Friday, April 30, 2010

Last Weekend, Part 2

Somehow I've developed an exciting, event-filled life.

OK, maybe not, but I did get a little behind in talking about last weekend, and now I have stuff from this weekend to talk about that I can't because I didn't cover that second bit of two weekends ago. I will now remedy that by discussing my return to the Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum. When I went last month it was mostly to look around and decide if I wanted to go back, and I'm really glad I did because wow, what a difference a month makes!

For starters, there are actually plants in bloom now:

bright pink flowers

white hydrangea

orange flower cluster

Even the abandoned greenhouses are starting to blossom:

blooming abandoned greenhouse

Some of my excitement was also from it turning out to be a much sunnier day when I went this time. The bright light and blue sky combined with the paths now being sort of leafy and inviting:

garden path

leaves and sunshine

rather than stony, gray, and slightly muddy to make the gardens seem much more interesting. Also, flowers actually blooming means that I got to use my macro zoom setting:

white flower, yellow center

(Look! I'm Joel-gia O'Keefe!)

white bud (2)

dandelion

and we all know how much I love that setting.

I even photographed wildlife in its natural habitat when I spotted this tiny lizard in one of the stone greenhouses:

lizard

The very best part, though, was when I decided to walk around the grounds again, and explore some of the paths that I skipped last time. Not only did I discover a storybook gatehouse that I missed last time:

gatehouse exterior

gatehouse interior

but the little sales building, which was closed up last time:

sales building

was opened now!

sales building (2)

Like Debra Winger said to Robert Redford in "Legal Eagles", an open door is practically an invitation, and what could be better than being invited into urban ruins? And they were beautiful, beautiful ruins indeed:

rusty light

broken glass in windowframe

rusty window handle

thick webs

It was a fantastic day.

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