London Flowers and a New Blog

Some lovely flowers outside Liberty's in London.

My main blog has moved here.

Spring

Such fun to go up to the roof terrace - and pick flowers! These vases are very small indeed.

For my new blog go here elizabethwix.co

More Union Square

For my new blog go here.

This is the best flower picture I've taken for ages.

The poppies are super stunning.

I've yet to buy any to take home. Would they last in water?

I haven't the least idea what this is but it looks good for you...

as are all sorts of green things.

What is this?

The weather is stunningly warm suddenly. 80F yesterday. Almost no spring at all.

May

Though I've moved my main blog here, herewith a few of the week's New York photos.

Enough sun to form shadows. Hooray!

Down Hudson Street.

and the Hudson River with the Statue of Liberty upper right.

24th Street.

ABC Carpet has a window of prayer flags and an appeal for donations for the people of Nepal.

The delights of Eric Kayser near Union Square

while police helicopters whirl overhead.

New Directions

What has this blog been about?

Well, things I like, like flowers in Union Square...

The stunning buildings of New York City...

playing with images (here a tintype app)...

and food, of course. Here splendid sweet things in Greenwich village.

Lots of reflections - literal and metaphorical.

Things in blogworld are changing and shifting. Though I like Blogger, other platforms seem to offer different things.  I've been experimenting with Wordpress - the very first platform I started on in 2006.

I may well keep on posting here to keep in touch with people on my blogroll which I'm in the process of copying to Wordpress.

However, please visit me here. Random Images is pretty much what it says - the usual sort of jumble of things which catch my eye and delight me. So we'll see how it goes...

Bright

Marsh marigolds picked by small children who haven't quite grasped the

idea that you need to have stems to put in water...

Trailer Park on 23rd Street looking specially trashy in the bright sunlight.

Important maintenance going on by the car wash under The High Line on 24th Street.

Bright coat in a gallery

Bright building towering over TheHigh Line

and bright everything where the Lukoil Station on the corner of 10th Avenue - was where I'm sure something large and swanky will be erected.

Medium bright dog wondering why he has to look at large photographs in art galleries.  I rather liked these portraits - sort of Velasquez meets Murillo...

Wonderfully sunny today. Hooray!

Monday: Pouring with rain and chilly again...

 UNICEFMARKET Giveaway update:

Frances of the splendid blog Cityviews/Countrydreams was the winner picked at random this morning. I'm sure she will be able to find something really lovely there. I got a silk scarf for myself. See it here.

Urban and a UNICEFmarket Giveaway

Now that the weather is somewhat improved it's possible to get out and about more.

Lots of construction and destruction going on everywhere. Here up by Fifth Avenue where the turquoise wall looks rather like an abstract painting.

Blue skies above 11th Avenue.

More sunshine yesterday on 13th Street.

On 15th Street pretty yellow, red and blue netting near Chelsea Market.

On 9th Avenue a quintessentially New York melange - the Seminary Building, a cyclist a fire truck and a man in a turban. 

In Soho the sort of interior space one lusts after but is unlikely to be able to afford.

Back home two of the rather battered pansies from the tree pits outside

and a charming abstract accidental painting - a byproduct of Robert's real painting of Robert Moses Beach.

And now to the giveaway. For some years I've been supporting the artisans at Novica. Novica in conjunction with the new UNICEFmarket has lots of lovely things made in far-flung corners of the globe - I particularly like their silk scarves and Thai paper products.

 This paper has charming little plant parts in it.

The UNICEFmarket is a super resource for finding unusual gifts. I have a $50 gift code to send to a lucky reader who comments on my blog - so write soon and I'll pick someone at random and let you know by next weekend. I'll pick some in the US because UK readers might end up having to pay import duty whereas US ones don't!

Ah! Flower Pits...

Since it is now April, spring is, eventually, arriving.

Time for the urban gardening season to begin,

Margaret and I head up to Union Square to reconnoiter and find splendid tulips

wonderful pussywillow spring crafts

and very strange decorative willow.

For some reason the bus looked springlike.

We bought lots of plants...

The next day, Margaret, Emily and I went up to The Flower District on 28th Street

and looked at more flowers

and lusted after hellebores.

Right round the corner on 6th Avenue all is urban indeed.

Some extra special primulas - that had been sold to someone else and we weren't allowed to have...

Anyway...

This is flower pit #1 - our final effort....

Will keep you posted.

HAPPY SPRING

One World Trade Center

Years ago I used to bike by the old World Trade Center quite often. I went up one of the old Twin towers in 1993 - the week before the very first small bombing.
Anyway, when my friend Daryl asked me to lunch at the new One World Trade Center, I was very excited having only seen the tower from a distance.

So subway to WTC

up the steps...

Lovely tower ahead.

Madly imposing desk and stringent security (both good.)

I look up in the lobby

am greeted by Daryl looking stunningly slim and chic - as ever.

We lunch in the elegant Conde Nast cafeteria

from which there are astounding views - see the reflecting pool below and The Statue of Liberty upper right.

So much building going on downtown. Cranes everywhere - all very exciting.

Ah, to be young and pale and red-headed - and for horrid brown walls to actually work.

In the lobby downstairs a vast abstract painting I love. Gosh, it's good to get out of the house once in a while and look about me.

Daryl has daily splendid photos of downtown and uptown world on Instagram. You can see them here  DARYL10024