Postcards

Saturday night and the Empire State Building (in a rather bad photo!)

 is rainbow colored to celebrate the fact that everyone can now get married.

I hadn't realized how giddily happy this would make so many of our friends. 

Because no one ever told me I couldn't get married, I really hadn't taken in

 how horrid it would be if I hadn't been allowed to.

So.......

....lots of weddings in the offing. 

(Here some flowers left over from a party -- looking sort of wedding-ish.)

New York in an altogether cheerful mood. 

A great boost for the city -- not to mention for the photographers, florists

  and all the other, assorted people

who plan parties and celebrations of all kinds.

But normal life goes on too.

Brunch at a diner with the doors open wide -- a sort of symphony in beige.

And work to be done as the sun slants in on Monday morning.

The High Line/Part Two

The newly opened part of the High line -- between 20th and 30th Streets 

-- was amazingly busy last Saturday afternoon when the weather was sultry.

More of the urban/country/green experience.....

with the cars whizzing beneath us.

Piet Oudolf's grass designs will take a little time to settle in

meanwhile you can sit and ponder the wonders of 25th Street (if you really want to!)

At 30th Street is Rainbow City -- a big hit, I think, with the younger set

who can pummel the balloons and spin them to their hearts' content.

The slightly older may prefer the 'beer garden'.

Balham

The previous post showed rather swanky people at Clapham.

I continued my tour of South London and relatives' houses.

On Wednesday we had a typical English summer lunch
--half at the picnic table in the garden, then indoors when it came on to rain......

This is Balham (where I was born several centuries ago) with more ordinary

 English people dressed for the middle of June. Hm.....

The overall color is gray. Good thing the rail worker got a bright jacket.

Note the newspaper reader on the left --winter jacket and all.

Oh well, I'm back in New York where it's almost too hot.

A symphony in gray and beige.

Wimbledon then Clapham Junction

What on earth can these people be doing all dressed up buying tickets at the station?

Even the gnome is pretty impressed.

And then when I got to Clapham Junction there were chaps in top hats.....weirder and weirder

I discovered they were on their way to Ascot.......

My cousin doubted if this belle in pink (seen shopping in Boots)

would be heading for the Royal Enclosure. Anyway........

The Elements of Paradise

Man's first occupation was gardening

though I'm not sure Adam was very good at it. However, he was jolly sorry

 when he got chucked out of it: see Masaccio's pic in the Brancacci Chapel. But I digress.....

Wisley in June on a lovely sunny day when the dogwood was splendid.

Water everywhere......dripping....

bearing lilies

being gazed into.....

or sat beside.

Throngs mill in the rose garden and seem to circle and circle (think Dante)

Oh!

Hampshire

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, once rented this house and apparently Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

came to stay here. The stained glass windows look a bit Burne Jones-ish.

But, gosh, it rained and rained and the wisteria drooped

and the lawn became a sponge

and the rabbit did his best to blend in with the gravel.

 

The roses looked a bit battered

but none of the above deterred the English women walking dogs

 -- wearing jackets and boots (June 13th ha!)

Inside the house was serene.

Kent

A little early in the season for strawberry picking

but we drive to Kent anyway and turn off a country lane.

Long rows of raspberry canes with some fruit ready already. The strawberries were few and far between.

But the farmhouse had a charming tile roof

and families arrived in the correct color car.

The views --far and 

near --were English indeed

 as were the not-very-fierce dogs guarding the crops.

Long Evenings/London

These photos were taken about half past nine at night

looking north from south of the Thames in London. The lights

 are all on in the buildings but it's still beautifully clear and almost colorful.

In the somewhat foreground is London Bridge Station and the "Gherkin " is in the distance.

The weather is interestingly 'changable' raining and thundering and then not raining for a bit. I should have brought my raincoat but since it was 100'F in NY when I left I stupidly assumed it was like that everywhere.

Roses

Went to the New York Botanical Gardens for the Alhambra show which was very ho-hum.

Instead was overwhelmed by the rose garden at the height of its glory. A place to be photgraphed...

painted

wandered through.

A pause with paler colors. Then pondering rose greed. Which ones do I desire most of all?

This one?

A riot of pink

My current winner.... I think... except for ALL the others.