Thanksgiving Weekend (11/26-11/28)

The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed break. I spent Thanksgiving day with my family, which currently, of course, means my Mother and Father. We had our dinner at the Richards, a very nice family my parents know from church, plus a couple other lovely folks. I admit I was a little reluctant about having Thanksgiving dinner with people who to me are just acquaintances, but it turned out really enjoyable because they are a very warm bunch of people. After dinner, we watched a bit of the hilarious movie Galaxy Quest. Mom, Dad, and I sadly had to leave that party early though and we reunited with some extended family of ours--a couple of second cousins whom I have not seen in probably a decade. It was so great to see them again and reconnect. We took a stroll in Riverside Park and then escaped the evening chill in our apartment to eat pie and chat. Talk. Discuss. Converse.

Okay, so the rest of the weekend was pretty fun too. The parentals dragged me out to Tarrytown again, but this time we stayed over Friday night at the Tarrytown House hotel thingy. It was a pretty snazzy joint. Friday we visited a couple historical sites of the Hudson River Valley: Van Cortlandt Manor and Washington Irving's Sunnyside cottage. I got some pictures as you'll see below, but they're really not very exciting. Ah, well. We also checked out all the beautiful but somewhat creepy graves at Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. On Saturday, we took a very brief tour of Philipsburg Manor before we had to return our rental car and return to New York City! Which is where I live. Which is awesome. Can you tell I feel like being brief? It's very late at night right now and I'm tired.

PS: I love Adam Lambert and his album For Your Entertainment, which came out November 23. I've been listening to it non-stop. Highly entertaining. You should buy it. You know, a little holiday treat for yourself. Allison Iraheta's album Just Like You also rocks. Grab that one too. That's my plug for the night.

New York Botanical Garden: Holiday Train Show

It's a kind of memory exercise trying to blog about stuff that happened almost a month ago. It's now actually December 18, and I haven't updated for a while because school consumed my life--or rather, I let it consume my life, sadly. But let's move on and talk about some November fun stuff.

So, on this date (Nov. 21), I had another enjoyable excursion to the New York Botanical Garden with Mom and Dad. This time, we went to see the "Holiday Train Show" exhibit in the conservatory. Funnily enough, it wasn't so much about the nifty little model trains. The exhibit consisted of intricate miniature models of iconic New York buildings made entirely of plant matter, with the little model trains running through the miniature communities. The artistry of these structures was very impressive. Some of the pieces include the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Guggenheim Museum, the Chrysler Building, and even Yankee Stadium. Plus a lot of the buildings were representations of some of the fine architecture throughout New York City's more residential neighborhoods. And for good holiday measure, there were some twinkly lights on the bushes and stuff--because the exhibit really wouldn't be all that "holiday-ish" without the lights. Well, take a look at the "Holiday Train Show" of the New York Botanical Garden (plus a photo of my parents by a big Christmas tree at another part of the gardens).

We also took a look in the gift shop and bought a few nifty things. Dad got me a book about Japanese Gardens as an early Christmas present. It's a beautiful book with stunning photographs of gardens that I dream of one day having in my own backyard.

Afterwards, we got some yummy New York pizza and... went home. I can't remember anything else in particular about this day. Okay. :-)

New York Botanical Garden: Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden

Today Mom and I went to the New York Botanical Garden. The fall exhibition is "Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden," so of course I couldn't miss it! The photos in the slideshow below best speak for the beauty of the gardens, but I'll just tell you a little about what we saw. The courtyard of the main conservatory was full of kiku (chrysanthemums) of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Underneath these Japanese-style awnings they had gorgeous arrangements of kiku trained to grow along wire structures that shaped the plants into works of garden art. They also had some beautiful bonsai trees, some of which were shedding their leaves for fall. The ponds in the courtyard had koi fish swimming about. I loved the zen feeling of it all, and the colors of the fall leaves and the kiku were just stunning.

After spending some time taking photos of the kiku, we went out and took a tour of the rest of the garden grounds on a tram ride. I couldn't get over how beautiful the trees are in the fall. Then, we checked out the gift shop, which was awesome because they had all sorts of Japanese stuff (books, dishes, knick-knacks) to go with the Japanese theme. I wanted to buy all the books with photos of spectacular Japanese gardens. But I didn't end up getting anything this time.

Moving on, there was a group of Taiko drummers (also in keeping with the Japanese awesomeness) that performed at intervals on the lawn outside the conservatory. I'm so glad we caught their performance because they were brilliant! It was a group comprised of all ages, and the little kids were very impressive. They gots rhythm! I wish I was that cool when I was a kid. Anyhow, the drums were just exhilarating to listen to. What is it about the pounding of Asian drums that gets me emotional? I think I was Japanese in a past life.

Mom and I proceeded to walk around the grounds admiring nature's beauty and taking photos. I think that about sums up the day. Take a look:

A video clip of our tour:

Taiko Drummers: