The Dying Rose

Early November brought me to tears many times. I often feel very sentimental at this time of the year because of the beauty of autumn, because it is so short and the leaves will fall leaving the trees dead and naked, because another year is coming to an end reminding all of us who care to notice how fleeting our lives are.

The holiday season is very timely. The preparation, shopping, cooking and stressing out about family gatherings is all about taking our minds off the sad beauty of the late fall. A visit to NYC a couple weeks ago reminded me that I love autumn more than any other season, but I have avoided writing about that because I didn’t want to disclose a secret drama queen inside of me. But this time I cannot contain myself. A visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden brought these sentiments to the surface, so please bear with me, my tears and my pictures...

Beside the Botanical Garden there were other highlights including Chinese and Islamic Art galleries in the Metropolitan. The Islamic Art Galleries are newly remodeled. I didn’t have a chance to take pictures there, we had a real guided tour and it was amazing. Because of proliferation of recorded tours I almost forget what a difference a lively and passionate guide makes. As for the Chinese art my preconceived notions that this art is very decorative and doesn’t reflect human nature were based purely on my ignorance

SoHo, as usual, was fun. The latest instrument of choice among street musicians is piano. Here is the guy who is touring across US with his little dog and little piano

And here is another one in Washington Square park with the spectacular grand piano recital of popular classical pieces

The logistics of these performances is very difficult to imagine.

On a sunny November Saturday the SoHo street gallery gained a new energy. The artists were in full force inside

and outside



The high fashion and utility wear crocs all within a few small blocks

And finally the Botanical Garden

The beauty of the fall was most pronounced in two major highlights: the bonsai trees and the rose garden. The bonsai trees were just a wonder of horticulture. I had no idea that any tree grown in certain way can became a miniature tree i.e. bonsai

The rose garden is a different story. The rose bushes in November unexpectedly displayed the beauty of dying. Beauty is a quality normally associated with youth and blooming. But take a look at these flowers and you might see a whole different dimension of the world of beauty. The bloom looks naïve next to dying

You suddenly realize that the character and the whole story only come out when the living thing is approaching the end. This one looks like a woman trying to hold on to her youthful charm, but she knows it is over - the colors are fading, the petals becoming feeble

Isn’t it lovely to get old together?

And here we are with wrinkled rose petals and the realization that the end is near

Do you still think that beauty is just for the young?