Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Who says you can't have fun in this weather? 

Instead of drowning in 8 cups of coffee and hibernating under a quilt all day, I answered the call of an much needed outing with a much missed friend from my beloved Philly.

The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens were ready for us bright and early this past Saturday morning,

and Numie Abbot and I headed out to enjoy the beauty that was literally frozen in time.

Botanical Bliss

Saturday morning dawned crisp, bright, and quiet. Spending the first half of the day on my own, I decided to go on a little adventure. A cup of coffee, a loaded camera bag, and a short 10-minute train ride from my apartment later, and I was standing at the gates of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. For other New Yorkers or Brooklynites who were unaware (as I was myself): the Gardens are open to the public for free on Saturday mornings until noon. So, you should probably go too. You might even see me there, because I plan to return quite frequently. Even after spending 3 hours wandering its winding path until my feet begged me to stop, I don't think I even explored half as much as I would like to. 

The rose gardens were beautiful. Under that white gazebo, far back on the right, someone was either getting married, or taking wedding photos. Either way, I was completely captivated by this place, and it is now the front runner for my wedding or engagement photo location.

Buzzzzzzzzz buzz buzz buzzzzzzzzz mister bee.

This guy serenaded me as I walked through the gigantic sunflowers in the produce garden. It was just me and the birds, and the bees, and the butterflies. I almost felt home again, temporarily removed from the reminders of city life. This little bit of alone time, this little release from my hectic everyday, was magical and much needed. And I can't wait to return.

Bonjour Bonsai

My Saturday morning was spent at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden... and I believe I have found my new "happy place." Acres upon acres of sprawling yet compartmentalized natural habitats, in breathtaking arrangement. Highlighting my day was a room in the Conservancy building - a winding, small exhibit with only a dozen or so plants in it... but it still grasped my attention instantly. The Bonsai Museum is so striking to me;  I have such a respect for the Japanese art of focusing such meticulous and thoughtful arrangement into both placing a plant in a pot or garden, and actually directing it how to grow. The ability to focus so intently to finding a beautiful balance between the nature of a living thing, and a precise man-made art, is incredible. I have a new found love of bonsai, and I cannot wait to get my hands on a few books to further my understanding and appreciation of it. 

My original (limited) understanding of this craft had led me to believe that only a special kind of evergreen-like tree was used for bonsai. That is all I had ever really seen, so it was all that I knew. But, as you can see in my photos of some of the trees from the exhibit, almost and plant that develops a woody stem can be grown, tended to, and manipulated into bonsai. Below are a lemon tree and a fairly common houseplant, and both have been transformed into their present twisting, cascading, and graceful shapes.