomotives, train wheels, spikes, cables, ships, boilers, naval hardware, iron machinery, and brass items. Anderson employed skilled Northern and foreign workers as well as slaves and some free blacks.

During the Civil War, Tredegar manufactured armor plates for the ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly U.S.S. Merrimack), but specialized in cannon. In 1861, Anderson employed 750 men; by 1863, more than 2,500 worked for him. After the War, Anderson managed the company until his death in 1892. Tredegar later cast munitions for the U.S. Army and Navy during the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. After a fire in 1955, the company moved across the James River, where it operated on a smaller scale until the end of the 20th century. Ethyl Corporation bought the ironworks site in 1957 and restored the surviving buildings in the 1970s. In 1994, the site operated as Valentine Riverside, which ceased operations in 1996. The National Park Service moved its visitor center into the Pattern Building in 2000. In 2006 - The American Civil War Center opened to critical and public acclaim for its innovative presentation of the Civil War.

Reference: The American Civil War Center - The History.
 

Historic Tredegar - The Wedding

In early May, Karen, Eva and I traveled from Chicago to Richmond for Karen's niece's wedding.  Situated in the east coast, Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy States, which fought to secede from the nation in what turned out to be a rather bloody Civil War (1861 - 1865). This locale is the Historic Tredegar, just off the James River. 
 

Jay and Jan Roode: Africa as Abstract Art (3)

Vilanculo, by Jay and Jan Roode

[Jan] notes that many of the local fishermen have a less serene view of their profession, often working 12-hour days in small dugouts.

"It's actually an extremely hard life in quite a harsh environment," notes Jan.

I imagine much of life across Africa isn't so easy.  But this doesn't negate the stunning art that is its landscape and waters.
 

Jay and Jan Roode: Africa as Abstract Art (2)

Banque Island, by Jay and Jan Roode

The pair have photographed many local fishermen from the air, particularly around Mozambique. The view, says Jan, is deceptively idyllic.

"When we shot these photographs to people, it looks like heaven because of the azure blues of the Indian Ocean," he says. "But one man's heaven can be another man's hell."

These fishermen's netting bleeds like ink into the crystal waters.
 

Jay and Jan Roode: Africa as Abstract Art (1)

Lone Fisherman, by Jay and Jan Roode

South African couple Jay and Jan Roode share a unique view of the African continent; it's a view from above. The husband-and-wife team operate Skyhawk Photography, and have flown to over 65 countries, sometimes risking their lives for the perfect shot from the air.

"There's no way to fly, especially over wilderness, and not be philosophical," says Jay, who takes the pictures while her husband, Jan, flies the plane.

"When you're up there, you step out of your everyday life, and you reevaluate everything that is important to you as a human being," she adds.

The Roode couple show the earth below them in its stunning light, color and form.  It shows life as part of an abstract art, it seems.