Brookside Lights

Last week, we managed to get over to see the holiday lights at Brookside Gardens. They are worth at least one evening walkabout between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. It’s a family tradition for many people in our area of Maryland. There are things that stay the say…some things that are new...every time we go. This year there was another frog sculpture (with a butter fly and little frog) in the visitor’s center; I hadn’t noticed it before.

The caterpillar tunnel was the same near the entrance to the gardens just outside the visitor center.

The spider web and rainbow with lightning and clouds with raindrops were also repeats from previous years.

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I always like the dragon (mom and baby). In previous years they spewed smoke.

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Another new display: saguaro cactus light shapes.

The butterfly and lights on a water feature (lights instead of water for the winter) were oldies but goodies.

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I also like the spotlight on the sphere sculpture that I like so well during the day. The irregularities in the rock are more visible with the shadows. This might be my favorite picture from the whole evening!

I created a slideshow with my other favorites. I like the nature theme for the lights -  flowers and moon and trees shapes, insects, tall stalks, a snake and ants and a fox, mushrooms. Sometimes I am not sure what it’s supposed to be…but it’s always fun to guess.

It’s also fun to listen to parents interacting with their young children. I noticed a toddler almost in front of us walking across the sidewalk; his father said “Don’t sit in the mulch” and the child promptly took a few more steps, turned around, and sat down in the mulch. He was helped up…dusted off in the back (it was cold so he was well bundled up). Everyone laughed…a good time!

Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens

I am volunteering at Brookside Gardens this holiday season so was invited to the pre-opening walk through for the Garden of Lights display just before Thanksgiving. It was a great evening to walk around Brookside – crisp but not overly cold and dark. My two favorite displays are back again this year: the caterpillar arch near the visitor center and

Nessie (and baby) in one of the gardens near the conservatory (Nessie’s smoke was working great!).

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There were the lights in the form of insects: dragonfly, butterfly and ants --- critters that can be found in the garden in the warmer parts of the year.

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There were lights of critters that would not be found the garden (like a giraffe and polar bear); I am featuring ones that do live in Maryland – a fox and snail.

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Of course, there were plant forms made with lights. It’s all very clever. The children in the gardens that night were excited and thrilled to be walking through it all…their joy was contagious. It was a great beginning for the winter holidays.

Ten Little Celebrations – November 2017

More than half the ‘little celebrations’ I’ve picked to showcase in this post are from the first two weeks of the month – spent in Texas.

During the first week there was a big birthday celebration for my Mother (with three kinds of cake!) and visiting Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge for the first time.

In the second week, the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival was one long celebration that include seeing two kinds of Kingfishers on one field trip!

I still am working on a post about the San Antonio Botanical Garden – it was the first time I’d been there and a place to celebrate.

I got to eat excellent Texas barbecue in three different restaurants during the trip too.

After every long trip – I celebrate getting home again; that was true for the November travel too.

We had company for Thanksgiving this year (daughter and son-in-law) so it was a shared celebration –something to savor.

And then there was the pre-staging of December activities that actually started in November: volunteering at the model train exhibit and

Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens. I celebrate the season with every child that looks with awe at the trains or giggles with delight at Nessie blowing steam.