The Second Half of My Life: By Day And By Night

Friday, May 19, 2023

By Day And By Night

At the beginning of May an exhibit called Chihuly in the Garden 2023 opened at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It features 20 of the glass artist's sculptures sited throughout the grounds. The exhibit is free with daytime garden admission (which is free to us since we are members of the garden). In addition, they are also offering ticketed Chihuly Nights, where the sculptures are illuminated after dark.

When tickets for Chihuly Nights went on sale at the beginning of March I told Hubby Tony that I thought it would be a great activity for Mother's Day and purchased tickets accordingly. Last Sunday we were eating dinner when I received an email that the event was cancelled because of severe weather forecast to move through the area. The message said that the tickets were non-refundable, but could be used any other night the exhibit was open (Thursdays through Sundays through August 27). After checking our calendars and weather apps Tony and I decided to go last night.

Back in March when we bought the tickets I didn't stop and think just how late "dark" would be in mid-May. Sunset is at approximately 8:10 pm, with last light a half hour after that. Most nights I'm settled in the house by 8:00 at the latest. The Botanical Garden is a 20-minute drive from the house. I knew that if we waited too late to leave it would be difficult for me to get moving, so we decided to arrive early and see the contrast between the pieces between sunny and dark.

Tony and I usually go to the Garden on weekday mornings when there aren't many visitors. Last night the walkways were crowded with people. Our plan was to visit all of the installations, but when we saw the crowd inside the Climatron (a geodesic dome conservatory) we decided to pass on those. After one loop around we sat and let it get nice and dark before we ventured out again.

The contrast between natural light and artificial light was amazing. Some of my favorites were: