Joseph "Big Joe" Winters (1816 – 1916) was an African-American abolitionist and inventor who patented a wagon-mounted fire escape folding ladder mounted directly on fire wagons in 1878. He was born in Virginia to an African-American brickmaker and a Shawnee Indian mother. He later relocated to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania in 1830. During the time Winters lived in Chambersburg, he was active in the Underground Railroad.

#ThreeForThursday:

Tea Service in the Shape of Quails

Gujarat (formerly Baroda), India, 1920-30

Silver, gilded silver, ivory

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts display

“The British were not India's only patrons of elegant silver.

Native princes - always engaged in dynamic cultural interchanges with their British overlords - also commissioned silver of the highest quality. Such patronage was nowhere more prominent than in western India, where the rulers of the state of Kutch were champions of their silversmiths. These leaders ensured their region's silver became the best known of India's styles through sponsorship at international exhibitions, beginning with London's Great Exhibition of 1851. This stylishly whimsical tea service in the shape of richly feathered quails was produced by Oomersee Mawjee Jr., son of Kutch's most renowned master silversmith, after he shifted to the employ of another western Indian ruler, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda.”

More rain in NC-WV today.  As compensation, I was mesmerized by the intense green inferno of an Appalachian forest after a steady downpour. Photos from Scott Run Trail in Coopers Rock State Forest.

From top: Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), whose roots were once used as a substitute for true sarsaparilla in root beer; deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum); sulphur shelf fungus (Laetiporus sulphureus); Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) twins; a red eft, the juvenile stage of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens); and Indian cucumber (Medeola virginiana).

— lodhi garden, delhi

Cigar Store Indian artifact from the Story of Virginia exhibit at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture

She felt very young; at the same time unspeakably aged. She sliced like a knife through everything; at the same time was outside, looking on. She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day. Not that she thought herself clever, or much out of the ordinary.

Virginia Woolf, 'Mrs Dalloway'

Powered boys with blue/light eyes

Powered girls with brown/dark eyes

Bonus/things to consider:

Maybe if powers are genetic and passed down through the mothers, the gene shows up as brown/dark eyes in women and blue/light eyes in men?

Me and the pieces of me

My memories are the mark of the people I have loved.

I remember he likes the colour blue and lasagna

I remember how he picked up saying 'besharam' from me even though he was European

I remember how he picks apart my appearance to tell me how beautiful he thinks I am

I remember how he started calling me rajkumari because he wanted to nickname me something that made me feel close to my culture

I remember how she whole heartedly binge watched jab we met and multiple Imran Khan movies with me because she just enjoys spending time with me

I remember how he let me bite his jacket because I was nervous

I remember

Is it a gift or a curse to?

Indian Creek Covered Bridge, Monroe County, West Virginia

WofSports editors have compiled a blog where we will make you near and dear to the celebration with squishmallows, along with the date it is celebrated. So, without further ado, let's start with the blog directly. 

It’s Clara! (probably) 🦏

Jean-Baptiste Baillon, clockmaker (French, d. ca. 1770)

Attributed to Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain,

bronze maker (French, 1719-1791)

Mantel Clock, after 1749

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts display

“This mantel clock exemplifies the exuberant Rococo style of the mid-18th century that delighted in the apparent novelty and exoticism of Asian cultures as they were perceived in the popular European imagination.

Ménagerie clocks featuring models of unfamiliar beasts from Africa and Asia became highly fashionable collectibles in the 1740s. Though the rhinoceros was known in Europe as early as the 16th century, it was not until a live Indian rhinoceros named Clara was brought to the Netherlands in 1741 that the animal became a widely recognized marvel. Clara was exhibited throughout Europe for nineteen years, delighting average citizens and courtiers alike. In 1749, she arrived in Paris, where she inspired drawings by many artists and studies by scientists. The model for this clock was likely based on one of these renderings.”

Some photos from earlier this afternoon along the Rhododendron Trail at Valley Falls State Park. The great rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) is just now starting to bloom in NC-WV. I also found Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), a parasitic, herbaceous plant, and the gorgeous poke milkweed (Asclepias exaltata), a shade-tolerant perennial that favors open woodlands and forest margins.

A Traditional Bride

Kuhu came to me for bridal photos in a traditional Indian saree. Her fiancée joined her and helped Kuhu with draping her saree perfectly and coached her on poses she should do to show off the striking gown. For the eyeshadow, we used shades of gold to play off the gold accents in the saree. We got lucky with mild weather and were able to shoot outdoors in the spring garden with the azaleas in…

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stormy weekend road trip mood board: May 6-8, 2022: Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel; Indian River Inlet Bridge; and Dewey Beach, Delaware | SM Piotrowski