May 2011
53 posts
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When I woke up this morning,
when I started gardening even, little did I think I’d ever find myself lovingly wiping a paper towel down a wet tomato plant stem, massacring hundreds of drowning, struggling, tiny green bugs.
Today’s victim, my friends, was aphids. Three or four of my 18 odd tomato plants had leaves and stalks covered with little white rice-grain shaped (but much smaller) objects and a flurry of minute bustling...
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Unexpected combination of the day:
Man quietly playing Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring on the harmonica on the downtown D, not asking for anything.
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You know I'm a dedicated gardener because
I spent a beautiful Sunday morning google-image searching terms like “scale” “aphid” “lacewing” and my personal favorite, “tomato fruitworm larvae.” These are not pleasant images, to say the least. But for the love of a homegrown tomato, these are the lengths to which I will go.
On the plus side, the slugs & snails seem to be more or less...
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Salad Pickins
panthysgarden:
Get out the air horns and bottle rockets, I picked my first salad! It’s only May and I grew something to eat and picked it before something else ate it. Unfortunately, I ate a tuna fish sandwich right before picking so… these fresh greens are sitting in my fridge.
Taking advice from fellow BK garden aficionado CityStories, I thinned my greens, which basically involves yanking...
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Windowsills
In a brash move for your sympathy, I first complain that this lovely weather we’re finally having does me no good at all; I came down with some nasty flu and my garden wilts as I stare at the sun from the sick-bed of my couch. What I wouldn’t give for someone to come water my tomato plants.
On the other hand, last week’s rain and this week’s sun is making everything...
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My response:
That’s like saying, I’m pretty familiar with New York. It’s close to Vermont and Ohio.
“Yeah, I’m pretty familiar with Brooklyn. Brooklyn...”
– Manhattan guy hitting on me
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Urban Garden Log, May 15 Part II - Thinning
{The dates correspond to the photos.}
My new friend (can I call you that? His looks way cooler than mine) panthysgarden asked me if I am thinning.
This was not an anorexia intervention or an insensitive reaction to earlier weight gain.
He wanted to know if, I, having planted my greens (lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, etc.) nice and snug (out of the stubbornly persistent belief nothing I...
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SLUG KILLER
Last night’s surprise raid was swiftly followed this morning by a murderous rampage. This gardener showed no mercy, plucking creepy, slimy things left and right, from under flowerpots and boards, refilling the beer traps (one of which was quite successful), dunking a slithering mess of unfortunate souls in that bucket of soapy water. I will have my revenge …
citystories:
You know...
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SLUG KILLER
You know how in Julia & Julia, when Modern Julia is going to boil lobster, her boyfriend taunts her with LOBSTER KILLER and she’s all freaked out?
FUCK THAT.
{Such language is atypical for me, especially on this happy-go-lucky blog, but} I just spent a half hour pulling slimy creatures off the leaves of my beloved plant-babies and I’m angry. Creatures, that is for my dinner, not...
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Urban Garden Log, May 15, Part I
Last time I posted it was the week of May 8. Then:
Now:
It’s getting there. Thanks to all this rain, things are really taking off. The tomato plants are heaps bigger, for example. Then:
Now:
TRUST ME, THEY’RE BIGGER.
When I was in high school, I worked in vineyards, cutting off suckers and tying strips of mylar on the plants to scare the birds. I didn’t have...
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Golden Apple
The man stood in the middle of the farmers’ market and called out, “Golden apple, buy me a golden apple,” swiveling his hips as he did, projecting his plea 180 degrees, like a rotating sprinkler.
A girl with short, spiky blond hair and a tiny T-shirt walked up to him.
“You wanna buy me a golden apple?” he asked her.
She ignored the question and offered him a tray...
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Just because you a lesbian don't mean you can't...
A guy in a hoodie under a zipped Adidas jacket is talking to two women on the train. The woman closest to him is incredibly large, spilling across two seats. She boasts impeccable hair and makeup and talks in a diva voice, like any moment she’s going to snap her fingers in a z and say “No you di’int.”
The other one, separated by two seats and two enormous thighs, is...
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When you have boyfriend
citystories:
I was getting off the phone just as the cobbler finished with another customer and turned to me. “Yes, yes, ok. Sure. Sounds great. I can’t wait! See you soon!”
“Boyfriend?” he asked me, in his thick Eastern European accent, as I put the phone away.
“No,” I laughed, pulling out my shoes for repair. “That was just a friend. No boyfriend.”
He put on a face of mock shock. ...
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On the train from Brooklyn, at 11:30am . . .
shadylanes:
There was a woman (I think it was a woman, a very androgynous woman) sitting a few steps away from me with a large duffle bag between her feet. She was middle-aged, a little weathered looking, but certainly not CRAZY looking. My eyes were continually drawn to her hair. It was almost a mullet, but still long in the front. I couldn’t figure out the physics of it. Her pants were short and...
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Couscous, I don't do that.
“Hey, you sellin’ those?” asked the man soaking up the sun on the Union Square steps — black, African accent, suit with jacket off.
The young white guy — spiky hair, black T, jeans — lowered to eye level the two plastic trays of food he carried. “Nah, not for sale, but you can have a sandwich if you want.”
“Really?” the man on the...
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“Thursday is my favorite day. It’s got this amazing spiritual reach....”
– Shaggy haired dude wearing pinstriped jacket with a hole at the shoulder seam, soaking up sun in Cadman Plaza while on jury duty lunch break
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When you have boyfriend
I was getting off the phone just as the cobbler finished with another customer and turned to me. “Yes, yes, ok. Sure. Sounds great. I can’t wait! See you soon!”
“Boyfriend?” he asked me, in his thick Eastern European accent, as I put the phone away.
“No,” I laughed, pulling out my shoes for repair. “That was just a friend. No...
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It's for my fashion blog.
zechies:
Today I attended an art show downtown, but before the art show I had to grab a latte. After walking into a long line at my favorite local coffee shop I overheard this conversation between two girls.
Girl 1: “Can you go take their picture?” (speaking and looking at me and my girlfriend after we got in line). Girl 2: “haha umm why?” Girl 1: “Well I’ve started taking pictures of...
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“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard this Northbound service. It’s so nice to...”
– Train driver at Kennington station (via andawriter)
NYC’s MTA was not nearly so well disposed toward food service on the train.
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Extra ticket to Chris Thile/Michael Daves @...
etceterawhatever:
Friend’s sudden work meeting = some lucky person’s ticket to 2+ hours of bliss.
Show starts at 10 at Rockwood Music Hall, Allen & Houston. One ticket available at cost, just shy of $24. This is the final night of a three show CD release, each night of which is sold out.
I am loathe to get into too much detail describing their music. It’s just stunning. If you don’t...
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Urban Garden Log, May 8
Last time I posted it was the week of April 17; much has changed since then.
Then:
Now:
When we last left off I’d planted my seedlings: 8 promising tomato, some spindly kale and lettuce, the half of the jalapeno I’d managed to avoid killing after nurturing from seed to a decent size. I’d also planted a few sturdy eggplant (or pepper? I didn’t clearly label)...
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“It’s a forest, it’s a forest!!”
– Sung by kids skipping through one of the main sidewalks in the Brooklyn Botanic garden, shaded by fragrant lilacs.
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“Why is everyone stepping on my toes?! It’s TORTURE!!!”
– Small girl with a big voice boarding the uptown 2 train.
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Arriving home at 11:35 PM,
there’s an obese woman in sweats dancing on the sidewalk to the music from a car pulled over, not parked, volume up, driver’s door open.
She’s doing a belly roll as I pass.
She lifts her sweatshirt.
She flashes the driver.
She keeps dancing.
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Apartment Hunting and Hipster Hating
xoannika:
I hate craigslist.
“Space available in artist loft - shared with beat poet, clay pot maker, and fingerpainter. Your side of the room is separated by a curtain. Pipes overhead. Must be 420-friendly.”
Bushwick is starting to remind me of the NYU dorms.
Last week I went to the Halsey J stop to check out a place. I figure, “It’s only 2 stops away from Beauty Bar, it’s probably fine!” I...
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Unexplored NYC...
lialia:
After seven years of living in NYC, I’m doing something unprecedented for myself this May…taking a vacation and NOT skipping town.
I really want to take the time to explore places that I’ve never been. Places like:
- Ditmas Park, Brooklyn
- Governor’s Island
- The Cloisters
- Governor’s Island
- The Rockaways
If you have any suggestions on hidden gems, out of the way ...
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Biking as Gym Class →
File under things that would not make sense in a small town but that seem lovely in an urban center. Felt a pang of sadness at the idea of a sixth grader being afraid of biking, though I didn’t learn til 3rd grade, as a result of my refusal to wear the pink helmet prescribed by my mom. But given that the genesis of this idea was the tragic death of one of the teacher’s 10 year old...
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I've always wanted to get hit on by virtue of what... →
sitting in the fountain
you were the cute, kinda dorky white girl sitting in the fountain.
it’s midafternoon, the sun is hitting your hair the exact right angle, and i’m gazing at you but you fail to notice — you’re too engaged in your book.
you have the most amazing brown-ish glasses and fantastic kicks. what book were you reading?
i hope you get back to me.
This is the original CL Missed...
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