Not so much rain expected as earlier this week, but the National Weather Service has issued another flood watch starting tonight into tomorrow. Most of the rain will fall on Saturday, with accumulations between 1 and 2 inches during the day.
Wear your rain gear for Making Brooklyn Bloom tomorrow!
This morning I took a slight detour from my commute routine to check the tree pits along Cortelyou Road for blooming Crocuses. I was rewarded:
It may not look like much, but this is only one of the 400 Crocuses neighborhood volunteers planted last fall in some of the tree pits along Cortelyou Road between Coney Island Avenue and East 17th Street.
It also has a companion blooming in the same tree pit:
Until the rest of them start blooming, if you’re not looking for them, you’ll probably overlook them. Here’s how they appear in situ as you walk by the tree pit:
The Crocuses have been up for a month; these are the first blooms. The Daffodils are also emerging in several of the tree pits.
Someone’s (or someones’) been doing a good job keeping the tree pit fairly clear of garbage. Nevertheless, you can identify several fragments of urban street detritus, including chewing gum, bits of plastic straw, and um, organic material.
This morning I didn’t see any bags of garbage in the tree pits themselves. When I see this, I try to stop and lift the bags out to place them on the outside of the protective fences. But for the past few days I’ve also seen a bike locked to the inside of the fence, right where the bulbs are coming up. I want to make up some signs to put along all the tree pits to remind folks:
LIVE PLANTS
NO TRASH
NO BIKES
NO DOGS
The bike locked up so it’s crushing the emerging bulbs deserves its own sign.
Over the next two weeks we should see a succession of different Crocus blooming. These yellow ones look like Crocus chrysanthus or something similar. Other may be purple, blue, or even white. I purchased “mixed” Crocus for this planting, so that’s what we should expect!
Cortelyou Road Crocus Watch, February 4
Tree Pits are not Dumpsters, November 18, 2007
The Daffodil Project Plantings on Cortelyou Road, November 4, 2007
1,000 Daffodils for Cortelyou Road, October 27, 2007
The Daffodil Project: Grief & Gardening #5, November 26, 2006
lolAJ is my current favorite read. Described as:
new york city + stuff that is political? + wtf why is it so weird to be a transsexual
Race, class, politics, post-queer deconstruction, and lolcats. It cannot be described in mere words. It must be experienced.
And not a word about real estate.
total pwnage.
PS: Re: “And not a word about real estate.” No, not in the sense of Brownstoner’s buy/sell flamers and trolls. Yes, in the sense of racial, ethnic and class disparities and outright bias in land use policy and the economics of real estate.
Just so you have some idea of what to expect.
Brooklyn Category 1-4 Coastal Storm Impact Zones. Yellow areas are most at risk from this storm, especially during high tide tomorrow morning.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch which includes Brooklyn starting later tonight and continuing into tomorrow:
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch beginning Tuesday, March 4, at midnight. The Watch is expected to stay in effect until Wednesday afternoon, March 5. Rainfall totals may reach 2.5 inches in New York City, with localized flooding possible, and minor coastal flooding likely at high tide on Wednesday morning.
– NYC OEM email alert
New Yorkers should exercise caution, as heavy rain may knock down trees and power lines, and may create hazardous driving conditions. People should avoid walking or driving through moving water, as six inches of fast-moving water can knock people off their feet; two feet will cause most vehicles to float.
NYC Office of Emergency Management:
This is why I don’t cut everything to the ground in the fall. This is a non-heirloom grass in my front yard garden.
Update 09:00: My waking estimate of 3″ was conservative. After shoveling my steps, walkway and 250 square feet of sidewalk, I think we already have 5 inches on the ground.
More of the front yard:
And the backyard:
This is the Gardener’s Nook in the corner. You can see the Winterberry in the container still has lots of berries on it.
This is the view from the second floor tree fort. This is a lot more open than in past years. Over the winter, our next-door neighbor had to take down their old maple in the middle of their backyard, and the apple tree which reached over the fence. Sad, but necessary.
Woke up this morning to find everything covered with a couple inches of snow.
And it’s still falling. I’ll try to get some pictures.
The National Weather Service is calling for 1-3 inches for my area. Yet they also have a winter storm warning in effect predicting 5-7 inches. Local news services are estimating 5 inches total, which seems more likely. It looks like we already have 3 inches on the ground.
My Flickr photo set of this morning’s snow
Grass and Birch, Brooklyn Bears Community Garden
Last Sunday, between the Brooklyn Blogade and the Atlantic Yards Camera Club, Frank Jump and I wandered for about an hour in the bitter cold. The Camera Club was meeting at the Brooklyn Bears Community Garden, so we spent some time there.
Birch Trunk
Detail, Birch Bark
The only blooms to be found were a Witchhazel and a few Snowdrops.
Witchhazel
Snowdrops
There still was plenty of color.
Variegated Pine
Rose
Bergenia Leaf
Shelf Fungus
Wheelbarrow
Seedhead
Hydrangea
Pine Cone
Frank and I were there too early for the garden to be open. We spent some time shooting from outside the fence, then wandered around some more before coming back. By the time we were back, the garden was open and the photographers had begun to gather inside.
I saw Jon Crow, one of the leaders of this garden, whom I met recently for the first time at the Brooklyn Community Gardeners meeting three weeks ago. He excitedly pulled me aside to show me this:
This is the damage a sapsucker made along all the stems of a large Viburnum in the corner of the garden. Here’s a detail shot.
The precision of the holes is impressive. Jon and another gardener observed that, despite the extent of the damage, the branches were never girdled, so the plant itself may well recover from this.
Fearing for the health and survival of this huge specimen plant, gardeners tried to deter the Sapsucker with aluminum foil. It was ineffective. In fact, Jon sent a photo of the bird in action a day after I took these shots.
Jon asked, “This is going on the blog, right?”
Yes, Jon. It’s on the blog!
Flickr photo set
Brooklyn Blogade
Atlantic Yards Camera Club
Strolling with the Flatbush Gardener
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker vs. Yellow-bellied Developer
Via the Coney Island Flickr group, I just learned that the Brooklyn Museum of Art will be holding an open call for submissions during March for a photographic exhibit this summer:
Click! is an exhibition in three consecutive parts. It begins with an open call—artists are asked to electronically submit a work of photography that responds to the exhibition’s theme, “Changing Faces of Brooklyn,” along with an artist statement.
– Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition
The open call runs from March 1 through 31, after which the submissions will be judged by the public:
After the conclusion of the open call, an online forum opens for audience evaluation of all submissions; as in other juried exhibitions, all works will be anonymous. As part of the evaluation, each visitor answers a series of questions about his/her knowledge of art and perceived expertise.
Open Call (March 1–March 31, 2008)
Evaluation (April 1–May 23, 2008)
Exhibition (June 27–August 10, 2008)
It’s an interesting project.
I definitely want to submit some of my photos. Taking “faces” literally, the theme is challenging to me. I don’t have many photos of people, though I have some in mind. One could also interpret “faces” to refer to the developing and decaying infrastructures of Brooklyn, from mega-projects to street corners. Other ideas?
On Sunday, March 9, the Brooklyn Blogade visits Kensington, courtesy of Bad Girl Blog:
Time for “Show & Tell”: Bloggers are encouraged to be brave and give a reading from one of their best blog posts. Or bring along your laptop and a screen and show us your best pics. Or just tell us about your best post. Please plan to limit your presentation to about five minutes so everybody can have a turn.
WHEN: Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 12noon
WHERE:
Old Brick Cafe
507 Church Avenue, between Ocean Parkway and E. 5th Street
Kensington, Brooklyn
RSVP REQUIRED. See Bad Girl Blog for details.
Update 2008.02.12: Since the original post, I’ve added several more links to posts and photos from the other photographers who were present.
Photographers in a flurry
Amid snow flurries and near-zero windchills, a stalwart group of about two dozen Brooklyn photographers, bloggers, citizen journalists, community activists, media and supporters gathered for a “photographers’ rights free expression mobilization.” We stood around in the freezing cold to talk and take pictures.
Atlantic Yards (Flickr photo pool)
Brit in Brooklyn
Dope on the Slope
Fading Ad Blog
featherrock’s Picasa Web Album
No Land Grab
not another f*cking blog! (threecee)
Picture New York
Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times and her partner, Michael Sorgatz, hosted the February 2008 Brooklyn Blogade at Faan, a Chinese restaurant at 209 Smith Street.
Eleanor Traubman and Michael Sorgatz
Eleanor Traubman
Adrian Kinloch, Brit in Brookyln
Morgan Pehme, Brooklyn Optimist
Frank Jump, Fading Ad Blog
Katia Kelly, Pardon Me For Asking
Joyce Hanson, Bad Girl Blog
Rob Lenihan, Luna Park Gazette
Petra, Bed-Stuy Blog
Chandru Murthi, I’m Seeing Green
The Table is Set
Place Setting
Iced Tea
Abacus Wall Divider
Detail, Abacus Wall Divider
Black & White Mosaic Mao
Curious
Brooklyn Optimist
Creative Times
Fading Ad Blog
Luna Park Gazette