Plants Acclimating

I have been neglecting my blog. The pictures I have taken did not make me happy, the weather continues to be weird, life intrudes...the usual.

I am getting ready to do a little more plant art. I put the plants outside to get them used to the weather.

I am trying to keep the vines off the ground so they don't take root.

I have found a new way to attach them to the bicycles using gaffer's tape. It should make them a little harder to take. I want the plants to find homes, but I would also like them to stay on the street for a little while first.

I haven't planted anything in this basket so I put some of the plants there. The other basket has weeds sprouting.

Japanese Maple

I bought this tree last year for the patio. Most of the time it was a subdued plum color with a brief moment of flame red in the fall. I think I got it later in the season, after this phase of colors. I have always liked the mix of red and green in foliage.

I was having a really bad day when I took these pictures. Japanese maples are supposed to bring a feeling of serenity. I was more relaxed after a few minutes under the leaves.

Signs of Spring

Another JR portrait? It is next to an ad hence my doubt.

The weird, not quite spring weather has continued to plague us. The trees have finally begun to flower and send out leaves but they are doing it fitfully. I am pretty sure we have not had a day without some kind of strong wind in two months. Still it is beginning to feel like spring time.

Every thing is still delicate and fresh. The one good thing about the wind is it blows the bad smells and smog away.

I love these trees, growing in containers on shadowy streets, sending out dainty blossoms. The trucks rumble by drowning out the songbirds.

Yes, there are songbirds in New York city, it is the best sound.

Building Hunt

There has been so much new construction in nyc these past years, some neighborhoods have completely transformed. My sister has lived on the Lower East Side since back when it was scary. But a recent walk down Bowery left her in a quiet rage over the countless bland new buildings crowding out the low rise tenements. I wanted to find some new buildings that were more than glass boxes, maybe not as awesome as the Chrysler building but still noteworthy.

This is Jean Nouvel's residential building on the West Side Highway. 

It is across the street from Frank Gehry's IAC building.

I love the two buildings together, although I do not think it was planned. Developers seem to imagine their buildings in some kind of vacuum with no other architecture to clash with their visions.

This may be a bit of a project. I had wanted to get a picture of 7 World Trade Center. It is like a ghost building always melting into the background. Here it is on the left, the new Freedom Tower is rising behind it. This view doesn't do justice to its slim lines. I could not get a good view of Gehry's Beekman building either. I think I have to try from the Brooklyn Bridge.

While I was hunting, I came across two apartment buildings that were not horrible. This building on Tenth Avenue is saved by having recessed upper floors. The undulating balconies are fun.

This building on Norfolk Street has diagonal lines breaking up the horizontal bands.

The milky glass offers some sort of privacy. There is an interior courtyard or atrium barely visible through the glass (not in this picture though!).


I will post more buildings as I find them.