Cropped & Altered by FHJ © Gaia Son
Uncropped & Unaltered © Gaia Son
Grand-Hornu – Boussu, België – Lowlands Correspondent, Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
Grand-Hornu is an old industrial mining complex in Hornu in the municipality of Boussu, Belgium. It was built by Henri De Gorge between 1810 and 1830. It is a unique example of functional town-planning. Today it is owned by the province of Hainaut, which houses temporary exhibitions in the buildings. As one of four Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 2012. – Wikipedia
© Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
Scenes from the Algarve, Portugal – December 2005 – Gaia Son
Faro, Portugal
© Gaia Son
Cidade de Faro Coat of Arms
Faro is a city and a municipality in theFaro District of the Algarve region, in southern Portugal. It is the southernmost city in Continental Portugal. – Wikipedia
Sagres, Portugal
© Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
The name Sagres, follows from Sagrado (holy) owing to the important local religious practices and rituals that occurred during the pre-history of the nation. From here some of the Mediterranean peoples (including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans), venerated their divinities and which some believed, owing to the absence of a human settlement, was the gathering place for their gods. – Wikipedia
Portuguese Cistern – El Jadida, Morocco – Gaia Son
El Jadida, December 2002 © Gaia Son
Built in 1514, this former warehouse (possibly an armory) was converted into a cistern in the 16th century. The underground chamber, measuring 34 meters by 34 meters, was constructed with five rows of five stone pillars. The cistern is famous especially for the thin layer of water that covers the floor, and which creates fine and exciting reflections from the little light there is and the spartan shapes of the columns and the roof. Its visual qualities are such that several movies have been filmed within the cavernous space, of which Orson Welles’ Othello is the best known internationally. – El Jadida, Wikipedia
Tami & Chris in Morocco August 2010 – tamichrismorocco.blogspot.com
All I Want – Lonely Roads & Blue Motel Rooms – Las Cruces NM & El Paso TX – Gaia Son & Joni Mitchell
© Gaia Son
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be
Oh I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some
Oh I love you when I forget about me– All I Want, Blue (1970) Joni Mitchell
© Gaia Son
I’ve got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I’ve got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
When I call you up when I’m down….….I’ve got road maps
From two dozen states
I’ve got coast to coast just to contemplate
Will you still love me
When I get back to town– Blue Motel Room, Hejira (1976) Joni Mitchell
© Gaia Son
I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling
It’s the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be– All I Want, Blue (1970) Joni Mitchell
White Sands National Monument – January 1, 2005 – Gaia Son
Big Bend National Park – A Decade Ago – Gaia Son, December 2004
© Gaia Son
Big Bend National Park in the U.S. state of Texas has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States. It contains more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals. The national park covers 801,163 acres (324,219 ha), which is larger than the state of Rhode Island. Few other parks exceed this park’s value for the protection and study of geologic and paleontologic resources. A variety of Cretaceous and Cenozoic fossil organisms exist in abundance. Archaeologists have discovered artifacts estimated to be 9,000 years old, and historic buildings and landscapes offer graphic illustration of life along the international border in the 19th century. – Wikipedia
Poster designed by Tyler Nordgren, author of Stars Above, Earth Below: A Guide to Astronomy in the National Parks. – The Atlantic
Big Bend from Space – Courtesy of NASA
Vintage NPS Poster
Vintage NPS Poster
Snakefly (Raphidioptera) – Amersfoort, NL – Lowlands Correspondent, Gaia Son
© Gaia Son
Snakeflies are a group of insects comprising the order Raphidioptera, consisting of about 210 extant species. Together with theMegaloptera they were formerly placed within the Neuroptera, but now these two are generally regarded as separate orders.
Snakeflies are predatory, both as adults and larvae. They can be quite common throughout temperate Europe and Asia, but in North America occur exclusively in the Western United States, namely in the Rocky Mountains and westward, including the southwestern deserts.
Adult snakeflies are characterized by having an elongate prothorax but no modification of the forelegs (as in Mantispidae). They have strong and relatively unspecialised mouthparts, and large compound eyes. Some species also have ocelli. The females typically have a long ovipositor, which they use to deposit their eggs into crevices in bark or rotting wood. The wings are similar in size, with a primitive venation pattern, and a thickened costal margin (or “pterostigma”). – Wikipedia
Use of Vintage Style Signage in Film – Gandhi (1982) – Sir Richard Attenborough (29 August 1923 – 24 August 2014)
Pietermaritzburg Train Station
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Pietermaritzburg is also famous for an incident early in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. On 7 June 1893, while Gandhi was on his way to Pretoria, a white man objected to Gandhi’s presence in a first-class carriage, and he was ordered to move to the van compartment at the end of the train. Gandhi, who had a first-class ticket, refused, and was thrown off the train at Pietermaritzburg. Shivering through the winter night in the waiting room of the station, Gandhi made the momentous decision to stay on in South Africa and fight the racial discrimination against Indians there. Out of that struggle emerged his unique version of nonviolent resistance,Satyagraha. Today, a bronze statue of Gandhi stands in Church Street, in the city centre. – Wikipedia
The centennial commemorative statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the center of downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa – Photo taken by Elefuntboy 2014
Johannesburg
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Mohandas Gandhi, centre, surrounded by workers in his law office in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1902. (Courtesy of the Guardian UK – Photograph: AP
Wemmer Mining Company
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Screenshot from the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982) by Sir Richard Attenborough
Mohandas K. Gandhi is arrested as he leads a march of Indian miners in South Africa
Date: 6 November, 1913
On his journey to South Africa in 1893, Mohandas Gandhi had first -hand experience of the discrimination faced by people of colour. His response to this was the establishment of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1894. Within three years of his arrival in South Africa, Gandhi had become a political leader, providing hope to many Indians who had no political rights under the dispensation of the time. In 1903, he founded a newspaper, the Indian Opinion, in which his ideas on passive resistance or Satyagraha were spread. Some years later, an act was introduced in which all Indians in the Transvaal were required to carry a pass. Under Gandhi’s leadership, 3000 Indians protested against the law by refusing to register for their passes. This became known as the 1906 Satyagraha Campaign.
By 1913, a tax had been imposed on all former indentured labourers, known as the Indian Relief Bill. In protest of this, Gandhi launched a passive resistance campaign, gaining the support of thousands of mine workers. While leading a march on 6 November 1913, which included 127 women, 57 children and 2037 men, Gandhi was arrested. He was released on bail, rejoined the march and was re-arrested. The Indian Relief Bill was finally scrapped.
Gandhi returned to India, and through his consistent passive opposition to British rule, led his country to independence. His philosophy on passive resistance was drawn on significantly during the fight against apartheid. The Defiance Campaign in 1952 can be seen as an example of this. – South African History Online
Martin Nicholson’s collection of South African goldmines on postcards. CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE [www.martin-nicholson.info/postcardarchive/goldmining/goldmining.htm]
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