Vanda coerulea (in bloom)

[Bud]

This is in a large 18 inch vase with no holes. I have to fill the vase with water from the shower and let it stand for 5 min...every other day...once a week it gets dunked in seaweed fertilizer...
my other vandas: the ones in glass vases with holes get watered everyday ...
the vandas with media mix gets watered every other day(I put young vandas in a mix of large coco chips, charcoal, hydroton and lava rock=the young uns have to have constant moisture while growing to maturity) when the vanda is matured and have long enough roots; then it gets to be hanging on the fire escape in the summer...

[denvervet]

Nice, what streets do you live on in manhattan? I lived on 23rd and 7th and 42nd bet. 10th and 11th

[Bud]

WOW...you lived in flea market Chelsea area then moved to the sex peephole dens & toy shops lolz

I live in the east village by St. Mark's place in an old turn of the century sweat shop building that has large bay windows ...

[stefpix]

I think I noticed a window on St Mark's with CFLs and some mounted orchid... was it yours? i believe btwn 3rd and 2nd... The window was north facing - so not much light. 2nd fl or something like that...

[Bud]

That is not me Stefano...I am on the 7th floor opposite side of the street of that building(top floors on a walk-up building is cheaper than the lower floors)...I also noticed the mounted orchids and some of it is in bloom, attesting that orchids can survive in a Manhattan apartment and at the East Village at that !

[denvervet]

Well when I lived on 42nd it was a beautiful area, the sex trade was gone, I had an incredible 1800 sq. ft. condo loft in a building called the Armory, loved it there. Tony Randall, Dick Hyman, Maureen McGovern and many more were my neighbors. I had two floors. It used to be a NYS Armory and was converted. I was there 10 years and loved being in the middle of the city near transportation. I then moved to 51st and 1st in the same building Henry Kissinger lived in and I think Van Johnson lived there too, it was a nice place, cost too much, but, I liked w. 42nd much better.

[stefpix]

Denvert how did you end up in Colorado?

My first apt in NYC was in E7th st and used to be Allen Ginsberg's in the 1950s. I believe the famous Jack Kerouac profile photo with cig was taken on the fire escape there.

I moved too many times. Always had little money and I had no Green Card. Lived near Vinegar Hill / DUMBO, then Hell's Kitchen, then the lower Lower East Side/Chinatown, and finally East Williamsburg. Often a struggle with sublets, roommates that did not paid the rent, temporary stays and sudden moves. But in 2006 I got a green card and some more stability. A lot used to happen in Manhattan art and social life but now all changed. So many people I knew left and a lot has shifted to Brooklyn. My place is large by NY standards but the rent is expensive after all. In NY you do not get a lot of space and quality unless you are wealthy or lucky and persistent. possibly both. Landlords stay and tenants are transient. I like the tropics but after all I survive here doing what I like.

[Bud]

WOW denvervet...you must have paid an arm and a leg for those apartments/condos...I was lucky...I inherited my apartment from a roomate who graduated and moved to California...I have rent control and rent stabilized...I have been here for 8 yrs...and I am not moving...
Stefano...you live a bohemian life and very dangerous (glad you have a greencard now) my wallet and passport was stolen in Morocco when I was 19...so I know how it feels to be without legal documents in a forreign country.

[stefpix]

Freelance life. Actually I came on a visa and I applied for a green card before my visa extension expired. I got it thru my photography etc. But after I got the notification of approval in nov 2001 the INS or NVC lost my paperwork and it took me 6 years to get it straighten up. I am happy I got it. I inherited my apt also through a roommate, it is rent stabilized and I can put pots of plants on the roof, but now I live alone and the rent goes up 4 - 5 % every year and it adds up. I am kind of tired of sharing an apt with someone that is not a friend of girlfriend. I run around a lot for work so i like peace. But wish I had picked some part of Brooklyn that wasn't hip 5 years ago and closer to the Park and Botanic Garden. Anyway St. Mark's place has changed a lot this century. Been in this apt 4 years. Bright windows.