(Video link here.) Photographer Tim Laman and ornithologist Ed Scholes journeyed into the remote jungles of New Guinea in search of crazy dazzling Birds of Paradise, whose wondrous plumage is the result of some wild evolutionary development.…improvisation. Says Scholes:
The Birds of Paradise represent one of those singular events of evolution that stand out, that are extraordinary, that are something that is without precedent that evolved that is so unique, so exceptional, that you are driven to say “Why?” or ”How did that happen, how did that come to be?”
Want a closer look? Check out this slide show of photos by Tim Lamen for National Geographic. We especially love these New Guinea tribesmen, who have taken the Birds of Paradise (and some of their tail feathers) as inspiration: read more…
“Wake” by Michael McGillis is a 95-foot long pathway enclosed on both sides by brightly-painted cut logs; it’s on display at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota. Although the installation is apparently a commentary on humanity’s disruption of nature, for us (barbarians!) it’s an idea for embellishing the logs we hauled home after Hurricane Sandy, or still have our eye on out in the park…or a way to sparkle up part of a stash of fire wood. read more…
After we posted about making wreaths of “just about anything“, Maria Robledo sent us a picture of a wreath that pushes that idea in the most wonderful and surprising way: a real bird’s nest nestled into winter branches whose leaves have dropped. It was a gift from inspired floral designer Emily Thompson, who even left bits of New York City debris that were part of the find.
Maria photographed on story on Thompson’s “wild” wreath-making for Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Wrote Maria: ”Emily’s wreaths are always naturally-shaped. Doesn’t use the pre-wreath gadgets.” We found a slide-show here.
We love that Thompson often uses found and foraged materials. Any of the materials she winds into wreaths could simply be arranged on the holiday table, instead of flowers… read more…
(Video link here.) We’ve watched this slow-motion footage of cheetahs running flat-out several times already. It is just BEAUTIFUL and made us wonder where such a thing could have come from. Who dreamed up that wondrous spotted fur, flight taken with each stride?
We figured it would be a perfect morning “poem” for today: a language all its own.
Just about the time Hurricane Sandy was wreaking havoc on the United States’ east coast, heavy rains and high tides brought some of the worst flooding to Venice, Italy in years — almost 5 feet of water. Because the “acqua alta”, or high water, is a common yearly occurrance in Venice — and because Venice is essentially a rather temperate floating city as it is — sensualist Venetians have improvised numerous many pleasurable strategies for dealing with it. Imagine being able to swim in the Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square)…or just hang out, “taking the waters”… read more…
One unexpected outcome of Hurricane Sandy for us was our new obsession with trees, after we saw some mighty ones toppled over and wondered how we could give them a second life. We hauled a bunch of huge heavy trunk parts home and have found ourselves wandering the park daily to check out the progress of the Parks Department in clearing them away, hoping to snag some slices of the massive 3-foot in diameter oak we wrote about. Most of it has been removed, save the huge trunk and roots. Today we counted the rings and figure the tree to have been around 150 years old.
A reader named Susie Flax summed up what it is that hooked us about the fallen trees in an email, along with a link to the very cool sliced tree trunk coffee table above, after our own hearts: read more…
Recently, Lynne Rosetto Kasper of public radio’s The Splendid Table asked Sally to come up with some ideas for decorating the holiday table. (On December 21st, you can listen to a packed 6 or so minutes of ideas). Sally went right to her local farmer’s market to “forage” for visually beautiful, of-the-season items she could put right on the table, to create an instant still-lifes in lieu of, or in combination with, flowers. For Thanksgiving, she found fragrant quinces (above), apples and tiny seckel pears. The secret of their charm: Sally carefully picks through the crates to find fruits with their leaves still attached which evoke farms and orchards… (After the meal, they can be roasted or braised.)
And playing on an idea we posted some time ago of flower-and-vegetable arrangements, Sally plunked single radishes with their leaves in glass beakers and vases, for a suprising vegetal bouquet: read more…
Last Friday, after 5 days of living without power, ‘the improvised life’s assistant Dese’Rae L. Stage sent us this email:
I don’t think I even realized it until yesterday, when I had to jump through 10 hoops just to get ice and dinner. I was like, “god, I’m exhausted,” and it took me a second to realize why that might be. It’s amazing how adaptable we are, but there sure are limits to that.
Even having NOT been hit hard in Harlem, we feel disoriented, tired, FEEL the wound of this city, and the people who have lost so much whose reality we can’t even imagine.
Author Judy Upjohn alerted us to this recent New York Magazine cover which conveys the scope of the hurricane and also leaves out SO many people that we would discover had been slammed. read more…
Not long after I dragged the tree sculpture home, I went back into the park to see what was happening with the huge, ancient 3-foot-in-diameter oak that Hurricane Sandy brought down. The parks people had been cutting it up — terrible to see. They just sawed it apart into chunks to chip; think of the beautiful wide boards or public seating it could have made…
I had no idea what I’d do with a big rough-hewn oak log, but figured it would be worth grabbing one before they disappeared, while the Parks Department workers were gone and the police weren’t patrolling. I found one a foot wide to haul home that was so heavy, I couldn’t get it on the 12″ round 3-wheeled dolly I had brought (having loaned my trusty folding hand truck to a neighbor). As I was struggling, a West African man came up to help. He lifted the log onto the dolly, then said thoughtfully, “You need something to pull it with”. I rummaged through my knapsack and found a bungee cord. Sela figured out a way to attach it. He told me that over time the tree would dry out and become less heavy; then he went on his way.
Since the extent of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation became apparent, we’ve had a hard time writing posts. We’ve wondered “what is there to write about except this, with so many people in trouble?” feeling a fierce cognitive dissonance between the people we know are out there struggling to survive and reports of our nifty Ikea hacks. Like some blogs we know, we thought of going dark for a few days.
Then we got an email from a reader about our recent post about a downed tree transformed with the generous help of a stranger; it proved a timely message of possibility to someone who was dealing with loss.We get emails along those lines frequently from people going through some big transition, from cancer to job losses, to the life changes that just happen. read more…
The little bird looked pretty weary and I’m wondering if it got blown off course or uprooted from the hurricane. Though there are plenty of hawks in the area, it looked like an owl to me, which is possible, though rarer. One reader wrote:
“… he looks like he’s had it with all this shaking and blowing in the actual trees and is considering a roost of a more durable build. Put an “Avian Roommate Wanted” or “Free Terrace Parking” sign in the window and see what happens….
Whatever he is, even in his weariness he’s very beautiful…”
Want to take a guess (and take your mind off Sandy and the election)? Kestrel or Hawk Owl? read more…
(Video link here.) In this astonishing time-lapse video of Hurricane Sandy hitting New York City, you get to see her force grow before your very eyes. Although she’s gone, the effects of that immense storm are very immediate: lots of people around the New York area still don’t have power — no computers, tv, phone, refrigerators —many are without running water water, lots of businesses are closed, a lot of people lost homes and possessions, and folks they loved. Food and water are being trucked in as though … it …was…a…disaster….area…..
That’s because it is. Those affected by it have no choice but to improvise HARD, figure out solutions with whatever they do have on hand, like our intrepid part-time assistant Dese’Rae, who hiked uptown to a cafe where they had wifi so she could work for us long distance.
Some folks are improvising ways to HELP, like this kind soul that offered use of a connected powerstrip to any stranger who needed it. read more…
About a year ago my father found inspiration in a friend-of-a-friend’s collection of hand-carved walking sticks and had a thought: “I could make those! And I could make ’em even better!”
And so his journey began, walking all over town, in and out of parks, neighbors’ yards, scavenging and harvesting enormous fallen branches, and then figuring out the process day by day. read more…
This morning, I went into Marcus Garvey Park to check out the damage Hurricane Sandy did to the huge old trees. They mean a lot to this part of Harlem, as most of the neighborhood hangs out under during the temperate months.
Several trees were down, whole root systems turned on end, including one oak whose trunk was more than 3-feet thick (how old must it be?). Many trees had branches sheared right off, hanging at weird angles like broken… limbs.
A few people stood around the the fallen oak talking about how sad it was, tempering their sadness with the memory of greater damage that had been wrought by Sandy: there had been truly terrible losses and suffering.
I wondered what good could come from it all and from these fallen trees. Then I thought of hauling one home. read more…
Today, hurricane Sandy continues, in a different way, as we assess damage around the city, check on friends, re-orient ourselves to a changed New York. Social media has been essential, tweets and texts keeping us connected with power out and folks displaced. Throughout it all, heartening emails from readers made us feel the very far-reaching community around us. Like this one — a post unto itself— from Sue Anderson in Minnesota:
We can’t feel Sandy, but we can see her. From the deck of our home in southeast Minnesota shortly before dawn this morning we could see low on the eastern horizon the sharp line of clouds that is the westernmost edge of the weather system called Sandy, with Venus hanging high above. I snapped this photo and then turned around and snapped another of the nearly full moon that seems to continue to beacon the storm further and further inland. Meanwhile, we are caught in the middle with clear blue skies and light winds predicted for the rest of the day. read more…
I had brought (having loaned my trusty 
to a neighbor). As I was struggling, a West African man came up to help. He lifted the log onto the dolly, then said thoughtfully, “You need something to pull it with”. I rummaged through my knapsack and found a bungee cord. Sela figured out a way to attach it. He told me that over time the tree would dry out and become less heavy; then he went on his way.
We get emails along those lines frequently from people going through some big transition, from cancer to job losses, to the life changes that just happen. 
