Today I celebrated by visiting Portland's Lan Su Chinese Garden with my daughter-in-law. It was a cool, cloudy day with fog lingering on the valley floor and along the river banks. The garden, located on a city block near the Willamette River, was serene ...but filled with visitors enjoying the meditative experience. Details of texture and pattern were everywhere!
Scattered Winter blooms, colorful fruit, and contorted dried leaves appeared on the many curving and twisted bare branches... creating totally new compositions and colorschemes compared to my last visit in early Fall.
In contrast to the seasonal changes, one of my favorite elements in the garden are the beautiful bonsai pots planted with groves of 'miniature' trees that appear to be suspended in time. I finally succumbed and bought one at their garden sale a few years ago ....Just looking at one rests my mind!
We ended our visit with some Jasmine tea and almond cookies in the tea house
...and said good-bye to the shadowy koi on the way out.
And as a perfect ending to my morning....I finally took a picture of the White Oak trees that sit in a farmer's field near the bottom of our hill. I pass them almost every day and am always distracted by their beauty. Along with the Douglas Fir, they covered our valley hundreds of years ago...now only scattered groves exist. One day soon I will need to sketch them!
Addendum....a few days later.....
May you have both a serene and exciting New Year!
1 comment:
Great photos Linda. Te fog seems to take off all the sharp corners and rough edges.
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