A Photo A Day

Lightdance, December 14, 2011

Knowing that Cheekwood’s model garden train display would end on December 31st, the Deers planned their Christmas lunch at the Pineapple Room in order to see the exhibit before it was too late.  We had a sunny, warm day for our completely enjoyable visit. G-scale trains zipped around the display of over two dozen recreations of Tennessee’s most famous landmarks, and 2500 tiny trees, shrubs and plants. The entire landscape was handcrafted using native, natural materials such as twigs, bark, leaves, acorns and pebbles. I did not know that all weather model train displays were commonly  (common for train hobbyists, anyway) set up in residential gardens until about the 1950′s, when the practice died out, but there are still enthusiastic hobbyists who create such installations. We were glad to see the conductor return from lunch as we moved on to the Japanese garden, as there had been a serious derailment in front of the State Capitol.