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.

Flooding Leads to Moss

I guess New York begrudged my vacation because the night we came back, six inches of rain fell causing our bedroom to flood in the middle of the night. The carpet went back out on the patio, protected by a sun protector tent (hah!), since the rain continued to fall for about a week. I nearly despaired for the carpet which smelled like a wet dog. However the sun finally returned for a few days and we dried out the carpet. On view is the underside, it did not fade and no longer smells bad.
 

The garden plants were thriving from all the rain.
 

A stray flowering plant dropped its seeds in the garden and sent up some blooms.
 

The lavender in my planter was overcome by the constant damp. I decided this would be a good place to experiment with some moss again. I had to go back to my old neighborhood to find any. Bushwick streets do not favor moss. I found an abundance in Fort Greene and tucked it into the planter. If the moss thrives, I will start experimenting with moss painting.


 There should be plenty of rain this weekend with the hurricane coming so the moss should be happy. We had our pipes snaked out so hopefully there will be no more midnight flooding dramas. 

The end of summer is hanging heavy on my spirit. The young son is in my hair until the start of school. It may be a week or so until I can get back to work. I am looking for a good wall to put up another plant installation on the street.

Nature Takes Another Bicycle (Vacation)

Every once in a while an abandoned bicycle is offered to nature.  This one was on Second Avenue in the East Village where the greenery does not usually wander. These vines were quite intrepid. The summer torpor has descended and everything is slowing down.

 

Last Friday there was a big rainstorm. We were flooded downstairs and it reached the rug. Luckily we had the patio furniture to drape the rug over. The days after the storm were hot and dry. The cats frolicked in the woolen caves.

I am going away for a week. The plants are holding their own. A couple have found homes. The others, after wilting a little from the initial heat, have come back strong and green. They are really tough plants.

I will probably bring back pictures from my travels.

Plants On Their Own

I finally put the plants out in the streets this morning. It was so hot. Today was the hottest day in the city since 1977.  When I came outside at 6 am, the heat descended like a shroud.

I put a plant near the graffiti walls I photographed earlier.

The tags were freshly painted, I saw them covering the old tags a few weeks ago. It had me thinking about how ephemeral the whole process is, even the people making the art will cover it over with new images. But this is a topic for another day.

This stretch of Bushwick Avenue is particularly treeless.

I liked the church of the evangelical crusade and hoped that this plant would find a good home. In fact, I wasn't too worried about the first two plants. In spite of the desolate nature of the graffiti wall, I saw a man walking a pair of Weimaraners. There was a deli further along Bushwick Ave. that was selling plants. I didn't hang the plant near them. The plants will probably be quickly taken from these places.

There are other areas so close to where I live that are so stressful and desolate. I wanted to put plants there. However, I started to feel anxious that these plants would find a home.

I started to worry about the rough areas that I was leaving the plants in.

I don't even remember the name of this street. It was practically empty although the Friday morning traffic was already in high gear. There was a man working out in the park across the street and another sitting on a stoop around the corner. I didn't lock my bike because there was no other pole close enough. I kept it nearby where I could grab it in a few seconds if I felt nervous, but no one came down the block.

Still, it had that nasty old eighties vibe and I regretted my decision to bring plants to the neglected parts of the city.

There was one apartment building. It was not all empty.

Broadway near Flushing Avenue is relentlessly noisy. Subways, trucks, car alarms, there is no calm. I hung the plant off a support from the elevated J train. The note I left with my blog address had become smudged. I worried that the other plants had damaged notes.

I hung the final plant off a chain link fence near Myrtle Avenue.
 

I felt a strange sadness that I have never felt before doing street art. I have sent plants into the world without feeling this loss.

Maybe it was because the last time I put plants out, it was in Soho and not during a heat wave. Maybe I would have been better waiting until Sunday when the weather should break. I know I have to let go, they are only plants, cuttings that I could have easily composted. I just hope they find a good home.