In The Gardens

We spent a gorgeous sunny afternoon in the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden, just a streetcar ride (and a rather long uphill hike) away. We were up for the walk, but quickly realized we could have caught a bus to get us to the top of that hill. It's ok. The exercise was good for us. And I think we appreciated the view that much more because we'd worked for it.

Do you see Mt. Hood in the distance? And our apartment is just a couple of blocks to the right of that very tall building.

I particularly wanted to see the ikebana exhibit at the Japanese Garden. As with most things these days, I love the minimal approach to flower arranging. Some of the more modern designs we saw kind of missed the mark, I thought, bringing too many components into the arrangement, and ending up with something that looked more like an overblown Costco bouquet than a serene Zen moment. All of them incorporated roses, because it's Portland, and because it's Rose Festival time. There were a few that I liked a lot, including this one...

We might want to buy a pass to the Japanese Garden. I think we'd like to visit it often, especially on some of these hot summer days we'll be seeing more and more of. It's like a drink of water for your eyes and nose and skin. I like it best when we go slow, avoid the tour groups, and sit on a bench to just drink it all in every so often. That's what all those benches are for, to slow us down. Good for the blood pressure.

This tiny fence is about 3 inches high.

After the Japanese Garden, we sniffed our way through the Rose Garden. What a fabulous place. I felt very Alice-In-Wonderland, expecting to see the Queen of Hearts pop out at any time. After a while I hit sensory overload and just stretched out on the grass in the sun, telling Rick I was not moving any time soon. Nearly dozing off, I'm sure I glimpsed a white rabbit with a pocket watch peering through the blossoms...