Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

Is there another thing better than a winding path with a friend and a bench and a lamp waiting?

Closer, Closer, Forward March! Onward, Upward Ho! Well maybe yes and maybe not and maybe I don’t know. The biologist is expert at dissolving life in salines, Yet instead of frogs and fishes we end up with Petri dishes Full of caviar and tuna roe and tattered tadpole tailings! Well that’s what I see anyhow, while looking down at the slide. I know for sure they’re finding a cure but I miss the pond outside. I miss the chance to pull away and take a broader view, The chance to move away from the kill and circle a time or two. I miss the fuzz on the edge of things, the smear and the smudge and the blur. A little unsure, a little unclear, a little demure a little less fear, A sky covered meadow we wandered that year, a picnic lunch in Windermere, A chance to be who we were. Great Lawn from the East, August 2010

Apparently (see comment 1), this happy lady bug is munching on unwanted squash leaf parasites such as aphids and mites.   What a lady!

The Miracle 94th Street Tree Bed Squash have yielded a bumper crop of beautiful and tasty blossoms this summer- shared with neighbors, small children and at least one lady bug.  However, they are not destined to grow actual Summer Squash.  Although we are saddened at the seasonal passing of  these fertile friends, the dedicated and happy Urban Volunteers are protecting those still with us with a rim of double string and bamboo. Furthermore, our mighty Urban Volunteers are improving the life of these lovely plants, and their four month old  Kentucky Coffee Trees, with marigolds and yellow snapdragons.                       the Mighty Urban Volunteers

Times are tough in the Tree Bed garden.  Recently some of the admittedly over ambitious squash plants had to be cut back.  They had overtaken about 12 square feet of sidewalk territory, and dog people were unwilling to respect these new boundaries without a string.  It is not possible to secure the base of a bamboo stick in concrete to support the string.   We are rethinking the Fall Planting Strategy.  Stay tuned. 

Look what we found tonight among the squashes and the kings? Two new Tree Bed tomatoes! New tomato one is close to two inches across; we cannot divulge the exact location New tomato two is Baby, growing deep among the leaves.  Baby is less than an inch across and is under protection by a nearby leaf, since it is a dangerous world out there for a ripening Tree Bed tomato. 

We are delighted to report that a beautiful tomato has reached maturity and remained unharmed on its vine until time to fall into the hands of the patient and undauntable Urban Volunteers. 1. Tomato is carefully washed and admired 2. Tomato undergoes exquisite and fastidious Preparation 3. Tomato is displayed on an ideal and elegant serving something 4. Innocent Guest is lured in by cheery Sunflower 5. Tomato is served with candles and pretty napkins to Urban Volunteer and Innocent Guest .

Finally after months of searching the records, I have identified the subject in the photo below. She or he is Jean-Noir. Jean has been hanging around Squiva's neighborhood since last February! Well! this evening I was looking for Squiva to say hello.  Squiva was unavailable, but guess who came out to play?                         Meet Squivita l'Noir!

I love a two-faced path, half lit by a  lamp the color of fireflies. Walking West Near 86th Street, 2010 August

I feel like somebody is pulling a burning muscle at the center of me. So I have decided on self-hypnosis. Tick, tock, tacky-A, tick tock tacky-B, Tickytockytacky-C (That’s tacky in the tactile taffy sense, not the simple tacky tacky sense.) Ok. Concentrate: Hmmm, ummm… (I wonder what ever happened to that thingamajig. You know that one over in the mall next to the carousel?) Oh, sorry, back to concentration. Ummhmmmm hmm Snap, snap--wake up! Aha! It’s gone, I Just bid it goodbye. Away like the wind. How Lucky am I. Life is fine, life is grand, life is under control. I play by the rules, I play by the role I like it! I do. It was all in my mind. No 'up' and no 'down', I’m completely aligned. I’m happy. I’m fine. The bud has been nipped. A tick and a tack and a passion’s ungripped! But wait! What’s that ponderous chimeric form? That vaporous shimmering beckoning storm? Scat! You’re not real, go away or I’ll shoot! You’re a messy mirage and a menace to boot!

During certain special atmospheric conditions, Reservoir Fountain is known to create it's own waterfall .  Rising droplets are reorganized in a whirling vortex and then cast earthward in piles of heavy spray.  This amazing feat is occurring just above the photo, outside the range of normal sight. Reservoir at Dusk, 2010 August

This brave sapling dared to take root here where it landed, to stand fast through its first winter snows and thrive for a second summer. If along your travels here to there you come across this hardy optimist, take heart and toss a blessing arrow at its courageous feet. South Reservoir Blockhouse, Eastside (2010 August)

I've hijacked a few rides in my day along the highways and truck stops, through the fields of winter wheat and sugar beets. I've hooked into the next idea to soothe a restless mind, slogging through the netherworld of iso-pragmeroticism. A new galaxy is just the trick I thought, and hitched my wagon to a star. Oh, what fresh galactic air! There is no substitute, but the time did come, as it so often does. I had a hard time by the tail then, for a year or so, but when the climate changed,  I climbed aboard a magic carpet heading East. Oh, what exhilarating, spicy clangy saffron nights among the weavy symbolism. And still I cannot resist a fetching invitation to a far off land, for look what I have found among the ticket stubs and scrapbook fodder. India:  Ramana Athreya Confirms a New  Bird Species   Liocichla Bugunorum 2006 (Reuters)

I was amazed and a little shocked to receive this original photo of GrandPapa Squiva.  He is so like his Grandchild, yet unmistakably not  Our Squiva.  As you probably know, Our Squiva comes from a long line of theatrical people.  Indeed, GrandPapa Squiva was a founding member of the National Union of The Squirrel.  This rare photo is from GrandPapa's youth, when he was still doing extra work.  It  is extracted and enlarged from a Life Magazine advertisement for Tufty FluffyTail Squirrel Educational Cartoons (or a Look advertisements for Mixed Planter's Nuts).   http://ukanimation.blogspot.com/2010/02/tufty-under-5s.html From the Archives of Ahouva Rubenstein

Ripening, ripening, ripening...

Recipe for Elegant Dining 1. Prepare a vegetarian meal with squash blossoms, spinach, yams and homemade Apricot Marmalade. 2. Add candles, pretty napkins, and a half-painted wall in a splotchy color. 3. Add salt, pepper and cottage cheese to taste. It works every time!

Our early summer pansies have fled their boxy stead, but spruce tree Blue has stayed.  Wow, look how it has grown. From a tiny sprig of 4, he is already 10.5 inches tall!  What are those small brownish things? Some odd and exotic parasites? Let's take a closer look. Hmm. Could they be...? No, of course not; let's move in a little closer. zoom... zoom Oh my gosh, they are! Little baby pinecones! Oh what a fertile spruce we have in Blue.

The Harlem Spirit Swans Hamsa and Zeusi are difficult to photograph, since they very often appear in other guises.  This rare photo was taken of the Meer on a beautiful fall day last year.  I had no idea the swans were playing there, since they are not visible to the ordinary eye and take awhile to develop. 

I’m looking for that time once when I knew I’d live forever. I misplaced it somewhere amid the hopes and dreams. Oh, I’ve gone a lap or two and left my messages among the bottles. I’ve spent a summer on the sandy beach of time. Waves everywhere. I saw a surfer caught up in one, just below the surface, defying gravity and life itself. Ah, to have a life! To walk along the wet edge counting castles, To feel the molding sand along the breakers, To toss handfuls of eternity across the wind, To taste a salty drop of meadow from the surfy spray. Would you like to help me look?

What in the world? Why these iron bars, fence upon fence of chain Link, barbed wire, odd shaped stanchions, wood pilings and a Moat? That must be one scary life form out there. We better come back in daylight for a second look. See that rusty iron railing? Don't come here without a tetanus shot! Wait a minute! Earth,  metal, wood, water, wind, and wasn't there a fire here awhile ago?  This must be the home of the Mythical Sacred Piling-Sitting Phyruddah Bird! How lucky we are to catch sight!.

Sometimes the light dims, even in the bright days of August, and what we need is an Under Sea Adventure. Tank (X) Camera (X) Flippers & mask (X) Regulator, weight belt, wetsuit (X) Waterproof watch good for 40 fathoms. (Who is going down to 40 fathoms? With a Timex? That’s ridiculous.) The colors begin to filter out anyway: one by one, fathom by fathom. OK.  Let's go! Red, two fathoms (gurgle); orange, 4 fathoms; yellow, 7 fathoms (gurgle);   wow, did you see that?  What was it?   (gurgle); green, 12 fathoms; blue. ….gurgle, gurgle…. Blue, green, gurgle, yellow, orange, gurgle, red. Full spectrum daylight! What a trip!   What shall we do with all this equipment? Let's leave it here, someone will pick it up and sell it on Craig’s list. 

I love an old, flower drenched garden. We are coaxed along this path by the worn stones grouted with tiny flowers.  They are barely seen here, but be on the lookout!

I was in search of a few more tasty squash blossoms, when there it was!  Hiding under the squash blossom leaves. The mailman knew it was there.  The two doormen up the street knew it was there, because they watered it.  The lady with the wig and the small dog knew it was there.  The doorman across the street knew it was there.  New York's very first Tree Bed Tomato!

I’ll take a dollars worth of regular, please Yes ma’am. Windshield? Thanks. Where you going on a dollars worth? I guess I’ll go as far as it’ll take me. Want to fill up the can in the trunk? Ok. Why not. No harm. You know that old cottonwood over by Carson’s pace? Caught a trout up there the other day near the North Fork Junction. You take care now. Might as well.

How does one know their raptor is comfortably full? a.  Raptor is not turning in the widening gyre. b.  Raptor is sitting quietly, close to the ground. c.  Raptor is not diving towards a small alive thing at 200 miles per hour. d.  All of the above. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, July 30, 2010 (lj calloway as usual)

It's what I wanted, A capacity to crave for life, To feel raw and potent earth inside, Intestines smoldering with empathetic longing But then perhaps it's just a mood, An echo after all, falling on a meadow with the grain past the green, Dry now and full of stickers. Oh don’t dwell! You’ve weathered worse. Keep a move on, the light is changing, move along now. It’s time to find a nearby twig to tie a tether to. Now wait a minute.  Let's not add 'hasty' to this craven bog. I'd like a little gaiety, a smolder here a petal there A reckless wanton  episode. Who says we can't, and whose to stop us? Look what I found among the ripened brambles!