life cycle

i just watched a documentary about dutch garden designer piet oudolf, who designed the gardens for the high line and battery gardens in nyc. he talked about designing landscapes that are what you would want nature to be if you could idealize it. he also talked about arranging the dense plantings in his designs so that they were pleasing to look at throughout their life cycle, not just when the flowers were in bloom. this iris might fit into one of his designs — as beautiful in early old age as when she was in her prime.

blue flag iris

pupils and irises

as you can see, i am having tremendous fun with these food slices. and there are many more subjects begging to be considered, with, i hope, more surprises like today’s plums that ended up looking like white-pupiled human eyes. but for the next few days we will be hosting some short-notice company. so i’ll be taking a short break from the fruits and veggies. do not fear, however. in one form or another, your daily supply of STILL is assured.

plum

plan c

today i experimented with cross sections of a corn cob, which looked weird and too much like an x-ray of human teeth. then i tried thin slices of a plum, which the pit made tricky to impossible. i was about to give up when i impulsively sliced a tomatillo on the mandoline, and this botanical lacework appeared as if by magic in my viewfinder. i took one look, and threw my hands in the air. thank god for plan c.

tomatillo

insides

i looked at this and all i could think was, “i wish my insides were this pretty.”

eggplant/aubergine

on the shoulders of giants

the question today was, do you arrange the pear slices in alternating rows of right-side-up fitting into upside down, or do you arrange them all right side up. having chosen the latter, all i see now are pear-shaped bottoms, sitting on narrow shoulders, exposing themselves quite daintily and without shame.

pear slices