Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Signs of Spring (At Last)


My block in Brooklyn is a lovely block of hundred-year-old brownstone townhouses. It's still treelined (probably mostly a post-elm second wave), and many people plant stoop gardens. But by the end of the winter the block looks pale and bleached of color. It's as though the salt we used to melt the ice has coated everything: the sidewalks, the street, the seemingly lifeless trees, the courtyard walls.

Last year the City planted a small cherry tree in the space out front left empty after the demise of a previous leafy resident. It took a few years of calls to 311 and some begging with the visiting tree judge. But one morning in late winter a bulldozer showed up, the tree was planted with a tag on care instructions, and lo and behold it survived the year. This year, thanks to a 70-degree Monday, it's the first on the block to burst out blooming, its delicate white blooms hopefully now teasing the other trees on the block to rouse from their sleep.

Out back the neighbor's northern magnolia lost a few more branches under heavy snow this year, but it's now blooming as well, a little bit late I think; That's it below. It puts on a big but brief show every Spring before covering the ground out back with fallen petals. The feral cats living beneath it already seem more relaxed and cheerful; they too can tell they've survived another winter.

It was a snowy winter, and has been a bit of a chilly Spring thus far, but the occasional super warm day suggests the color is about to bust out all over the block. Hello world!

Click on the photos to see them larger.

10 comments:

  1. Absolutely lovely, thanks so much. A tree does grow in Brooklyn! A couple of very pretty ones.

    Annie

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  2. You're welcome Annie. I'm hoping all these blossoms don't surrender to the driving rain we've got tonight.

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  3. Well at least you've got them captured forever on "film". lol.. what is the correct thing to say these digital days?

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  4. Annie the first time I downloaded pictures from my digital camera I had this strong urge to turn the lights off so they wouldn't get exposed.

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  5. Oh that too funny. Hey, have a great evening and stay dry.

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  6. Beautiful photos - the first, especially.

    I'm trying to picture what a tree judge looks like. I'm imagining a man with a long beard, wearing a robe of leaves and moss - a squirrel perched on one shoulder, a bird on the other.

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  7. Thanks MrBill,

    I may have gotten his title a little wrong but I love your description. I'm going to start a petition for this to be the dresscode.

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  8. things like this are nice to remind us that no matter how much anger, hate, or cynicism there is in the world, there is still spring weather, lemonade, nice music, and happiness to be enjoyed.

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  9. I "third" that. I was just thinking how much everyone seemed to enjoy the spring blooms.

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