Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Pollarding, Part 2


Back in February I posted a photo of this street near our flat, to show you the severe form of tree pruning known as "pollarding." I thought you might be interested in seeing the same trees in summer. As you can see, they fill out pretty well!

In other news:

-- The caterpillars living on our horseradish plant have vanished. We recently had a chilly night, with temperatures in the low 50s, and when I looked the next morning the caterpillars were motionless. The next time I looked, they were completely gone. I don't even have caterpillar corpses. My theory is the cold stunned or killed them, and then something ate them. But who knows.

-- I've had a big week, photo-wise. The blogs Londonist and Little London Observationist both published some of my photos from Flickr, which was a pleasant surprise. (Follow the links if you want see them -- they're photos I haven't used here.) And on Thursday, while visiting the Saatchi Gallery with my friends Sally and Jamie, I was happy to find in the gift shop a book called Focus: Found Faces, which contains one of my photos. (Unfortunately I don't get royalties or anything -- in fact, I didn't even get paid, beyond getting a free copy of the book. But I thought it was worth it to let them use the picture, just for publishing credit.)

-- We had an armed robbery in our neighborhood, which freaks me out a little bit. Denbigh Road, where it occurred, is a short street that runs right next to our apartment building. I usually read about street robberies happening late at night or in the wee hours of the morning -- but this was 7 p.m., broad daylight! Of course, the victim was wearing a £28,000 Rolex. I wouldn't be such a tempting target, with my 15-year-old, $49 Fossil.

9 comments:

utahDOG! said...

Bad reporting. Send a resume.

0.18 carats x 12 of them? Or maybe 1.8 carat total weight is what they mean? Even 18c in total weight would be over a carat per hour marking, and that would never fit the face of a gents Daytona, much less a ladies.

A single 18 carat diamond would be worth millions and it would be about the same diameter as your thumbnail. If I saw some shmoe strolling around the streets with that I may be tempted to make off with it as well!

Lynne said...

Steve, how cool is that! Congrats! I loved the photo of the man and the pigeons. What a week for you!

I have a photo in a book too--a mushroom identification book. I also did not get paid but got a free copy of the book. :) I figured why not? Loved your little house with the funny face.

Imagine the tunnel those pollarded trees would have made without the trimming. Lovely street by the way.

The Bug said...

Thanks for the updated picture - they don't look so odd in full leaf!

Now I'm off to check out your pictures...

Linda Sue said...

The trees look much less tortured now. Some folks actually like the nubbin look- think it is artsy...Your photo of the found face Is so cute- I want to pinch it's cheeks! Great shot of the guy with pigeons and the storefronts especially the woman dressed in black against the red. Perfect staging though I know it is not staged- which makes it even more perfect. Really great photos.
AND I am serious about the "glass" shots- they would be amazing blown up and hung on a wall of Jamie's new digs in the hood.
Burglar in broad daylight! I am pretty sure he said "sorry" before he ran.

Reya Mellicker said...

Congrats on your photos being published! As it should be.

Steve Reed said...

JM: That's a very good point about the carats. There must be a missing decimal. (Obviously such measurements are a mystery to a poorly paid reporter, and who knows what the police told her!)

Little London Observationist said...

Cheers for the link! You actually live on quite a pretty street, though shame about the burglars :(

Kevin Wood said...

The caterpillars probably burrowed into the dirt to pupate. Look for moths in the near future.

Ms.M said...

Missing caterpillars? Oh no, what a mystery.

M