Where, Oh Where Has My Day Gone?

August 9, 2026

On August 7, Bruce had made plans to meet a friend for lunch in Huntsville. Bruce was getting computer memory from his friend to try out. We decided to go early to enjoy the Huntsville Botanical Garden. We can remember when the Garden was a start in a cow pasture, with more pasture around it. The Garden was just a border, a pond, and a plan. It is amazing to see the plan completed.

We left for Huntsville, a little after 8:00 am. We arrived at the garden right after opening, in the relatively cool of the morning. We wanted to beat the heat. There was a cart and driver at the front entrance. The cart driver struck up a conversation with us, and she offered us a ride. She mentioned the cart service was new. She let us know the cart carries ice water for hot garden walkers. I consider us more garden explorers, but walkers is fine also. She said, “If you see a cart, wave to stop it, and the driver will hand you a cup of ice water.” What a nice service!

We went into the grand entrance and had the lady behind the counter looked up our membership. While Bruce went off to the rest room, I had a nice chat with the counter lady. She mentioned the Dogwood Trail had an art exhibit that would last until the end of October. That sounded fun and best of all, it would be in the shade.

I wanted to see the butterfly house first. It was closed when we went to the Garden before. For some reason, I was expecting it to be as grand as the Butterfly Pavilion in the Denver Metro area. The Garden’s was much smaller, with only a few species of butterflies. It was fun to see and beautifully landscaped. The artificial stream looked natural with plants growing next to it and overhanging it. The deck overlooking the inside, gave us a lovely view of the waterfall which was the start of the stream. It was a delightful spot, and I forgot to take any pictures of it. The deck overlooking the inside is a perfect spot for a picture. Oh well, maybe next time.

We walked over to the Dogwood Trail and found this amazing and useful artwork.

As we walked down the trail, we noticed several flower artwork made from horseshoes.

This artwork is based on the Fibonacci sequence.

It is fun to walk into the spiral.

We also stopped to drum on the “Unus Mundus, an interactive musical art installation featuring steel “Fungiphone” drums and surrounding mushroom-shaped sculptures.” Once again no pictures.

There was a large kaleidoscope, made to look like a telescope. A mother with three children was enjoying using the telescope kaleidoscope. The mother was gracious enough to give us a moment to look through the telescope. I didn’t want to interrupt their family time by asking them to move to take a picture. This art work is a wonderful combination of the exploration of space and nature in Huntsville, AL.

I found this photo on the Gardens’s website. I expect the above link won’t be available after October 31.

Here are some pictures of the boarders as you leave or enter the Garden.

After our walk on the Dogwood Trail, we met up with Bruce’s friend and his wife at Tim’s Cajun Kitchen for lunch. The gumbo and jambalaya were very good and traditional. I heard several people talking with the Cajun accent. The po’ boys were a disappointment. The bread wasn’t the wonderful crispy, crunchy crust of good French bread. The oysters were small and sparse. Bruce got the computer memory from his friend to try out.

We all left, Bruce’s friend and his wife, went back to work. While Bruce and I went to Costco. We managed to mostly stick to our list. But oh, fresh figs called my name.

After our shopping trip at Costco, we drove home. It was already 5:00 pm when we got home.

Bruce planned to do some mowing, but it rained, shutting down that plan.

With memory in hand, Bruce began to work on the build out of his new computer. He got frustrated and decided he needed a fresh start in the morning.

Due to rain, the sunset wasn’t available.