Okay, all you cynics, and I do mean especially you New Yorkers. We're likely to be the most cynical of all, which is too bad because we're also the ones with access to this. It's the train show at the New York Botanical Garden, which is the one in the Bronx, not Brooklyn. Now, I know what you're thinking: model trains (right) choo-chooing through winter wonderlands of carolers, Santas, reindeer, and Victorian candy shops (wrong). What they choo-choo through is a landscape entirely of plant materials -- twigs, bark, leaves -- out of which they've created New York area buildings. I mean, Yankee Stadium... Kykuit... Grand Central Station... Rockefeller Center...

JL and I went up there this afternoon and checked it out, and I'm telling you, you won't be sorry if you go. (If you do, you'll do well to go on a weekday, and/or first thing in the morning. It gets crowded.) Have fun!