January 10, 2024

My Parents’ House

January 10, 2024/ Gwen Morrison

Once the decision was made in mid-December with my parents to move to an assisted living group home, I found myself examining the house that that had called home for more than 30 years – the last home they would own…the only one that didn’t still have a mortgage when they moved. The contents documented the whole of their lives.

The creation of the garden room not long after they moved into the house was a project that added more than space to the house.

The space was lined with house plants (some that had grown quite large) and had great light. The jigsaw puzzle table was there…a rocker and glide…and a transport chair that was easily maneuvered into a sunny spot to observe birds outside at the feeder or read the paper. The glide, puzzle table, and transport chair were moved to the assisted living group home.

The large plant in the foreground of the picture with the transport chair is one that grew up into the skylight of the garden room over the decades. My sister had brought it home from her work when an office closed. It bloomed in December (something it had done rarely over the years)…to the joy of my parents and the whole family. My sister has now managed to move it (in a U-Haul truck) to her house about an hour away; we were all relieved that it survived the trek intact.

A clay pot that another sister made was in the corner of my parents bedroom holding a collection of peacock feathers and dried seed pod/flowers….a suncatcher. My mother selected it as something to move with her – perhaps because of the memories of each item and the vase itself. Peacock feathers are special in my family because my maternal grandparents kept peacocks in their later years.

Back in the garden room a small poinsettia purchased recently sat on the windowsill. The second image is my favorite artsy image of December 2023! The pot was small enough for the windowsill at the assisted living group home so it moved with my parents.

We are now in the phase of sifted though everything in the house….taking a little more to my parents, distributing items to family members and my parents’ friends, donating some items….recycling and trash are the last resort. There are ups and downs to the work. It is giving us time to internalize the pivot point in my parents’ lives (and our own).

December 27, 2019

Brookside Gardens – December 2019

December 27, 2019/ Gwen Morrison

I walked around Brookside Gardens on Christmas Eve. It was sunny, but still only in the 40s with a little breeze; I was wearing my coat and gloves…put my hood up for part of the time. I noticed a tree has been cut down recently near the junction of the boardwalk to the Nature Center with the path from the Conservatory parking lot toward the Japanese Tea House (Brookside map here). The shelf fungus growing on the stump still held the saw dust!

I noticed some birds too. The only two I managed to photograph were a White-throated Sparrow that was searching a mat covering electrical cords for the seasonal lights (the bird found at least one snack) and

A Northern Cardinal near the fragrance garden. I saw a lot of Cardinals…or maybe it was the same one following me around! Their color certainly makes them stand out.

The gardens are full of dried flowers and seeds. The sumac is the most colorful. I find the shapes of the dried ferns very appealing. They have a feathery look to them. Some of the grasses do too.

2019 12 t IMG_6836 (13).jpg — The Conservatories were my last stop – for poinsettias and the model train.

There were quite a few families enjoying the garden while I was there. The excitement and joy of the children in the model train exhibit is like experiencing a seasonal group hug!

December 28, 2017

Brookside Gardens Model Trains (continued)

December 28, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

The Brookside Gardens G-scale model trains exhibit’s last day is January 1. I’ve been volunteering as a conservatory docent since just after Thanksgiving – posting about my earlier shifts back on December 12. The shifts since then have been just as enjoyable at the first 4. Each one is a little different and I try to take a few pictures to document the differences.

The 5th shift was on a very cold afternoon with light sleet falling. Visitors to the exhibit were light so I had plenty of time to take some plant pictures in the other half of the conservatory and

The Ferris wheel and merry-go-round in the trolley track layout.

On the center track, Thomas and James were pulling trains. Emily was on a side track. The hard part of the shift was getting home; the roads had been treated and were not slippery…it was rush hour traffic. It took me more than double the normal time to get home. Aargh!

The 6th sift had my favorite engine of the season: one that smoked! The very coordinated volunteer from the train club that owned the train could use an eye dropper to add more oil to the smokestack (to make the smoke) while the train was moving!

Before the 7th shift, it took a series of ‘new leaves/fronds’ picture in the conservatory…and pink flowers to add some color.

Inside the exhibit – there was a Santa pumper added and Thomas was pulling a train. Both are favorites of the children,

The 8th shift was cold but I quickly took a picture of a dried hydrangea flower. I like the ‘lace’ of the weathering petals.

Indoors there were poinsettias and orchids.

A Christmas train was the highlight of the exhibit for that shift.

I also noticed the hopscotch that is part of the Brookside Gardens trolley for the first time.

The 9th shift included a festive train with lots of figures – including the Beetles –

And a more serious looking freight train.

I have one more shift to go – on the very last day of the exhibit!

December 12, 2017

Brookside Gardens Model Trains

December 12, 2017/ Gwen Morrison

I am volunteering at the Brookside Gardens G-Scale Model Trains exhibit in the conservatory this season. The exhibit is active during the day when the conservatory is open and in the evening during the Garden of Lights display. I like the trains better during the day when there is a more light – the better to see them – and have signed up for my shifts accordingly. There have been 4 shifts so far: 3 in the morning and one in the afternoon. I try to take a few pictures every time I am at Brookside, just as I did during the Wings of Fancy butterfly exhibit last some. There is always something new to notice. During the first shift, I was familiarizing myself with the layout of the display. The central display always has two trains in motion; usually one of them is Thomas….or another engine from the series. I also learned that this size of model trains is often used in gardens. Evidently the tracks are durable enough to be outdoors in a garden! I also began the hunt for all the figures on the scavenger hunt lists; Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, and Tiger were one of my first ‘finds.’ There is a model of the Brookside Gardens Conservatory too.

The second shift I worked was a few days later and I discovered that the volunteers that put the exhibit together and are there all during the open hours sometimes bring their own trains. On this day there was a very long train with the exact number of cars to fill the loop; the caboose cleared just as the engine got back around to where the track crossed.

To the side of the conservatory there is another kind of model train display – one that models historical places in Montgomery County! The Ferris Wheel moves just as the trolley does.

Before I started my third shift I took some pictures outside: the bald cypress still have some of their needles – rust colored against the blue sky with gathering clouds – and the small gingko near the door to the gift shop end of the conservatory still had yellow leaves at its base.

Inside, Thomas was making rounds. So many of the children recognize Thomas and want to take in everything about the exhibit. The height of the central exhibit was lowered a few years ago so even children as young as 2 years old can see almost everything standing on their own. Sometimes I think they have a better perspective than the adults since the trains are almost exactly at their eye level.

Last weekend was my fourth shift and my first in the afternoon…and there was still snow on the ground. I’d never been to Brookside in the snow, so I snapped a few pictures before I went into the conservatory. I made quick work of it because it was so cold.

nside – I finally managed to get some pictures of my favorite poinsettias this year – in the conservatory with the trains – along one of the walls where the trains are not.

Emily was moving about the track rather than Thomas. Many of the children know all the characters in the series so I always let them tell me.

I have signed up for 5 more shifts and may do more if there are not enough volunteers during the crescendo week between Christmas and New Years when schools are out.