Scanner art by Craig Cramer, gardening & more
Garden art, PhotoShopped images, etc.
Short article in the Ithaca Journal this week about construction of a sod sofa by Alex Lavallo, a former student in my friend Marcia’s Art of Horticulture class. Alex worked with a dozen middle-school-aged youth as part of the Ithaca Youth Bureau’s College Discovery Program.
Nice job gang!
Speaking of living furniture, I spotted this one over at Paradis Express. Delphine has been on fire over there. You don’t need to understand French to enjoy the fabulous images she posts there.
Acoustic version of a (very subversive) song from the gypsy punks’ forthcoming release (July 10) Super Taranta. String theory, religion and schizophrenia as only Gogol Bordello can do.
Approximate lyrics from mp3 of studio version (they’re different in live YouTube):
From the maelstrom of the knowledge
Into labyrinth of doubt
Frozen underground ocean
Melting milking on my mind
Kill me, everything theory
Without Nazi uniformity
Opening song from Bonaroo Festival last weekend.
A few weeks ago, I was shocked when driving through Collegetown to see that Patrick Dougherty’s sculptures had been ‘de-installed’ apparently while I was away in Florida back in early May. I was hoping to get a few pieces as keepsakes, or maybe enough to build something. Patrick told me that the remenants of his sculptures made good material for funky little fences or wattles because they dried into interesting shapes. Â The only image I have is courtesy of Elly’s co-worker Aaron Birkland, who happened by with his cellphone camera during the mayhem.
Oh well.
I’m late to the party again. Sorry. Seems like it wasn’t long ago that I had to scour the garden to come up with a single scan. Now I just pick a couple themes and fill three scans without covering half of what’s flowering.
Mostly pinks and purples: Peonies, bearded iris, bearberry, violas, dame’s rocket, pinks, willow.
Mostly whites: goatsbeard, nectoscordum, persicaria, daisies, violas, bishops weed, arrowwood, anemone, columbine.
Mostly grays: artemisia, Scotch thistle, verbascum, plume poppy, hosta, lambs ears, begonia.
… that doesn’t involve John Waters.
According to the AP and Channel 9 in Syracuse, N.Y.:
The original pink flamingo lawn ornament, the symbol of kitsch whose obituary was nearly written after its central Massachusetts manufacturer went out of business, is rising phoenix-like from the ashes and taking wing to Central New York.
A manufacturer that bought the copyright and plastic molds for the original version plans to resume production in Westmoreland. …
The ornaments hit the market in the late 1950s when the color pink was in vogue, and America’s exploding population of suburbanites sought to add flair to their lawns.
But the birds also came to symbolize bad taste, and some residential developments even banned flamingo ornaments from lawns. The bird also became a target of pranksters, some of whom swiped the ornaments from front yards, took them on the road, and then sent photos to their owners showing the kidnapped birds in front of sights like the Grand Canyon.
Locally, I know of one garden tour that arrived with the host (who was along with the tour that day) to find the hosts yard filled with a flock of the pink plastic beauties. It’s called ‘flocking’. At least one Florida church youth group sells flocking insurance as a fund-raiser.
I’ve never had an authentic Featherstone flamingo. But when our new local garden center opens, I’m going straight to the manager and demand they carry them. Read more about pink flamingos.
Don Featherstone, who created the classic pink flamingo in ’57. Union Products sold more than 20 million.
