Good evening and welcome to Got a Happy Story? Let me start by wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday Season.
I also have a tiny happy story that is big to me. This is my 300th diary here at Daily Kos!
I'm very fond of glass houses and tonight's photo diary is my third promotion of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory this year. Since I've already done an Orchid Show Diary and a Chrysanthemum Celebration for the adults, here's one that both you and your children may enjoy.
The above photo is a miniature version of the Victorian Glass House and one of the many model trains that can be seen chugging through the conservatory of the New York Botanical Gardens this time of year.
The best part of this display for boys and girls of any age, all natural ingredients. Outside of the trains and tracks everything is made out of plant material. The artist create these New York Landmarks out of leaves, twigs, bark, berries, seeds, pine cones, gourds and other botanical resources.
This miniature New York City that has 14 electric trains and streetcars running on 1,200 feet of track would even make Gomez Addams jealous. The New York Botanical gardens have been displaying this whimsical view of an all natural New York for seventeen years now and if you live near, it will be on display this year until January 11, 2009 but advanced tickets are suggested. If you can't get there from here than All Aboard!
There is actually a promotional video available that does a far better job of promoting The Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Gardens than I ever could. In the video you can see the look of wonder on the children's faces as David Hartman's narration begins with;
A young boy wants to live her. Live where? In this miniature New York City. Who wouldn't? Electric trains tooting and steaming through hills and waterfalls, flowers and trees. Twinkling lights and holiday music and more than one hundred forty little New York buildings and bridges and there all made of nuts bark and sticks. Magic!
Everything is Ready. over the next six weeks tens of thousands of men, women and children will stream in form the winter cold and ooze their way through the wonder of a little New York City. When those doors open, as Moss Hart wrote "It's Magic Time."
Each year many of these same miniatures reappear in the conservatory but in a different layout. This year as you enter the beautiful Victorian Palm Court you are greeted by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in a miniature but tropical New York Harbor.
Here in the center piece of a museum for plants the children are greeted by what many generations of immigrants remember as the first sighting of America. This version of Ellis Island in a pool surrounded by nature has stonework made of elm bark, window mullions are winged euonymus twigs, with a roof made from gourds, date vines and acorns. And Lady Liberty holds a torch made from dried monarch flower embedded in half a pomegranate. Her gown is perfect for the Palm Court because she is draped in palm leaves. The setting couldn't be more perfect.
Then it is time to queue up because this show is very popular. Even though it seems as crowded as Grand Central Station the show is very much worth the wait.
For my adult eyes what is most fascinating is the attention to detail that the the designer Paul Busse and his team of artist at Applied Imagination give to every single one of the one hundred and forty replicas on display.
But unlike the orchids and chrysanthemums this show is all about the children and watching the look on their faces can be even more fascinating then the little natural wonders that so many come to see.
Watching a child imagining themselves walking down a tropical version of some Upper East Side streets from long ago is precious.
Or a child peering into the windows of a long gone Manhattan mansion that belonged to some long dead robber baron and watching that child wondering what is going on inside. Now that's magic.
But those details will keep you busy too. You look close and notice that the vertical columns are raw branches, Then the veins in the green leaves that form the roofs protecting the lower windows show up. Everywhere you look, you make a new discovery.
Here's the roof of the mansion that is in the three photos above.
A big favorite for children of all ages are the overhead bridges with New York City subway cars clattering along. There is the pride of New York City, the glorious Brooklyn Bridge must be most famous structurally unsound bridge on earth.
And the crossing from New York to New Jersey that is the home of home to the world's largest free-flying American flag. Named after the father of our country, even though Ben Franklin was the one who was working overtime in the creating decedents department, The George Washington Bridge.
Besides the forgotten Highbridge Tower there is even a replica of the Little Red Lighthouse right where it belongs, underneath Martha Washington.
There is always a few new ones for perennial visitors to make a big fuss over. My big fuss this year was over the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater. It was designed as a Swedish Pavilion for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and now stands in Central Park at 79th Street and West Drive. The details in this Bronx miniature are perfect.
An older display that first appeared in 2005 is making a big splash all over again this year. A Yankee Stadium that still lives in the Bronx. "Holy cow it's a home run."
Another Central Park favorite of mine that has been around for years is the Belvedere Castle because the view from the real one provides year round magic;
Of course the most magical resident of Central Park that can be seen looking east from the Belvedere, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been on display for years;
And the Met's sister museum across the park got some attention this year. The western view from the real Belvedere offers The American Museum of Natural History. That place with dinosaurs in the attic has a new building. Now that The Rose Center for Earth and Space has a bark and sticks version in the Bronx it is officially a New York landmark;
Almost every museum is represented. Here's New York's favorite toilet bowl. Well Frank Lloyd Wright was known as an organic architecture and this really organic version of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is living proof that Mr. Wright likes his home town more than the Apple. I can just see him at the drafting table saying "Second City? I'll show you Second City."
Another Fifth Avenue Landmark, Patience and Fortitude guarding the steps of The New York Public Library.
This year there was even a positive political message to be found. The UN Building came out of hiding and was moved up front, right next to Grand Central Station.
And judging by this photo of the Statue of Liberty from a previous year, it looks like she has gotten a face lift.
But let us not forget the people who may let a national historic landmark fall into the East River but found the money so Steinbrenner could have a new stadium. Another famous Manhattan address for sale to the highest bidder, the Bloomberg Palace, City Hall.
In the big center glass house the New York skyscrapers can be found. How many New York City landmarks can you make out in this photo? You can see the Rockefeller Center Angels tooting their horns at Prometheus and his Big Christmas Tree.
In the side view you can see the big three and they almost seem to be built to scale. 30 Rockefeller Plaza is on the left with the Empire State Building next door and then the Chrysler building on the right. Below Radio City is right where it belongs in Rockefeller Center. But the Flatiron Building seems to have sailed uptown a bit and the New York Stock Exchange is way out of wack.
And away we go. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
If you haven't had enough the Applied Imagination Web Site has many more and even better photos.
Well that my happy story and don’t forget after my getting carried away that the question mark after the title has a meaning. This is a place to leave your story of love and happiness for others to enjoy and perhaps gain some strength from in these trying times.
So what’s you happy story tonight?