The Lonely Lilacs of Bay Ridge

Green is a beautiful color after a long winter, but purple is even prettier.

Last year, on one of my many trips to and from the subway station near our apartment, I noticed a purple lilac bush. Rather, I smelled it. I remember literally stopping in my tracks while my nose did a double take.

This spring I've adjusted my route to and from the subway so I walk by the bush almost each day, tracking its progress and trying to catch it in full bloom. The bush is about my height and scarcely wider, trapped behind a fence. It's nothing like my parents' lilac bushes -- or the ones we recently saw at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden -- that could more accurately be called trees. But it's all I have in Bay Ridge.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the Spring

Lilics: The flowers I miss most from home

No one would confuse me for an outdoorsy girl. Despite growing up with a pond, a handful of green acres and an old barn ripe for exploring, you were much more likely to find me indoors, curled up with a book.

In this respect, I haven't much changed. But ever since moving to a place where green and space, let alone greenspace, are few and far between, I appreciate them just a tad bit more. I'm absolutely positive I enjoyed a recent visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden much more than I would have 10 years ago.

The botanic garden was one of our first stops when we moved here in autumn 2007, but this visit was much different. This time my parents were along, in town for a weekend visit. And this time, the garden was filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors eager to catch a glimpse of the tulips and fast-fading cherry blossoms. On that prior visit, we saw maybe a dozen or so others.

Cherry blossoms

The crowds didn't make the blooms crouch lower or the lilacs smell worse, but it did cut on the tranquility. But who am I to tell others to stay at home on a beautiful spring day so I can keep the pleasantries of nature all to myself? Gasp -- could I really be becoming the type of girl who loves the outdoors? I wouldn't go that far, although nowadays it's much more likely that you'll find me curled up with a book ... on a blanket outdoors.

Turtles on a log

Tulips: I'd much rather see them than grow them.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Williamsburg

With only a few more weeks (days?) of sunny, warm weather, Paul and I devoted Saturday to exploration.

First up: the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Entrance is free from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays (yep, I'm still a cheapskate, even here). According to a brochure we picked up there, it's 52 acres with more than 10,000 plants. I liked the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden (Gail and Joe-- that photo's for you!), and Paul enjoyed walking around the Herb Garden. It almost felt like we were back at his mom's house.

The trees and plants were green and lush, and I look forward to going back in the spring to visit the rose garden. But even among what must be one of the most peaceful places in Brooklyn, you could still hear the traffic not terribly far away.

Next up was the Brooklyn Brewery. Obviously my home-brewing husband was looking forward to the Saturday morning tours (also free) and samples (alas, $3). He hadn't been to the brewery before, but he had visited the neighborhood for work not long ago and assured me I would like it.

But first, the brewery. The tour is in one large room of a warehouse and the "bar" is an adjoining room with picnic tables and taps. I believe the bar is only open on Saturday afternoons for the tours and on Friday nights. Oh, and there's a skinny and extremely tame cat that has the run of the place and seemed to like to nuzzle against the guests and sit on the table where you buy your beer tokens.

It's in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, near Queens and just east of Manhattan. I fell in love with the neighborhood on the spot. But besides the rents being out of our price range, we agreed that we're probably not cool enough to live there. As Paul said, we would probably always have to eat at vegan restaurants where they used humanely-slaughtered beans. The place did have a lot of vegetarian, vegan and environmentally-friendly options (we ate lunch at a cafe where we ordered organic pancakes and organic french fries). I like that. And I really enjoyed all the one-of-a-kind specialty stores and the young crowds (I find that "hipster" is often repeated when referring to this neighborhood).

Another possible problem to living there-- I probably don't have the required number of ironic t-shirts. They were so prevalent that I think we started ignoring them and then had trouble remembering the good ones when I tried to make a list (examples: "Jesus was homeless" and "Relationships are hard work" with pictures of tools). But I'm sure I could up my collection. I would probably start with the shirt in the photo. (It's not true-- I love NY!)