the benefits of looking up.

i'm sure you have gathered without additional extravagant clarification that i am quite a snob when it comes to products and services. from the amount i like to rant here it may actually seem that 'amateurish' is something i loathe deeply, but there is, nevertheless, another side to my appreciation of things.

i also would like to think that i am not half as negative as i sometimes seem here, but that may be self-delusion.

i have a minute, barely detectable soft spot for idealism and cuteness when they come in unexpected forms. such as small publishing house books that sell alongside cynical novels about contemporary cubicle life at the office.

as i was ordering joshua ferris's novel then we came to the end, amazon recommended two books from partners and spade, a lower manhattan duo who participate in all sorts of creative efforts. at $8.50 apiece i thought they seemed interesting enough and added them to the basket.

the first one, the benefits of looking up is a collection of photos consisting of balloons stuck or flying freely in the sky. some are depressingly deflated, some vigorously aiming towards the stars. the book ends with a sentence explaining "in a city where everyone looks down, we decided to look up." which might seem strange to a tourist visiting nyc, but for residents makes perfect sense...

the second one consists of photos of plants growing from urban constructs. its title i think i can, i think i can echoes naive optimism, something my cynical being usually sneers at, but the photos are amateurishly adorable. really. the explanation at the end claims "we always root for the little guy."

sigh. how cute.

the proper sign of spring are seeds developing into plants that i will grow at the garden cottage during summer. here are our basil, pepper and chilli plants, just getting ready.

we think we can, we think we can, too.