Given the similarities between England and Seattle’s climate, I don’t know why I was surprised that our garden will look a lot like Darwin’s when it’s done.

Darwin’s Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure at the New York Botanical Garden includes a recreation of his garden in the Conservatory, a small collection of period botanical guides and fascimilies of his work in the Library, and a walking tour highlighting his thinking about different plants on the grounds. At once both too large to take in on one lazy afternoon, and not actually deep enough to be informative, it exists in that middle region of making yourself feel good about doing something vaguely educational without having to integrate what you’re seeing.

Stopping for a slice after, while waiting for the train, the fellows behind the counter stopped chatting with us once the ladies in their tight jeans and fancy nails came in. “Come on, why do you need that pizza to go…stay with me, you know I don’t even like this guy…” Back into the city, eyeing the swimmer from Fordham, we got out too late in Grand Central to get the melon from France I wanted Vic to taste and that I’d recently mail ordered the seeds for.

My favorite part of the day was walking through the gardens and pointing out all the plants we’re growing at home and showing Vic what they’ll look like in a month or two.