Living in southern New Hampshire, I have the luxury of access to some of the most wonderful art museums in the world, all within an hour or so (depending on the traffic!) drive from my home.

My favorite (with no offense to any of the others, since I love visiting them all!) is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.  I feel a sense of peace as soon as I walk into the grand old building that features a spectacular courtyard. You’ll have to view the photos of the courtyard on their website since photography is not allowed during visits.

There’s a connection (that I just can’t explain), that I feel whenever I walk though the entrance to this museum. Many of my friends know my secret as to why I became a member of the Gardner a few years ago. I always thought it would be a great place to attend a party.  Well, my membership has not let me down!  I’ve attended some exhibit openings filled with great fanfare.  But, one of my favorite parties at the Gardner takes place on the Third Thursday of each month.

This winter, I made it down for the Midwinter Tropics event on the Third Thursday in January. My good friend, Liz, joined me for this little mid-week field trip into Boston.  Once we survived the nearly 2 hour drive (to go only 45 miles), we had a wonderful time.

It was a trip that ended up filling this gardener’s desire to get her hands dirty!  In addition to the networking and bars throughout the museum, there was a little workshop area filled with hundreds of sedum plants, buckets and piles of peat moss, and dozens of tiny wood boxes.  The fragrance of the peat moss was a great reminder of spring while we were still in the middle of a cold January when the days were still short and the nights were so long.

An opportunity to Garden at the Gardner to create our own mini works of art was such a treat on that Third Thursday night of January. It also made this winter just a little more bearable!

“All gardening is landscape painting.”  –  Alexander Pope