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 a reminder that the next Brooklyn Blogade, our mostly monthly meetup of Brooklyn bloggers and community members, will be this Sunday, March 9, in Kensington. Joyce Hanson of Bad Girl Blog is hosting this month at Old Brick Cafe, 507 Church Avenue, between Ocean Parkway and E. 5th Street:
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.
RSVP by THIS THURSDAY. See Joyce’s Blogade post for details.
Fountain and Palm House, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
On Saturday, March 8, from 10am to 4pm, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden hosts its annual Making Brooklyn Bloom, a FREE day-long series of speakers, workshops, films and resources. Presented by GreenBridge, BBG’s community horticulture program, this year’s theme is “Edible NYC: Eat it! Grow it! Eat it!”
The conference is free; admission to BBG is free with a conference flyer [PDF], which you can download and print from the Making Brooklyn Bloom page.
Register early at the Palm House for workshops. Workshops are held at 11am and 3pm and will include:
Other activities include:
Yesterday afternoon I caught the beginning of “The Incredible Mr. Limpet,” a 1964 film set during World War II. The film mixed live action and old-school cell animation. It starred Don Knotts as the piscophile Henry Limpet, who gets his wish and is magically transformed into a fish.
After he falls off a pier at Coney Island (loving the fake, Hollywood 1964 version of a 1940s era subway ride!), his body is never recovered (because he turned into a fish) and he’s presumed dead. His obituary reveals that he resided at “1313 Pleasant Avenue, Flatbush,” a non-existent street in Brooklyn.
But when he first meets his friend Crusty, the hermit crab:
Crusty: Say, what are you, anyway? You related to the porpoise family?
Henry: No, I’m a Limpet. Henry Limpet from Brooklyn. You know, Flatbush.
Oh proud Flatbushian, Henry Limpet, laying claim to all of Brooklyn, we salute you!
Crusty goes on to call him “Flatbush” for the rest of the film.
This was one of my favorite childhood films. Of course, I identified with Don Knotts’ character, a bookish, withdrawn person who identified more with the animal world than his human clan. In particular, I lived in Florida at the time and loved fish and all things aquatic. Later, during my adolescence, I maintained several aquariums; I wept when my pet Oscar jumped out of the tank for the last time. When I was 12 years old, my answer to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was “either a marine biologist or a neuro-surgeon.” Needless to say, I’m neither, today, but the interests remain.
Eranthis hyemalis in the front garden
The Winter Aconite (above) has had color for at least two weeks now, but hasn’t opened up in the cold and snow. Today was a warm sunny day, so they could finally relax.
The Crocus tommasinianus agreed.
