J is for Japanese Garden: A Free to See #AtoZChallenge Post

A fountain at the Japanese Garden with the water reclamation plant behind it

I'm living in southern California this year, and decided to use my exploration of the area as my focus for the #AtoZChallenge. I'm concentrating on free to see places, though I will include locations that require a parking fee. This is the tenth post in the series.

SuihoEn (The Japanese Garden) in Van Nuys is a peaceful gem--and peace is what I needed after trying to follow my phone's navigation to find the place. If you exit the 405 freeway at Victory Blvd, turn south on Woodley Ave and keep driving until you see a big white sign in the median. Then turn left into the parking lot. You will need to stop at the guard gate, as the parking lot is shared with the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant. Parking and admission is free.

The day I visited, some of the garden was under renovation, so not all of the paths were open. Even at that, I enjoyed strolling through the grounds. Though there were quite a few other visitors as well, it didn't feel crowded.

Cherry blossoms bloom behind the water reclamation building

Though the cherry trees were in bloom, the paths that went close to the trees were closed for renovation. They were still pretty from a distance.

Cherry trees bloom across the lake

Statues, bridges, and fountains added beauty to the gardens.

A concrete statue sits on a boulder at the edge of the lake

A gracefully arched bridge crosses the water

The video below shows a bamboo piece slowly filling up with water, then dumping the water out only to repeat the process:

It did not take long to walk through the Japanese Garden, but it was a nice place to visit.

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Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another

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Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this

KJ Scrim, WriterApril 12, 2024 at 12:08 PM
I have never been there before. It is a beautiful garden. If you love plants, visit my A to Z Challenge blogs that are all about desert plants (perfect for So. Cali too). Here's a link to a post on the Jojoba: https://arbitrarydustbunnies.com/2024/04/12/jojoba/
messymimiApril 14, 2024 at 7:40 PM
I enjoy Japanese gardens wherever I find them.

Thankful Me

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