For more than a decade I maintained a large scale garden railroad in the front yard of my home. The railroad consisted of LGB large sized trains running thru a garden setting which featured buildings, rock work, a pond, and over a dozen varieties of miniature plants from around the world. It combined my hobby of railroading with my wife's interest in gardening. My daughter Jane's Papillon dog Cinnamon served as our security guard. The railway became quite an attraction in our neighborhood and I would host an open house most Sunday afternoons for friends, neighbors, and piano tuning customers. Often I would allow visitors to operate the trains. On one visit, piano clients of mine asked if it would be possible for them to come back on a weekday and bring their elderly parents who were visiting from Japan. We set up a date.
The day our visitors from Japan arrived, I expected they would stay about an hour. To my surprise the elderly parents spent nearly three hours bending and stooping to inspect every plant leaf and patch of moss. Because they spoke little English, other family members translated their questions to me and my answers to them. It seemed like every person present was toting at least two cameras and hundreds of photographs and videos were taken. As the afternoon grew long, my wife Lois came out and invited everyone inside for refreshments.
Once inside our house, the visitors became interested interested in viewing and photographing the many items my wife and I enjoyed collecting, as well as, playing with our seven Papillon show dogs while inspecting their trophies. At some point the elderly grandfather ran out of steam and plopped down on our sofa for a much needed rest. Meanwhile, the rest of the family was admiring a miniature doll house my daughter Jane was building. His wife asked where Jane was able to buy the tiny furniture and my wife explained, thru the translator, that Jane built it herself. At this point I had joined the grandfather on the sofa. Upon hearing the translated answer, he stood up and started inspecting the sofa he had been sitting on. He lifted up cushions and vigorously shook the arms and back. Finally he bowed towards me and grinned. In what English he could muster he said, "good, yes, nice job!"
