Suburban Foliage

I've been to Mamaroneck the last 2 weekends, the first weekend my camera had issues and I ended up borrowing Jim's camera. I was only able to download the images the following weekend when my own camera became issue free and I took more photos. That's my excuse for a lull in posting.

Here's one image from each weekend that captures the much more spectacular foliage color changes that occur outside the city. The range of color is also terrfic and I have a series of autumn palettes that I will post but this first one is in the classic yellow red vein. Remember the pinks and purples from last fall?

+ OGMedia:Dancing trees Singing birds

+ OccasionalOasis:Building With Whole Trees

Urban Autumn 2

I managed to squeeze in a quick walk in Central Park a few days ago and enjoyed another view of an updated Urban Autumn except more biased to the autumn part. This time the Manhattan geometry was well in the distance framed by autumn golds, the human crush whittled down to a jogger or bicyclist or two and outnumbered by berries. Much better.

+ OGMedia:New Urbanism

Bittersweet

The sight of these bittersweet branches hung on a line on the side of a truck in Union Square market stopped me dead in my tracks. It wasn't just their stark sculptural beauty, it was the contrast of their organic curving forms against the geometry of the trucks rivets, the intensity of the oranges and yellows against their monochrome shadows and the flat white paint. There was also something ancient about them that contrasted with the industrial modernity of the metal wall and line. On a table in front of this uncontrived and thought provoking wall art a pile of them pulsated the vibrant yellows and oranges of fall. There is always this strange thrill about fall in Manhattan, and this was definitely one of those moments.

Autumn Flotsam

It's eyes down, here in Manhattan as the pavements get strewn with Autumn flotsam. Acorns, leaves, seed pods and twigs litter the urban floor. Sharp yellows of turning leaves decorate the dull gray concrete. The crunch of dry twigs and seed pods add an autumnal nuance to the urban percussion of foot traffic. I have some acorns left over from some twigs I picked up a couple of weeks ago. This morning I picked up a couple of seed pods from the many honey locust trees in the neighborhood. Their dry brown tones counterpoint the mauve blue flowers of the Plumbago that is now blooming quite profusely indoors.

+ OGMedia:Mannahatta

Small Mercies

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Everytime I think today will be day I run out and indulge in a little garden photography, it clouds over or rains. My foster dog is highly dog reactive, walks in central park are out of the question but long walks are necessary since he is young and spirited, so recreation time is taken up by long urban walks where we can take refuge behind a parked car if we see other dogs. Work and volunteer work keeps postponing a day up in Mamaroneck.

I will settle for some small respite I tell myself, just a little tiny something, and on cue my Euphorbia Milli blooms. Small tiny exquisite yellow flowers. I move the pot closer to my desk so that I can gaze intermittantly at it. Outside on the fire escape my Chinatown Chillis begin to bloom. They have grown from the seed of small but fiery Thai Chilli Peppers from Chinatown. Cleaning out the vegetable tray of my fridge in spring I found a couple of stray shrivelled up peppers. Why not I thought and took them up to plant in Mamaroneck. I brought a couple of the seedlings back to NYC and they have grown into fairly interesting plants- tall and fine leaved with delicate white flowers.

+ OccasionalOasis:Parallel Lines