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Mike and Doug are keeping busy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you have time to slip up to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden for a cocktail, you’ll get a nice surprise.
I love the Starn brothers other installations as well, particularly the Arts for Transit work at the South Ferry Station, 1 line, New York City Transit.
Flowerpower for your handlebars. Anti-tech indeed.
There is no Canadian team in the FIFA World Cup. We just don’t seem to be able to get it together. Really, no better excuse.
But there is a Canadian team supporting the FIFA World Cup that you might not know about. About 100 farmers, all from Manitoba grew the beautiful green grass for the FIFA World Cup stadiums. While the farmers might not be in as great shape as the pros, they are the best in the world at growing rye grass.
Pickseed is the Ontario-based company that contracts the farmers in Manitoba, and others in Canada and the US to grow the grass. And Pickseed scientists have been working with South Africa soccer officials to select the best grass mix to stand up to the rigours of pro soccer. The results? World Cup grass made up of two types of rye grass grown mainly in Manitoba and two types of Kentucky blue grass grown mainly in the US.
Now the rye grass grows quickly, is strong and holds up well in cold weather – what else could you expect from a Canadian grass. The bluegrass “knits” the turf together and repairs itself quickly. Put them together, 85 per cent rye to 15 per cent blue and you get perfect grass for soccer. The grass seed, all 165,000 pounds of it, was shipped to South Africa last fall.
So, as the tourny heats up and we all watch some of the underdogs survive and the leading team stumble, I’m confident that the Manitoba grass will make it to the finals.
There is a lot of media coverage and questioning going on right now in Canada with regards to the incredible amount of money that is being spent on security at the G8 and G20 summits in Toronto.
So the police have been busy protecting and occasionally arresting. Interestingly, the recent arrest on Thursday of Kristen Peterson in Toronto demonstrated that what can be most memorable about a suspect might just be their garden. The Globe reported that “she’s the one neighbors see gardening outside” and “neighbors on the treed street say they know nothing of the couple save for their breathtaking front garden.
But in addition to collecting plants, it’s alleged that this gardener might also have been “collecting the ingredients to make powerful explosives commonly associated with terrorist bombings”. She also must have a vegetable garden because additional charges include “possessing potato guns with the aim of endangering the public”.
Peterson is out on a bail this afternoon. The weather has been warm in Toronto, so I bet she went straight home to water.
OK maybe not in the balcony garden.But inspirational none the less.
OK. I have to admit I don’t quite get why World Expos still exist, with everything else that’s going on in the world. But that being said, I’m the first to admit I’d love to visit the UK’s Pavilion in Shanghai – it’s a beautiful example of form and function.
It was designed by Thomas Heatherwick in partnership with Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank and it’s all about the glow – from the outside in during the day and the inside out at night time. It looks like a seed head. And it’s hoping to illustrate some of the most pressing environmental challenges we face – food security, sustainable energy, loss of biodiversity and climate change.
So kudos to Kew and the UK for making this happen. It’s relevant.
Image: dezeen.com and despoke.com
Can you find them? For two weeks, ending on April 25, and only in Melbourne, the pizza is free but you have to order ahead. Find the great wall of basil and pick up.
Just got back from a quick visit to Mary’s beautiful city. Fresh, greening up nicely, a little rain and flowers.
Montreal has a nice botanical garden, I visited it last year when the butterfly exhibition was on. The city also has great neighbourhoods. Starting right downtown you don’t have to walk too far to discover streets of beautiful old buildings and tiny gardens coming into leaf and flower. Nothing to compare to in cowtown. Nice few days away indeed.
