New York Daily Photo Analytics

Monday, July 14, 2008

Gratuitous in Nature

When I was younger, I did not understand the concept behind cut flowers. As someone interested in the sciences, their purchase made no sense whatsoever. They appeared to have no practical value and to be a poor investment, dying only days after purchase.
I did not appreciate their beauty enough either - they may have been fun to identify or interesting from the perspective of analysis and study, but buying them was anathema to me.
But I have since learned the value of nature's extravagance and exuberance. In a place like NYC, where utility rules and problems abound, beautification could be seen as a low priority item and a frivolous use of monetary resources. But as I wrote recently in my article, Let's Have a Parade, not everything should be reduced to practical terms - see my posting Practical. Quality of life has been a recently articulated public policy and efforts to make the city more attractive are welcome.  
So a display like that in today's photo, taken at the Hudson River Park, is true eye candy for New Yorkers. And although flowers maybe gratuitous in nature, that's a good thing :)

7 comments:

Simon said...

Very well said.

Victor said...

Lovely photo and nice commentary. What is the structure in the background?

alice said...

It's quite funny: two daily photo blogs about NYC with these flowers today!

indieperfumes said...

birds and butterflies like them too!

Terry at Blue Kitchen said...

One thing I love about New York that you also see in Paris, but not here in Chicago, is that little corner bodegas throughout the city devote a lot of commercial real estate to selling cut flowers. Obviously, they wouldn't do that if people didn't buy them. I think the city is such a built environment that people just love reminders of nature in their homes.

angie said...

i like reading your observations, and your photos are good too! your science interest - any field in particular?

Anonymous said...

This picture can make the best postcard! I love it~!