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86-year-old 'kid' plays in his holiday garden
By BETH N. GRAY
Published December 1, 2006
SPRING HILL - Milt Berry's blue eyes sparkle, and he wears a constant grin. The remote-control device - putty in his hand - fuels the kid in him. But Berry, 86, is no couch potato watching TV. He has invented his own entertainment: a 15-foot by 9-foot, L-shaped, trestle-held landscape whose corner mountain challenges a chugging G gauge model train. The tiniest streetcar zips around another track that runs in an oval around a hand-built gazebo. Skaters blithely waltz on two icy ponds. A circling merry-go-round with up-and-down horses plays Christmas carols and show tunes. It's all set in a sprawling village of some 32 lighted and decorated houses along with a railroad depot and a Cracker Barrel restaurant replica. The architect and electrical engineer for the project calls it a Christmas garden. It is reminiscent of Berry's growing up in Baltimore, where all of the fire stations and many families erected elaborate train displays for the holiday season, he says. They invited all to gaze and gasp with wonder. Berry and his wife of 65 years, Marie, are putting out the welcome mat this year beyond their Timber Pines neighbors. They want to make their production available to other model train enthusiasts and those who enjoy an energized holiday snow scene. This is at least the third major Christmas garden Milt Berry has established. Beth Gray can be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net
[Last modified November 30, 2006, 20:33:38]
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