The adults call it “memory-making.”  The kids call it having to get up way too early to beat the crowds, and the older one can’t act like he’s enjoying it too much because, you know, teenager disdain (though I have to say that for a teenager he is very easy going, just not exuberant).

I am also going to call it an Artist’s Date and let it be today’s (and possibly tomorrow’s) AEDM offering.

AEDM 11/25

Every year the Botanical Gardens offers a different holiday display (this according to my daughter since I really haven’t paid much attention to it before).   This year’s displays are renditions of various railroad stations made entirely out of materials of leaves and bark.

We planned to get there early Sunday.  It opens at 10 and we made it by 10:30 and the line was already long.  Representatives from the Gardens told us we were about an hour out.  The line had lots of adults with kids, none of whom were happy to wait in line so there was no problem with pieces of parties peeling off to check out the outdoor gardens which are mostly dormant, or with kids getting out of line to sit on a bench or the wall leading into the exhibit.

The actual wait was closer to about 40 minutes and we passed it chatting and taking pictures and I realized that my phone was going to die before we even made it far inside.  I had forgotten to plug it in the night before.  Daughter’s was well charged and hubby’s could be a backup so we got plenty of pictures anyways.

The Botanical Gardens are not even a full city block from the capital building so I got a nice shot of that, and then took pictures of the “guardians” of the 1933 building, each with a distinctive face.  I will hang on to them in case I need inspirations for making a mask some day.  The faces are marvelous.

Years back I would travel here for artistic photos and to spend some time drawing plants that eventually made it into some of my ceramic work.  I need to go back and find the old pictures because the plants around the wishing ponds have grown a great deal since I was last here.  Moving in close makes it easier to plan day trips to town and I should start thinking about that again.

We were also kept company by sparrows who are almost pettable!

Inside one of the first “buildings” was the Washington Monument (as well as the Lincoln Memorial) before we got into the hall of trains and train stations.  I took and posted a picture of the Monument and sent it to son in FL with a tag of “Washington MoMument” since that’s what he used to call it when I was driving daily from Forestville, MD, to Reston, VA, for work.   Long haul.  I had him in day care close to me so we did a lot of riding together and I would teach him the names of things.  He also said “Lincoln Amorial.”  Funny how we hang on to how our kids attain language long after they’ve got it right and have gone one.  Grandson used to say “greem” for “green” and granddaughter “fingums” for “fingers.  Do I need to tell you that we, the adults, still say those words to this day?

The stations were all labeled but it was crowded and I didn’t make a point of getting the names of all of them.  I was sure to take one of the Biltmore station in Asheville, NC, because that is a favorite area of mine and because it boggles my mind that people had enough money to build a private station.  If you’ve never been to the Biltmore, the house itself is 4 acres.  The land around it is beautifully kept and was designed by the man who designed Central Park in New York.

After we enjoyed the train room, we ranged through the rest of the Gardens.  They supplied youngsters with a paper to track 5 plants in five different areas of the gardens, and get a stamp at each discovery.  Most of the plants chosen were also fragrant and they had a tin on the stamp station to smell. The also had stations you could dial on your phone and listen to more information but that is for a day when it is just adults. (Those pictures are on daughter’s phone.  Post for 11/26 if I can download and organize them in time.)

We had a really nice time there – and for me it was a reminder of all the things I have at my fingertips for free.  I really need to put some trips on my calendar in the new year.  Metro works well and there’s lots of walking which can’t hurt me!

NaNoWriMo 2018

I finished!  I got my authentication certificate for reaching 50,000 words since the beginning of November.  I am not done with the novel.  I haven’t quite figured out the ending but am thinking it will lead to another story or stories (after all it is titled “The StoryKeeper’s Chronicles, Vol 1).  But the characters are keeping the ending close to the vest, so to speak, so I’m going to have to write each one out individually and then twine them together I guess.  Which is to say by the end of the month I will have more than 50K works.

I have to admit I’m very please and a little excited that I managed this.  I never thought of myself as a novelist, feeling stretched to write even flash fiction for classes I took this year.  But I have learned how characters can take over and tell the story for you (even if they without the ending), and how just showing up at the page makes things happen if you are determined to write a certain amount of words daily.  I averaged just over 2K a day and I can tell you that when I hit around 1,000 that’s when my ideas sort of dried up and I had to continue to follow the energy.

I’m really happy with the whole process.  This was the first time I tried it.  I learned so much by staying true to my commitment.  I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to try it next year.