Mother's Day

My mom lives in Portland.

She's lived there for close to half a century.

But she's never been to the Portland Japanese Garden.

During Portland's Spring, it is often ill-considered to depend upon non-rainy weather for outdoor events, but as the weather reports grew more and more optimistic for the weekend, I began planting the idea of a garden visit. I expected the 'ole trick knee excuse, but Mom surprised me by accepting my offer.

My mom's trick knee excuse is not without corroborating  anecdotal evidence. She often (and by often I mean really often) tells the story about how, when I was an innocent baby cradled in her protective arms, her trick knee suddenly went out on her causing her to fall and somehow jettison me high into the air. Later, she reports, they managed to find me under a bed where I had evidently bounced. This story may explain some of my trust issues. It also may explain why she walks carefully, eyeing the ground as if it has betrayed her in the past.

We brought a folding stool with us, in case she needed to sit down along the trail, but were pleased to find ample quantities of comfortable benches.

There are so many benches that I was initially going to make this blog post be exclusively about The Benches at the Japanese Gardens. I thought it would be pretty funny to ignore all the beautiful parts of the garden and just show my mom's favorite benches...but there were many beautiful parts of the garden.

While not actually a bench, countless butts sit on this bridge rail, helping their owners pose for stealth portraits - stealth portraits because the rules forbid portrait photography which mostly means the garden society doesn't want visitors to have to put up with portable-studio wielding professionals.

This bench, at the east end of the bridge, really fits well into its environment, though mom thinks it's a little bit short.

This bench provides a marvelous view of what I like to call the Portrait Bridge, and the infinite line of portrait takers.

There's a bench off to the right, but it didn't fit in with my efforts to capture a maze-like picture of the zigzag bridge.

I think there were 3 benches at this location. 

I think my mom enjoyed the time she spent on this bench. She has a deep appreciation for the beauty in creation. However, she is not likely to be pleased to find out  she was included in some of the pictures I was taking.

This bench graces the intersection that leads to the Natural Garden. The path through the Natural Garden is narrow and uneven and supposedly one-way. I was concerned that maybe this path would be too challenging, but by this time on our visit, I found Mom sitting on this bench, filling out an application to become a Sherpa.

Here Mom is reading the map saying, "I think this is the Three Arch Rocks national wildlife area, but I can't see the ocean." 

From the Stone Garden, a significant staircase climbs to the Pavilion, but this bench is strategically placed about half way up. 

This bench sits at the top of the stairs.

My mother gives this particular bench very high marks.

A bench on the pavilion veranda.

This picture reveals the Flat Garden, but what I seem to remember most is the curves.

The bench next to the Gift Shop.

My parents brought me into the world, and with all the experience gained from a twenty year head start, they began blazing a path through life, teaching me to walk, showing me directions to go, giving me examples to follow...and my Mom is still up ahead on that path, encountering new challenges...forever dispensing grace and love.

Thanks Mom.

The Japanese Garden @ Portland, Oregon

I should probably begin by telling you that about the only plant I’ve ever managed to successfully grow was a Chia Pet, so you can imagine that gardens and gardening are somewhat of an impenetrable mystery to me.



On the left is an example of Mt. Hood National Wilderness (From the Ramona Falls trail. See http://thenarrativeimage.blogspot.com/2007/05/ramona-falls-trail-super-sized-part-two.html). On the right is an example of Portland Oregon’s Japanese Garden. While I personally find both scenes beautiful, there are several aspects about the garden scene that show evidence of human tinkering. Some of the obvious signs are a human constructed concrete artifact, groomed bushes and trees, and a preponderance of plant varieties seemingly chosen for aesthetic purposes.

Just for the purpose of comparison, this corn is an example of a garden designed for the efficient production of a food crop. Curiously, I find this scene aesthetically pleasing also, but did not find any growing at the Japanese gardens.

It is tempting to get carried away and insinuate that the designed gardens are easy to recognize because of their obvious order.

But in the biggest garden of all, we often see that order and disorder go hand in hand. Great swaths of habitable ecosystem are swept away in the blink of an eye. A new niche is provided for some other opportunistic species (and if there are any favorites, it would appear to be the beetle family).

Japanese Garden - Portland, Oregon - Admission gate

After paying eight bucks to get in, I walk past the guardian lions and take a look at the Welcome Brochure I’ve been handed. The brochure informs me that, “Eastern symbolism challenges the visitor to reflect and be open to varying interpretations of sights and sounds.” Keeping this in mind, I take a second look at the guardian lion, and as the brochure suggests, I try to take a moment to feel the Garden’s mood of peace and harmony. The lion’s expression seems none too peaceful and I imagine it softly growling at me, “Stay on the path or this globe I’m standing on might as well be your left testicle.”

Japanese Garden -Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

It’s an overcast day so I set the White Balance on the Rebel to the cloud symbol. This may have been a mistake because later I will see that most of the pictures have an artificial looking warm yellow-green tint.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - The Natural Garden

See what I mean?

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

I thought the red in this tree would make a good complement to the predominate greens everywhere else. While I was trying to make the picture, I was also thinking that it would be nice (though not possible) to sit under this shaded canopy for awhile with a quality beer or two, watching the endless line of tourists stopping to pose on the moon bridge to have their portraits captured.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Authentic Moon Bridge

Here I try desperately to get some believable green colors, but end up using Photoshop’s watercolor filter instead.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

The water in the pools was muddy and unsettled. It provided good cover for the Koi until they neared the surface. At first, only a slow moving golden glow would diffuse through the suspended silt, like a distant lantern in the fog.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

I spent some time just watching the primitive looking fish moving in their world of water, patrolling the bank in front of the visitor benches just in case some of the bipeds proved to be illiterate (Please don't feed the Koi! - Throwing coins prohibited!) with a pocketful of crumbs. I thought about surfaces and boundaries, ripples and reflections, all between worlds and points of view.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Sand and Stone Garden

Maybe the attraction of gardens is that it gives us the illusion of control and a chance to feel like co-creators – super-hero sidekicks – helping to order and direct various manifestations of life.

For more information about the Japanese Garden, visit their website at: www.japanesegarden.com