If you are already intrigued and want to know more…above is where to find the information! Become intrigued after checking my blog out…I posted it in the middle of the blog and if I can remember (I have to leave in a few minutes for an appointment which may require I leave my computer for a day or so for repair in which case it will take me days to finish this rather than an hour or so) I will post at the end also.
I just have to say…I have 4 months worth of day trips and mini-trips piling up and for today I am opting to post about a day trip Thelma & Louise took this past Wednesday. Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA is hosting a socially distanced safe event called Gnomevember. There are, according to what I read, 253 assorted gnomes scattered throughout a portion of the property. This lovely event continues until November 28 and you must purchase tickets in advance. We stayed for about 90 minutes and it was freezing…high was 35 but it was really windy so it was truly colder than that! Let me tell you…Thelma is really good finding the small, hidden ones that blend in with the leaves! And as cold as it was, we persevered until we felt we had found them all…including the Golden Gnome – the Queen of all Gnomes! Though…she has a beard and mustache so we might be wrong! Anyway, if you found the gold gnome you were supposed to post a picture on Instagram with the #TowerHillBG/GoldenGnome…you get to be entered into a drawing for a prize so we’ll see what happens!
I say tell me your feelings about gnomes because when I got home from my day out discovering gnomes I was greeted by my elder grandson who had come over for dinner. I told him what I had done all day and handed him my phone so he could check out a few of them. He politely took the phone, glanced down and handed the phone back to me stating…I don’t want to look at them…they’re creepy. I never did understand the fascination with gnomes.” Imagine my shock…or perhaps you agree!?
So…let’s get started exploring the grounds of the Garden and start searching for gnomes. First though I would like to say the acreage for the garden overlooks Mt Wachusett and the reservoir off in the distance so getting out of the car the mountain off in the distance is the first thing I saw…so it is the first thing I am going to show you!
Now the gnome search continues…not in any specific order because I used both my phone (until the battery died) and camera and when I upload pictures from both it always gets scrambled! Some of these are not the best quality image but I didn’t check the images each time and unfortunately some should have been taken again…my bad!
Some of these characters were large, many very small…some out in the open, some hiding in the leaves, under benches, up on the sills above doors or windows, in the crevices in the bark of trees, in amongst the last of the fall flora…had to look everywhere!
At this point we back-tracked a bit and went inside because we saw one of the gnomes inside, peeking out…curious if they would be inside also. There were a few so I got pictures of those, we spoke with the receptionist who was very enthusiastic about the event and the subject of gnomes, found out many of these are lent by private owners for the event and then went to visit the gift shop…since we were inside anyway. 🙂 Alas, no purchases made but there is a very cool assortment of unique and unusual items. Yes…there are pictures of items from the gift shop!
Now it is time to head back outdoors into the cold because we swear we can hear the gnomes taunting us to find them!
See what I mean about some of them being very small, hiding in the leaves and in the case of the gnome under the mushroom above…he was hiding behind the leg of one of the benches. To break up the gnome images a bit I am going to throw in a little bit of the flora still bringing color to the garden…
There is more but I’ll save it for later…back to the search for gnomes!
Apparently gnomes like peanut butter crackers…there are some holding peanut butter crackers above and more to follow!
I have reached the half way point of all of the pictures from the Garden…thought I would take a break and re-post the link to Tower Hill in case you want to check it out…cost, dates, hours, etc.
I am also breaking it up by posting some more of the flora from the property…oh…look…there is a tiny gnome sitting on those steps amongst the leaves! And…one in the pot with the pumpkins and grasses!
There are a few more flora images but I will save those as a final post before heading to a late lunch…lunch was so good!!! And the bakery next door…OMG! I am not allowed to eat sweets anymore but I can still enjoy an Italian bakery! The smells alone are amazing and I did get a little something for my granddaughter to make for Thanksgiving with the Italian side of her family!
Anyway…I got way off track! Back to the search for gnomes!
I feel like some of the above at the end might have already been posted closer to the beginning…my apologies if they are! Below is the final flora which includes some of the gnomes in amongst it…the final post from the gnome search will be what we believed to be the “Golden Gnome-The Queen!” The tree with the white hanging down…those are lights! I thought they were setting up for a winter light show to start after the Gnomevember event ends but I checked the website and I didn’t see anything about winter lights…hmmm.
So…we sat in the car for 10-15 minutes to warm up while looking for some place to have a late lunch. We found Oli’s Italian Eatery which was only about 20 minutes away. My grandson’s company is based out of Worcester and this restaurant is on the town line next to Worcester so it turns out he has been here several times before…as well as the bakery we went to after lunch. The bakery has several locations but this is the one he frequents.
Let me tell you…Oli’s was a fantastic discovery! From the waitress we had to the décor and to the amazing food everything was great and we highly recommend them. We will also come back to this spot…and we rarely do that because there are so many places out there to explore!
My lunch was a stroganoff with roasted red peppers, steak, mushrooms and gnocchi in a creamy sauce. Thelma’s lunch was a Bolognese with garlic bread and we split an ordered of toasted ravioli with a delicious marinara sauce…are you hungry yet? SO GOOD! Oh…and the pictures with the doors partially open? Those lead into the bakery next door – Gerardo’s Italian Bakery! More goodness coming up!!
And except for Thelma driving me back to my house so she could head home, this ends Thelma and Louise’s big adventure on a Wednesday! I hope she agrees it was worth her using a half a vacation day for this much fun in the cold! I certainly had an amazing day!
Oh…it did take me almost 24 hours to finish this blog post…I took my laptop to the Geek Squad for repairs but turned out it needs a new battery and the store doesn’t sell them! I ordered one on Amazon before walking out of the store so I was sure I ordered the correct one! I’ll have to make another appointment for them to install it for me and make sure everything is all set. Though the battery doesn’t charge above 4% right now I can still use it!!
One final post for their website in case you would like to check it out…and I did just see that the Christmas Lights Nights has been canceled for 2020.
You know the routine by now….come visit me at my page on Facebook, on Instagram and at my website. If you find something you like on my blog and you don’t find it for sale, please contact me.
https://www.lovinglifewithkmgphotography.com
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See you on the road!…thanks for traveling with me!!!
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”
-Bill Bryson
Travel with KMG Photography 