cornerofmadness

And since I love flowers this counts as fannish 50. So today it was like 70 outside so I hurried on to the Pittburgh Botanical Gardens and if not for the lone handicapped spot I wouldn't have gone because every other spot was taken. On a Tuesday morning! Guess all of Pittsburgh and every tourist had the same idea.

As for the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden it's a misnomer all around. It's about 20 miles outside of Pittsburgh in Oakdale where my Great grandfather and great aunts/uncles are buried. It's also WAY more an arboretum than a garden. Very little of it is actual garden. Much of it is trees and a lot of it I can do in my own backyard but I like to go. It had a new art installation I wanted to see and the last time (which was the first) I was still too early in my recover to do more than the lower loop.

What I DO love about the path to the Lotus pond is they have several mailboxes set up, in each is a laminated 'newspaper' about a tree it's in front of, year sprouted and other things that happened that year. It's engaging.

I rather wish they'd stop calling the Asian Woodlands that since it lacks a lot of what would be IN those but it's a nice pond (and they have a nice write up about how they mitigated the nasty water that was once there) The art installation is simple but pretty especially when viewed as intended (reflected in the water).

This time I headed into 'the european woodlands' to see the whimsical follies they put up there. There is a giant nest, a dogwood meadow, the hermit's hut, the bookworm glen and the apiary (closed path). I made it through those and then went back to the garden side of things but not all of it (I did that last time and it was getting hot)

I did go to the garden of five senses, really more designed with kids in mind such as the water fountains and little rocks to feel. I much preferred the sound and sight. Sound were metal flowers with mallets to make music one, a drum and a xylophone and sight was a big pot of flowers with kalideoscopes over it using the flowers as the swirly bits. The sense of smell and taste were veggies and herbs that I touched (as if I don't have chocolate mint, lemon balm and oregano at home)

They had seeds on sale. Since I have a greenhouse at my disposal I picked up greek oregano (could always use more) and blue lake snap beans.

My knee did okay, the leg went numb. It started to recede the longer I pushed it. It's a bit swollen now and gave out a bit ago.

And you get a little extra Fannish 50 from me. I love history. Have you been watching Hazardous History with Henry Winkler. Yeah almost no one on the show is a historian and a lot of it is played for levity but OMG the stuff that was common place especially in the early 20th century. Heck some of the stuff I remember (especially in the toy episode) is scary enough (lawn darts, anyone?) It's a fun show and from what I know accurate (no depth but breadth) I know for instance that yes Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup was 65 mg/Oz of morphine and also, yes lithium was one of the 7 ingredients of 7 Up. Check it out. You might have fun with it.

The garden just outside the welcome center