Finally a Good Blizzard

After that strange December with its mild temperatures and blooming flowers, we finally got some winter weather. I woke up yesterday with a cocoon of snow around me. I did not go outside while the blizzard raged. I worked on my dream images and made stew. 

When the storm died down, the young son dragged us outside to see the transformed world.

Someone arranged a discarded tree giving us the festive holiday tableau that was missing four weeks ago.

This morning was crystal clear and beautiful. The neigbors wandered around smiling and greeting each other. New Yorkers really do like their snow, until it gets disgusting.

Things I Found After the Hurricane

I was feeling intensely restless after Hurricane Irene passed through. There was no subway and the winds were just too wild for cycling. So I took a walk. To my delight, one of those faux antique shepherd's crook street lights was damaged by the storm.

I had no idea of the treasures the neighborhood had to offer on foot. The speed of a bicycle or a car does not do it justice.

There was the pair of carousel horses in front of neighboring homes.

To my surprise, I found that moss does grow in Bushwick...

Although technically I was in Bed Sty when I found the moss.

I met a cat that looked like Coco wearing a sunburst mask.

She was also a bit slimmer, truth be told.

There was some of my favorite sheeting that seems a bit synthetic and frays like a hippie's scarf. It was pearly white and fluttering in the wind.

I wondered if the seed for my visitor flower came from here.

This poster left me questions; was it a failed silk screen slapped up in disgust? Did the artist intend to leave the mouth empty? Who is behind those eyes? Who or what is conk?

Wrapping things up was a little bit more moss creating patterns on the cheap wood and brownstone.

Remains of the Storm

There is much better documentation of last Thursday's storm elsewhere; more dramatic photos,  tornado footage evoking Cloverfield. I was in Manhattan during the storm, where it was not as severe. I did not plan on posting anything about it until I walked down the street on Friday evening and I almost started to cry. It is one thing to see a picture of a tree felled by a storm in Queens or even Park Slope.  It is another thing to see a familiar tree face the same fate.

These are trees that I pass three or four times a week.

Some have broken limbs. They still look healthy except for their broken branches.

This is one of the blossoming pear trees that has delicate white flowers in the spring. They bloom all over the city.

This is a honey locust like the ones I wrote about in August.

Its broken limbs were piled in the street.

I photographed this tree a few weeks ago because I thought it was a redwood like the ones I saw on the tree hunt. Later I decided it must be a Bald Cyprus. Regardless, it did poorly in the storm.

I worry about the damaged trees.  It is stressful enough for trees in New York. I hope they will survive.

I feel so sad for the trees that were lost.