Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your day be filled with peaceful relaxation and maybe even a little gluttonous behavior, like this unbelievable baked french toast that Krissy whipped up from the Operation Scarlet cookbook.
May we all be thankful for a warm home and healthy family.
And may we take a moment to slow down and appreciate the adventure of life, you know, the good things, like baby toes and flip flops.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving from the desk of arborboy!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

cute Ea pics of the day

my little niece is just over 21 months old now and cracking us up more and more every day. these are a few quick shots from our pre-Thanksgiving turkey din in Bushwick.



we love that both of our nieces first recognize us as a single entity and not necessarily as two separate people. Janaya for a long time simply referred to us as "Krissyalex". "Where's Krissyalex?" "C'mon Krissyalex, living room!" and now Ea has formed her own version Alexkrissy. She keeps telling Gian and Jen "I miss Alexkrissy". We obviously have to get them over here for play date soon. As those of you know, they grow up so fast!
note: baby bottle and string of pearls. ...oh, what a character.

audio geeky genius

My brother told me about this. "We Are All Connected" by the Symphony of Science, yet another youtube gem. Geeky, trippy, and totally entertaining. As Gian says, "my mind is once again blown!"

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Korean chrysanthemums, 2009



The Korean chrysanthemum is a beautiful old fashioned mum that naturally flowers this time of year. Even though a perfectly winter hardy perennial here in the northeast, the Conservatory Garden in Central Park plants 2000 of these plants fresh each spring in the northern French garden. Grown all summer in organic-rich soil with good drainage and under full sun these plants get to be a few feet tall and wide and explode late October into November.
As you can see the mix of Korean mums is astounding and the wide array of colors is sensational.
These mums are quite different than the ones you find at your local florist, what I call the "pin cushion" mums, Chrysanthemum x grandiflorum and related cultivars. These are much larger and more open daisy-like flowers.
Though members of the Aster family, Asteraceae, these are most definitely chrysanthemums. Their fragrance is another great characteristic of these fall bloomers.


Such fabulous color and character every where you look. Hard to take a bad picture when you are surrounded by such beauty.

Each flower is such a character.



See these mums for yourself every fall up at the Conservatory Garden in Central Park at 105th and 5th Ave (in the French garden) from the end of October until mid-November when they get pulled so that 20,000 tulips can be planted for the following spring. Yup, that's what I said, 20,000!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Coming Soon: Korean chrysanthemums, 2009 edition

On view at the Conservatory Garden, Central Park, 105th and 5th Ave, New York, NY, 8am-5pm daily from now until the morning of November 12th.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Happy Halloween...

from arborboy
and felis femina
they actually lasted through the night, amazing! And on the way to work at dawn the next morning I found this relic at one of the local intersections. Love how it seems to be looking back at you. While we are on the subject, feliz Dia de los Muertos senores y senoras.