I absolutely love volunteering as an interpreter in the Ordway Gardens in Como Park in St. Paul!
I learn a great deal about the Japanese Garden while there. This lantern located in the tea garden is assembled from the parts of five other lanterns by Masami Matsuda in 1991, Nagasaki's ninth generation landscape gardener. From the beginning of the garden's design, members of the St Paul's sister city, Nagasaki, worked with Como to bring examples of Japanese culture to the garden and the people of Minnesota.
Those Japanese gardens are always very special, everything has a symbolic meaning. Nice to work there.
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE volunteering at a Japanese garden. I'm feeling envious. :)
ReplyDeleteNot a BIG tea guy, but did partake in 'high tea' once. Like the lantern though.
ReplyDeleteNice post and I like your Mantras. If you are ever in Seattle you would probably enjoy the Asian Art Museum.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marianne, there's something very tranquil about Japanese gardens, I can tell that you enjoy you visits a lot Kate.
ReplyDeletebeautiful. i have some asian decor in my yard and in my home. a few pieces are quite old and unique. love them.
ReplyDeleteI do love learning new things.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a peaceful place to spend some time.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely lantern and I would like these gardens very much. You are fluent in Japanese? How so?
ReplyDeleteLowell, You give me too much credit. Fluent in Japanese? Don't i wish! By interpreter it merely means that we volunteers interpret various aspects of the culture, the garden, Bonsai trees, etc. to visitors who are interested. We went thru a training period to learn the history of the garden and various other cultural tidbits. It's a popular spot with many people who visit the Park. My name, if you noticed tho. is often found in a Japanese name. e. g. Murakami, etc. Found a Mura market on Honolulu years ago, too. When I was flying years ago--the darker side of my life--Japanese passengers always did a double take when seeing my name tag. So there you have it. Any more questions?!
DeleteI too envy your time in a Japanese garden.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that the lantern is a composite of five other ones! We wanted to put one in our garden...until we priced it. Stone ones like this don't fit a tight budget.
That's quite fascinating, I would never have guessed!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place to volunteer!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kate. Now it all makes sense, although some might say you probably were Japanese in a previous life, but I don't believe in that kind of thing! :) What I really want to know about is "the darker side" of your life!
ReplyDeleteWhat happens on an airplane, stays on an airplane!!
DeleteOkay...I'll go along with that, but I can't help thinking about...what was that...mile-high...darn, the rest of it doesn't come to me.
ReplyDeleteI imagine it's quite peaceful there.
ReplyDeleteWe have a beautiful Japanese Tea Garden in Ft.. Worth. I always feel a sense of peace there.
ReplyDeleteI answered your question about the grocery trip :)