Nature is front and center in a Japanese garden but not wild, untended nature. It’s carefully curated to appear entirely natural.
I call this sort of shape a Dr. Seuss tree as that’s what it reminds me of. 🙂
The boat on the lake adds so much to the look of the whole.
More red berries…
…and a fuzzy bud.
Don’t you feel more relaxed even though these are only photos? Serenity is key in this sort of garden.
“It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“I will be calm. I will be mistress of myself.”
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
One of the joys of the internet is the ability to find quotes quickly, either by Googling/googling or by stealing them from someone’s blog. 🙂 I believe the quote I’m using today came from The Writing Sisters blog, although I’m not positive. It fits in perfectly with the current Weekly Photo Challenge, Serenity, or with any discussion of the place of technology, disconnecting for our own good, and so on. But it directly speaks about travel, whether to a place or through life, and what we lose by the hurrying of our journey, a loss brought about so easily by technology and the general pace of life today. Take a few moments to really reflect on this and think what you might do in light of what O’Donohue writes. Then enjoy your Saturday (and Sunday)…slowly and thoughtfully.
Traditionally, a journey was a rhythm of three forces: time, self and space. Now the digital virus has truncated time and space. Marooned on each instant, we have forfeited the practice of patience. . .The self has become anxious for what the next instant might bring. The greed for destination obliterates the journey.
But a great journey needs plenty of time. It should not be rushed; if it is, your life becomes a kind of abstract package tour devoid of beauty and meaning. There is such a constant whirr of movement that you never know where you are. You have no time to give yourself to the present experience. When you accumulate experiences at such a tempo, everything becomes thin. Consequently, you become ever more absent from your life and this fosters emptiness that haunts the heart.
When you take the time to travel with reverence, a richer life unfolds before you. Moments of beauty begin to brand your days. When your mind becomes more acquainted with reverence, the light, grace and elegance of beauty find you more frequently.
Raindrops hang on leaves and dot the deck.
Grey clouds cover the sun that only those in airplanes are seeing now.
But the humidity is gone. (more…)
This, that and the other thing 