Warm Day on the High Line

Well, the sun does sometimes shine

And the High Line (in its third year)

has become a stunningly popular place to relax at lunchtime.

It isn't exactly a beach

but the new water feature is perfect for cooling city feet.

Really it's a magic juxtaposition of urban and country.

May the sunshine continue.

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Wet Indeed

Like lots of other parts of the country

we have had a great deal of rain. So much rain that all the raincoats and jackets are soaked

and my welly boots have sprung a leak. These photos were taken from the M4 bus

going down 5th Avenue by Central Park on Wednesday afternoon. 

They were taken on my phone since I know from experience that

 getting a camera wet is not a terrifically good idea.

But you get the general idea

I think. More rain forecast today!

Dream Windows

Bergdorf's up near Central Park

What a lion!

and  metallic sorts of dresses too

 with details and ruffles 

In ABC Carpet, instead of a carpet, there is earth in the window

 with marigolds growing beneath the picnic table.

A Rather Alarming Career Choice

This might be terrific fun

if you were terribly brave and didn't mind heights

and liked rappelling down tall buildings.

I do hope they pay them very good wages and provide

excellent health insurance.

The May Delights of a Long Island Garden

I used to live on Long Island, and go back there often to visit friends.....and their gardens.

I frequently write about The Jarvis house my friend Lori's place. I always wander about imagining what I could swipe if I still had a garden and lived near by.

Yesterday, I just took pictures.....of the hydrangea

 a dandilion, that bane of people who think lawns have to be perfect.
To my mind, a few dandilions  are infinitely preferable to tons of chemicals.

Ah! Apple blossom

and a slightly past it hyacinth amidst the wild geranium.

Apple petals in the hosta

and the azeleas in the almost woodland.

May is arguably the prettiest month of all on the Island.

ps: For the most amazing photos of the Easter bonnets in New York, go to my friend Susanna Gordon's blog here. To my mind she's the best photographer in Blogland.

Questions

All sorts of ugly plastic boxes give away brochures.

This one is for the Gotham Writers' Workshop. Oddly, I do think writing is sexy, well, not the writing itself, but the brains that go into it. If the writing is interesting of course......

I really, really want this bird (hiding Waldo-like) to be a mocking bird. Anyone know?

A late pizza lunch in Soho. I asked these cheerful girls if I could take their photo as they looked very 'New-Yorky'. They said: "Oh, we're from London too!"

The new Linda McCartney photo book on display at Taschen, Soho.

An amazing walk down memory lane for those who grew up in the sixties and early 70's.

Highly recommended.




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Not Exactly Sissinghurst: or Against All Odds

Not having a garden is very frustrating --so the intrepid ladies of Chelsea set forth in the pouring rain

to Union Square green market and purchase cheerful daisies and pansies.

The next day

they plant them round three trees.

This does not look thrilling --yet.

 The plants will have to contend with:

traffic fumes

dog pee

cigarette butts

banana peels

chewing gum etc etc.

But hope springs eternal in the human breast.

A guerilla gardener of my acquaintance has adopted the medians at 9th Avenue and 25th Street.

He is wonderfully ambitious and is building on his last year's success.

Will keep you posted on how we all get on.

An afternoon walk down 21st Street

shows the wisteria

and the lilacs

 at their utterly blissful best. So many bees buzzing!

Such a wonderful scent! If there is a heaven,  lilacs will abound.

Meatpacking District

I don't think they were invited to the wedding

  

although they were all dressed up

 and obviously off somewhere

wonderful

Curiosities

All sorts of little bits of burgeoning tree

have been falling on to parked cars on 25th Street (and every other street for that matter)...

... forming a sort of yellow confetti which looks specially good if the car has recently been polished.

The weather is much warmer and this Brooklyn inhabitant has exactly the right idea.

His cushion is lodged where the air conditioner will later be, from whence

 he can survey all that surrounds him.

Very warm last evening with mist in the air. The sort of day when
 the Empire State Building has its top stories removed.

Ah! the joys of blogging! Such a good way to meet people from all over the world.

Yesterday a lovely little envelope arrived from Isobel Bella Bheag in Scotland who makes the

most beautiful handmade cards. Her recent blog posts have been about a visit to

the islands off the coast of Scotland where they make tweed. A very different world indeed.