still spring

it's still spring!

my tomato is already flowering!

i went uptown and saw the darger exhibit at the american folk art museum. even though his paintings are truly divinely inspired, i was most impressed by the manually typed manuscript of The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. perfect and maniacal. even more impressive to me though was robyn o'neil, whom i'd never heard of. huge, evocative, extremely detailed pencil drawings. they can't really even be called drawings because of the range of effects she manages with the graphite. one of those things you can only appreciate in person, so go if you can.

they wouldn't let me take pictures in there, so i took a picture of this nearby. she's watering.

i guerrilla-gardened today on my way to the bookstore. i've decided to carry grass seed around with me and sprinkle it in all the unoccupied dirt i encounter. i have a big lawn-sized bag left over from a friend's garden i helped with last year. it sprouts really quickly. this is the "lawn" i sowed last week.



plus, i made a blouse out of an old sheet with a free downloaded pattern.

more spring 2008

i've said before that to me spring is the time of ubiquitous ornamental pear blossoms.

but my favorite is the rarer redbud.

i've mostly been spending my time squirrel hunting with mimi. she actually got one last week. i feel both guilty and proud.

it's just been so gorgeous out.

these fellows are horrified at what's happening to the 'hood.


i made a slip out of a pillowcase and a scrap of cotton voile.

oh! they finally took down bob's boston ivy. tragedy.

but i've been planting a little in his garden. things that don't need to be watered since i'm on the 4th floor.


the paperwhites are in their prime, and the cosmos are coming up.


this alium is going to be huge.

the 6b garden is my favorite though. ah! just look at it! when we move our garden is going to be spectacular.

east village spring

these paperwhites are done blooming now. we're just letting the bulbs recharge for next year. i got the bulbs at the seminar mentioned in the previous post. i put two of them outside in front of our building and those are still sprouting. today i planted some seeds out there too: cosmos and wildflowers.

i got strawberries in a couple days ago. i'm trying not to use plastic, even though it would have been so much cheaper. oh well, this hanging basket contraption is gonna last forever and will be super handy for tons of stuff.

which of these neighbors would you rather know?

spring is why chartreuse is my favorite color.

i'm gonna wait till night temperatures are a little warmer to start these suckers in the window box. my tomato seedling still has not arrived.

quilt update coming soon...

spring 2008

The magnolias I photographed a couple days ago are in full bloom today. I may have made a mini-scene climbing the fence to smell them.
But Spring is finally here. Every year I forget how badly the lack of sun affects me. Until I suddenly start to feel better as the equinox nears. My friend, Tom, a gardener, hangs out in a greenhouse as much as he can in winter, and Warren and I visited him in CT a few weeks ago and sure enough felt the restorative effects.


This tropical tree only blooms in the winter.


And then I attended a seminar at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden on growing food in the city just recently and took the opportunity to sneak into their fantastic greenhouses.

This is vanilla.

My heirloom tomato plant is due to arrive on Monday, and I will make room on the fire escape, amidst all of Warren's houseplants, for some strawberries too. Next year I plan to raise chickens.