Category: landscape

Vintage landscape: clear sailing

Cindy at enclos*ure3 Comments

Children with sailboats on the Reflecting Pool, 1920s, Library of Congress/enclos*ure“Children with sailboats at Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial in background, Washington, D.C.,” in the 1920s. Photographer unknown, part of the National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Unfortunately, these little boats would be swamped today, as Washington is in the grip of tropical storm Andrea.

Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,
Great, hollow, bell-like flowers,
Rumbling in the wind,
Stretching clappers to strike our ears . . .
Full-lipped flowers
Bitten by the sun
Bleeding rain
Dripping rain like golden honey—
And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.

— Jean Toomer, “Storm Ending“

Vintage landscape: Locke garden

Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

.    .    .   I keep
a beautiful garden, all abundance,
indiscriminate, pulling itself
from the stubborn earth.   .   .   .

— Paisley Rekdal, from “Happiness“

Historic American Buildings Survey, Town of Locke, CA/enclos*ureA garden plot in a communal garden, Town of Locke, Sacramento County, Ca. Photo by Jet Lowe, April 1984, part of a Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the town, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

From the 1984 HABS report:

Locke, California, is a small, rural Chinese ghetto on the Sacramento River.  It was developed in the early 20th century to serve Chungshan Chinese laborers who worked in the fruit orchards and vegetable fields in California’s Delta region. Today, virtually all Chinese communities in America are urban enclaves.  By contrast, Locke has remained an unincorporated village since its founding in 1915.  For this reason, it is unique within the United States as the only extant rural Chinese community still occupied by Chinese people.

Today, the population of Locke is 70 to 80 people, about 10 of whom are of Chinese descent.

Vintage landscape: take water, add children, part II

Cindy at enclos*ure6 Comments

White House children's party, April 4, 1963/JFK Presidential Library

Children’s party on the South Lawn of the White House, April 4, 1963.

All photos are by Cecil Stoughton (Office of the Military Aide to the President), via the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

White House children's party, April 4, 1963/JFK Presidential Library

If you were wondering whether to put in a super-huge fountain or a swimming pool, please note that you can have both in one.

White House children's party, April 4, 1963/JFK Presidential Library

“Take water. . ., part I,” is here.

Remember summer? Bubbles filled
the fountain, and we splashed. We drowned
in Eden. . .

— Robert Lowell, from “The Public Garden“

A study in steps: Muhima

Cindy at enclos*ure2 Comments

Roadside steps, Muhima sector, Kigali, Rwanda/enclos*ure
Boulevard de Nyabugogo, Muhima Sector, Kigali, Rwanda.

Detail of roadside steps, Kigali, Rwanda

Sprawling over numerous hills and valleys, with roads that wind crazily around and across the contours, Kigali can be a confusing city to navigate. Just when you think you know where you are going, your destination appears on the horizon in another direction! However, it’s a fairly compact city and assuming that you aren’t put off by the idea of steep slopes, over-friendly children and changeable weather, walking is a fantastic way to get about. If you have just arrived, don’t forget that Kigali lies at an altitude of around 1,600m, so take it easy on the hills!

— Caroline Pomeroy in the Bradt guide to Rwanda