Today’s Greatest Section of All Time took a while to get around to, distracted as we’ve been all day by the bright sunshine, the chirping birds, the promise—no, arrival!—of spring. We kept opening it up on our dismal little computer, but just couldn’t bring ourselves to bring ourselves down via quick spin through the lead story on how people made ends meet during the Great Depression (we’re really hoping this piece falls in the “wacky news,” not the “not afraid to be servicey” editorial slot). But, eventually we did. As well as the inaugural column about a Starter Garden—artichokes, difficult!—and a piece by loudpaper-er Mimi Zeiger on the transformation of an East Village synagogue into a modern triplex. Climbing slightly back towards the birdsong when we were brutally thrust back into our worst fears of living in these economic times with a report from Cadillac Man, aka Dude Who Lived Under the Viaduct, and then even further into the awareness that we still haven’t changed our lightbulb because we can’t reach it because we’re alone and also girls just don’t do home improvements, do they? (They do??) Edifaves Stephen Milioti and Julie Scelfo talk about mattresses (reminding us again that we still don’t have one) and lawns (nope, neither).

And then, and this remains as per usual un-scored, but just for fun a bonus, as Official Edificial Top-Five-to-Seven Sophie Donelson kicks in with a Currents about a Brooklyn furniture store that sells furniture made in Brooklyn but oh, snap, there’s a typo in the dek. Which is right over another hed, “An Algebraic Approach to Style,” which is pimping a book, Flip! For Decorating, which both reminds us of the greatest home decorating book of all time, Mary Gilliatt’s The Decorating Book, and also which Ms. Donelson might have had a little something to do with. The book, not the algebra. That too. It’s sunny outside. Our brain hurts from enthusiasm. Why are we here?

To wrap it all up and bring it all home, just so we can leave ours:

Eva: 3.5, 5.5, 4.8, 5.7, 3.2, 4.3, 4.7
Ian: 5.2, 5.0, 2.9, 5.3, 4.1, 4.5, 4.6

We refuse to acknowledge anything in this section that speaks of reality. And so we’re siding with Cadillac Man, and off to the park.

Making Ends Meet in the Great Depression [New York Times]
A Novice in Search of Bounty [New York Times]
Once Sacred, Now Their Showcase [New York Times]
I Loved It Under the Viaduct; Still Do [New York Times]
Hammering It Home [New York Times]
Fast and Economical Mattress Fixes [New York Times]
A Lawn as Healthy as It Looks [New York Times]