Gardens Aglow

Instead of a recipe today, I have some photos to share of a beautiful holiday sight.

Last weekend, my oldest daughter drove up to spend the weekend doing holiday things with my younger daughter in Maine. They visited a Christmas tree farm and cut down a tree, did some shopping, ate out a few times, but by far, the best thing they did was visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

You may remember that 2 summers ago I shared some photos from our trip there in July.

Being that it's Maine, the gardens formally close down at the end of October, but then they reopen in November 15 - December 31st for a light extravaganza called Gardens Aglow. From the website:

New England’s biggest and brightest light display, with over 650,000 lights!

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

The cold is pretty biting, so the bonfire was a popular attraction. The girls spent about an hour or so there before retreating home to warmth and a marathon of Christmas movies.

I love this new tradition.

Do you have any similar light displays near you?

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, a Fairy Village, and Heirloom Tomatoes

Missy inspired me with her post last week from the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

When we were in Maine in early July, we took a day trip to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor.


The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is very different from what Missy showed and from what I'm used to in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. For starters, it's only been open for ten years. (Compare that to the for BBG which just celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Children's Garden.)

The CMBG is also a total grassroots organization. A group of local people got together in 1991 and decided Maine should have a botanical garden. They spent 16 years planning, fundraising, and building before opening in 2007. When we were there, they were under construction again as a huge expansion is in the works because it's been so successful.

The most noticeable difference, in my opinion, was in the types of plants. This is a garden devoted to the flora and fauna native to the area. You'll see from my photos that it's much more rustic.


There is a formal garden at the entrance, and a meditation garden near the water. You can take boat rides, or get a tour. We did it on foot.

Meditation Garden

They also had a section that completely enchanted me. It's called the Fairy House Village and children come and build their own fairy houses out of the natural materials. I took a ton of photos.

So, I've been on deadline and not cooking anything interesting. But the heirloom tomatoes have begun to appear at the farmer's market. There have been a lot of meals involving cheese, tomatoes and zucchini.

Simple but so good.