Summer

This morning at Union Square some pretty flowers – subtle here and bold below.

The other day it was windy at the beach and fun to fly a kite.

A storm blew up later.

Dill and Black-Eyed-Susies from the roof in the city.

And summer fruit

And the very last of the pansies now pulled.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Diana Sheraton email me at elizabethwix@hotmail.com

April

Some flower studies from this month – this first anemones and hellebores from the flower district which wilted almost immediately – and still looked charming.

Last year’s debris underwater on the back of an old plastic slide at my son’s house.

Much as I hate plastic, flowers look good through it…

The squirrels have been at the tulips out front…

But they look sort of cool almost dead…

And the punchiness of pansies.

Spring at last…

An Old Year and a New One

Things gathered in my son’s garden.
The breathtaking Christmas decorations at The Cloisters – including real lady apples.
A seeing-eye dog who licked my hand after I asked the choir member whose companion he was if I could pat him. At The Cloisters too.
Fun with my new phone…
Very serious books at The Morgan Library.
Stuff to celebrate New Year’s in the window of Artie’s shoe repair.
Not much in the January garden…
but a birthday card for me.


Autumn

Halloween is over with and the leaves are finally starting to fall.

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This pumpkin has a curious nose.

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One of the best bits of Halloween is getting candy… my daughter say they were allowed to eat as much as they wanted…oh my!

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The Winesap apples have finally arrived and are very crispy and tasty.

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I currently have an obsession with dried up dahlias…

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almost time to chuck them.

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A fallen leaf on 20th street.

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Stuff from a garden on Long Island

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and acorn cups.

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An arrangement of acorn cups and rosehips in a cup by my assistant (aged 3). Doesn’t it look like a weird clock-face in the acorn cup upper left?

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and the joy of fallen leaves…

Veg Therapy and How to Try to Keep Semi-Sane

In these unsettling and most peculiar times I look for diversions

IMG_8160.jpglike contemplating a lovely dessert with blackberries and figs

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or maybe quinces – but am not certain what I would do with the quinces. I like the look and the name but not the taste really.

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Apples are easy but the Winesaps won’t be here until next week.

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Teeny, tiny pears all sheeny with wetness.

IMG_8161.jpgThen I’m delighted by pinkness and buy dahlias which will only last three days – but lots of nice things last even less time than that.

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Oh my! what a dazzle for the eye!

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The mescalun looks as if it has been arranged – but it hasn’t.

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Romanesco is worth mediating on  – all Fibonacci and architectural – look at the little group of singers at the top in their soft green dresses under the coral overhang – or make up another story entirely. Or, according to Mee (the friend who did the cookbook) bake it inside a Godzilla cake and astound the kiddies.

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An orange nose has poked itself into the ghost gourds.

IMG_8180.jpgThis decorative gourd is all warty and weird – maybe it’s enchanted. In the end I brought the dahlias home and took their photo on the dining table.

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And that was my morning avoiding watching the news or doing any writing or anything remotely useful. And so we go on!

October

October is one of my favorite months – the beginning of the turning of the year and a little bit decaying and mystical…

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Nothing like an old baking sheet background for gloomy…

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This is a sunflower squash

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posing as a space alien.

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These are some pears

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and more pears

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and a pomegranate from a street cart and flowers from Bobby’s garden.

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Some meadow flowers hanging on to summer at the green market

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so joyful.

5135D877-5FF6-473E-A165-D58EC057EBBAbut pumpkin season is upon us

IMG_7971.jpgand acorns

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and an eggplant with some sort of message –

when we get to the beach

IMG_8117.jpgI find a poor fishy who is unlikely to send any more messages…

 

 

Almost Autumn

I managed to get separated from my blog – or the log in to the same…

Anyway, my friend Gracie moved to Long Beach where people were training as life guards.

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The summer went well…

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Vinny the caterpillar and his chums ate a great deal of dill…

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which then formed seeds and I got a second crop.

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The wonderful butterfly flower self seeded itself on the roof

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add basil and mint to the old Moroccan jug.

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Hydrangeas continued to enchant

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and I dried some delphinium flowers.

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We managed to get to Robert Moses three times

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and the grandchildren continued to flourish.

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Robert suggested I do a needlepoint loosely based on an old Italian plate. Lesson learned: do not attempt anything with lots and lots of circles in it.

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A peach photographed on a baking tray

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Some extra lovely dahlias Margaret gave me.

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A photo from yesterday – photographed on a cookie sheet. The chewed leaf makes it look as if it ought to be an allegory of some sort – oddly medieval.

Spring at Last

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So they were going to have a photoshoot at Tiffany & Co. It was early on a Sunday morning

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and I was off to look at 5th Avenue and the park from above.

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The next day the sun shone! Hooray!

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There were ranunculuses like ballerinas at the green market

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and a bunny family picnicking in ABC Carpet’s window.

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Nearer home I savor flowers

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then go for a walk to see the wisteria on 20th Street.

 

A Snowy Saturday and Very Cold

Not a good day for going outside…except possibly to go to the greenmarket where I find

IMG_3606interesting patterns on the rutabagas –IMG_3607

and whatever these things are…

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It is miserable out and one’s hands turn red immediately.

IMG_3613Snow falls on the wool

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and the bread…

IMG_3615pears and more pears…

IMG_3616so I go home to make wooly hats

IMG_3621Happy New Year!

 

 

England in November

Damp, cold, melancholy – exactly how I like it.

Herewith some some photos from Wiltshire.IMG_2592The hobbit house…IMG_2479and an apple tree…IMG_2466Rosie with her bebe gun for frightening the crows.

IMG_2602Indoors the kitchen with its open fire beckons.

IMG_2490as do the stairs.

IMG_2436In the church the shelves need dusting  – melancholy indeed

IMG_2622as are the poppies for Remembrance Sunday.IMG_2540Such stormy skies!IMG_2726And a bare tree in Surrey too.