What is Real?

This is Bob's squirrel. Feeling that things were too normal at the office I tied it up this morning and dangled it from the light fixture above Bob's desk. Bob appreciated it. He used to tie up ladles of vinegar above cooks' stations when he was a linecook. He's been boxing the squirrel all day. Late this afternoon he started having a conversation about the Older Generation (bosses, landlords, the weird litle guy with the mustache next door). About how they are just different from us and are a little detached from reality.

....

All this with a straight face while the squirrel in bondage glares at him upside down.




It's so muggy in New York. I need some Vancouver.

Mr Ryman's Blacktop

I visited Will's rooftop on the Bowery today. He asked me to help him with a design for a garden and outdoor space. Challenges: the building next door has been sold and will be turned into a twenty floor hotel. Welcome to the new Bowery (The New Museum building is all but finished a block up). The building on the other side of him is already notoriously tall and skinny. So his full sun roof will turn into deep, serious shade. Bamb-bloody-boo, I fear. I try so hard to avoid it: the cliche of cliches. Hm. Then there are all the utilities in the middle, so we'll have to bridge them. He actually doesn't want to hide them, which is quite refreshing. And, best of all, Will liked my graffiti idea for his exposed white wall. Somebody's going to have graffiti in their garden, dammit. Now to find the right street artist...

The view east - where some morning sun will still manage to peek through...

West down spring Street. Faaaar down is Balthazar...still one of my favourite streets.

Utilities. Graded deck with plexiglass risers and hidden lighting?

We climbed out of his studio window to see the deep shade roof next door, to get a feel for what his may be like soon. This is one of the pieces that will be on show at Marlborough after November 8th.

The sun caused Will to collapse. Then his pets attacked him.

Blog Bottle Neck

There's so much going on that it's hard to know where to begin, or where to find the time to write it on the almighty blog...But until order is restored I cannot think.

There's Vince.

There are the pink roses on my terrace.

There is Estorbo's rat.

There's the exciting new project in SoHo.

There's the TV pilot that Magnetic Media will shoot in the next two weeks.

There's the BBC.

There's Will's rooftop and there's Molly's rooftop.

Ugh! I must pick a few.

Oh. And the three foot basil.

Grass Walls

[mea culpa: the picture above was scanned from one of my garden books, but I cannot remember which one - if anyone recognizes, please let me know!]

This is sort of, but not quite, what I'd like to do at a new project in SoHo...in fact we will be doing it, so now comes the fun part: figuring out how. Ours will be lower, wider and feature the kind of grasses you see all the way below, which are in another SoHo garden I did a couple of years ago...and of course the grass wall will be on a terrace, not the ground.

Once in a while a client comes along who is happy to play the games one dreams up*. And of course these are quite serious games because one can't do a hundred feet of this, five feet wide and high, for pennies. Or even a lot of pennies. And that's just one of five terraces and an indoor moss garden. Very, very exciting.

The raw space is an add-on to a landmarked building.

I don't like edges. This is the roof - an orchard and greenroof meadow will share space up here.

Future orchard.

I am seriously thinking of incorporating graffiti into part of the design - there's a wall begging for it. And no, I'm not kidding. This is a roof over the street. I love graffiti.

Grass and perennial mix for wall.

* Update: This garden never moved beyond paper. The paper phase was very exciting, and then it fizzled.

Roses...

The natural habit of the Abraham Derby rose is to to droop a little - maybe because their heads are so packed with petals, too. I love these roses so much, on a visceral level. They are utter beauty. Can't get enough of them. I hope for another flush...the weather is cooling, but these rebloomed within three weeks, so, maybe.

Hmmm - I should organize a farewell party for them.

Purple Basil

The meeting

Not too many people have been able to get me to:

a) stand more or less still near a camera, or b) actually like the pictures they take of me...

Me and the Canadian on the Brooklyn Bridge a mere...week and half ago


A beach! This was shortly before we were shooed off the precious sand (there were actual waves, too) on the East River between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, by a nice Park Ranger







The deal, sealed.