Making Time For Church

For nearly a month now I have been putting in a six day, 60 hour work week. While I have had some time to enjoy my own garden, plus a few in town, I have not been able to get out into the natural world since my Back Bay outing in February. I need these trips to re-center myself, to clear my head and to take communion. In spite of an ever-growing laundry list of things I should have done today, I choose to head to the Zuni Pine Barrens west of here in Isle of Wight Co. The preserve is owned and managed by various interests including the Nature Conservancy, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Old Dominion University.

I have wanted to visit this place for a while, as it is one of only a few remaining patches of older growth Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris). This tree once covered millions of acres from southeastern Virginia all the way down to east Texas, and it was vital to the settlement of the region. Without its wood and tar the shipbuilding industry would not have started here, and North Carolinians would need another nickname. Slow growing Longleaf Pines created their own ecosystems that relied on fire to germinate the tree's seedlings and to keep competition and undergrowth down, but once these forests were cleared and fire supressed, other more opportunistic trees took over. Despite its name, the Zuni Pine Barrens is home to a diverse community of plants and animals.

Vaccinim (some sort of Blueberry or Huckleberry)

Gaultheria procumbens (Creeping Wintergreen)

Iris verna (Dwarf Violet Iris)

Kalmia angustifolia (Sheep Laurel)

Crataegus (Some sort of Hawthorn)

The Blackwater River runs on the western edge of the Pine Barrens and is a true blackwater river. This type of waterway gets its name from the dark colored, but clear water that is high in tannins and acids, but low in nutrients. This is one of the few rivers in Virginia that does not empty into the Chesapeake. Rather it becomes the Chowan River in North Carolina before flowing into Albemarle Sound. On the shores of this flood-prone river grow stands of Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) and Swamp Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica var. bifffora).

Rhododendron periclymenoides (I think this is Pinxterbloom Azalea)

I couldn't have asked for a more splendid house of worship in which to enjoy Earth Day services.

(complete picture set here)

Wild Things

After my trip to the Kaplan Orchid Conservatory, I walked to the nearby Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, which is also part of Old Dominion University. The gallery has room for several exhibits, including the permanent home for the Gordon's collection of what was once referred to as primitive or outsider art, but is now called self-taught art. My taste is all over the map, but this is one genre I have always enjoyed. These artists are compelled to create because there is something in their heads that needs to come out. No one has taught them the "right" way to paint, what a "proper" sculpture is, or what acceptable mediums are. There are several hundred pieces in the collection, but only a small number are shown at any one time. The title of the current exhibit is Wild Things and it will be up until April when it will be replaced with the more religiously themed The Book of Daniel. I will be back for that one as well, since it will have several pieces created by my favorite outsider, the Reverend Howard Finster.

Fox, Minnie Adkins

Teapot, Tom Phelps

Brush Man-Holding Brushes, Gregory Warmack (Mr. Imagination)

Gold Tooth Man, Sulton Rogers

Big and Small Monsters, Oscar L. Spencer

Dog-Faced Man, Sulton Rogers

Snake, Leroy Archuleta (made from bottle caps)

Bear, Minnie Atkins

The gallery is located in the newest part of the ODU campus which is a very pedestrian friendly mix of university buildings, restaurants, a large bookstore and student housing all adjacent to the Ted Constant Center. It has been pretty successful in connecting the campus to the the larger community and is all very sparkling and clean. When I attended ODU I lived in this area, but back then it was a rundown student slum of apartments and old houses that all carried that funky smell of stale beer - and was home to many a wild thing.

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