WEEKLY BLOOM: PERFECT SPRING

This is a perfect Spring. By that I mean perfect conditions for growing. Everything is large and full of color. All our city plants look positively corn-fed. I'm not sure what combination of conditions have brought this about, but I'm using my crappy point and shoot to get it all down. One day I'll get an SLR and my selective focus will be better selected, if you know what I mean.

Here's a short list of what's currently blooming:
Forget me nots (above).

Lilacs:
These are in Central Park's Conservatory garden which is ringed by very old lilac bushes of all different colors. It smells good in there.

Tulips:
Tulips are just over their prime. They had a gorgeous season this year.

Whatever this is:
This white flowering shrub is in CP's Conservatory Garden.

Other blooming things:
Asian Dogwood
White Azaleas
Bluebells
Wisteria (just starting)
So many other things, I can't count.

Things past their prime:
apple blossoms
cherry blossoms
regular dogwood
daffodils and other early spring bulbs

Blooming in my house: The yarn tree. Getting bigger but still miles to go:

WEEKLY BLOOM: TULIPS

I wonder if NYC has some sort of an account with Holland. Every year the Conservatory Garden, Broadway and Park Avenue have many hundreds of the same color tulips. It's actually more like thousands or millions of them. This year many are this weird purple-black color, like photograph of red tulips with the blacks turned WAY up.

But, back to Holland. Do you suppose that the people at XYZ Holland grower are like, "Boys, no matter what, we have to keep the NYC account; wear the wooden shoes if you have to." Twelve million bulbs a year have probably paid for all their kids college tuitions and the ground breaking for that bulb museum Grandpa Vandersloot always dreamed about.

I really have no idea. I'm just thinking that whomever sends us the bulbs is doing brisk business.

I also know that I'm going to be picking up a few of these girls when they take them outta the ground at the end of the summer. You can have them for free, I'm told, on a certain mysterious unannounced day, if you happen to be walking by.

INSALLATION INSPIRATION

I went out to Willamsburg last night for a friend-of-a-friends curated show last night. The friend-of-a-friend had a piece in there that I loved. Sort of an upside-down frosted vinyl tent with tubes that went out to fans on the window. Very shiny and smooth and warm-looking. I found myself wanting to lick it, but I've heard that that kind of behavior is frowned on by fancy society.

There were a few snow globes that I was real fond of.

A million tiny fans:

And slip covers for the Birth of Venus. I wish I had thought of this idea.

BRIDGE TO ENGINEERING

Last night I had a 1.5 hour confab with the engineer who's helping me structure, wire, animate, cut, construct and etc. His name is Bob Quick and he also doubles as my dad.

Poor guy is neglecting retirement to be in on this, and I'm really glad. He has an uncanny ability to figure out what something needs and make it so, giving me all sorts of structure and materials advice, while allowing for the design of the place.

Progress Report: Still building the Yarn Tree. Realizing I'm gonna need MANY more yarn cones.

CP Progress Report: The fruit trees are done blossoming. Tulip season is nearly over. Hydrangeas and Lilacs on the move. I'll include a Lilac picture very soon. When, oh when will scratch and sniff technology extend to photographs?

WONDERFUL THINGS

I've found some beautiful things in the process of making this project. Some are weird, some are wonderful, some are bizarrely specialized, and some are all three.

Here are just three that please me the more than the rest:

1. A site that makes customized guitar pics cheaper than any you can buy at crappy-ass Guitar Center. I'm ordering green ones with a leaf pattern to put in the pockets of my sweater tree.

2. A blog that's about cupcakes and cupcakes only.

3. A site that locates free/cheap/surplus materials for you wherever you may be.

There are many more--too many. I'll keep posting them as they strike my fancy.

A FUN NATURE LINK AND AN UPDATE

I just read about this woman who lives in a houseboat in the 79th Street Basin on the Hudson River. She is a doctor of Science Education, or some such thing. Anyway, she wrote a book called "Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City". I'm ordering it before I leave this chair. I've been waiting my whole life for a book like this.

Here's a link to an article in the NY Times nature blog where she asks readers questions about NYC nature. It has three parts and starts here. Did you know there are hawks living in Central Park?

Here's an update on progress with the Yarn Tree. I got a ladder and have begun to affix the chicken wire and yarn cones to it. Here's me sewing the top part on:

And here's the foot of progress I made on it over the course of the day:

PROGRESS

Progress report on the Yarn Tree Pinacea Filimentus Domesticus


Here is the tippy-top of the tree. It'll sit right on the top of a ladder. Tomorrow the ladder will arrive and I'll start work on the rest of it. Still not sure if my hundreds of yarn cones are enough, and I'm a bit pins-and-needles about it.

NOTE: They're not only my yarn cones. My mom and my niece made some too, which is helpful because one can only knit so many hours per week before one's hands start to bleed. My mom's hands are probably bleeding too. Sorry mom.