Catching Up: November Visits to the Bronx and to Pittsburgh

I have been absent for far too long, so the next two posts will bring you up-to-date on our "adventures" in the last two months.

Before Thanksgiving, we paid a visit to the New York Botanical Garden to see the Annual Train Show. While we waited for our timed entry to see the trains, we strolled around the gardens. Although I did not get the gardening gene, I still like to see and admire the work of those who did! We were struck by the amount of color still evident in the gardens.

I love ornamental cabbages!

I confess to limited knowledge of plants and shrubs, but I loved the contrast of
the bright yellow leaves to the usual green ones on this bush.

Red branches brightened the look of a leafless tree (shrub?)


The train show is much more than a train layout on big tables like we all had in our basements or under the Christmas tree. No, this is a display of trains that travel around small-scale New York landmarks made entirely from plant materials of all sorts. There are hundreds of structures, including the George Washington Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge, both of which tower over the heads of the visitors.

Here are a few of our favorites:

The facade of Saint Patrick's Cathedral

The Statue of Liberty

Yankee Stadium

The Brooklyn Bridge

There was also a display of a "work in progress," a miniature Kykuit (the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills) that showed the kinds of materials used in the construction of the buildings.



We spent Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh, visiting my sister and brother-in-law in their home there for the last time. In late October, they had sold their house, so this was our last opportunity to celebrate a holiday there.


My sister is a vegetarian, so I was on turkey duty, and we collaborated on the veggies and sides.


We left them the next Monday to finish packing to get ready for their December departure.

Marce and Jack on their porch

Izzy will miss her neighborhood--she loved to be outside on patrol!

We returned home to begin Christmas preparations which mostly involve combining butter and sugar and flour. Stay tuned!