It's Flower Week

here at Bart Boehlert's Beautiful Things. Today I went up to the Flower Show at Macy's in Herald Square. I had not been before. The main floor was packed with colorful blossoms.
(click on the photos to see them better)


Fixtures over the counters held plants in a range of shapes and sizes.


Bright colors enlivened the sales floor.


At the front doors flamingos were decorated with pink flowers. This to me is a "Flower Don't." I personally do not like flowers, or anything for that matter, twisted and transformed into unnatural shapes. I'm not a big fan of topiaries, for example, or plastic surgery. I say, take what is natural and make that as beautiful as possible; don't try to shape it into something different all together.


The arrangements that I liked best draped and flowed over the fixtures, as if in natural profusion.

I wished the show was a little more wild and imaginative. Next I jumped on the subway to do an errand at Lincoln Center. Crammed unexpectedly into the point at the intersection of Broadway and Columbus was a little farmer's market bursting with spring flowers.


After that I walked across Central Park from the west side to the east side at 72nd Street. I love Central Park. It and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are I think my favorite two things in New York; if I ever win the Lotto they are both getting money. I would love to live near Central Park but TD does not want to live uptown, and that's another story. The park is to me wonderfully restorative; when you get inside you really are removed from the city. It's a stroke of genius at the center of New York.

Walk with me across the park. Entering at Central Park West is Strawberry Fields, commemorating John Lennon who was killed across the street outside his home at The Dakota. Although it snowed yesterday, today was gentle and bright. On the trees spring green buds warmed in the sun.


In the park a father and son played catch.


At the center the Bethesda Fountain overlooks the boating pond. A lot of people were out enjoying the sun.


Daffodils sprouted on a hill. A friend once said daffodils in the park are like "little poems."


Near Fifth Avenue flowering trees bloomed.

I love how the blossoms go from white to pink with the blue sky beyond.
It was a beautiful afternoon in Central Park; wasn't I lucky to be there.