Kubota Gardens - 7/16/14

A good day, it started with my rehab…I did 65 minutes and covered (while standing in one place) 4.75 miles!! I know!! When I first got on the elliptical in early May I barely did six minutes and I was totally winded!! Totally!!

Well, enough bragging about myself. Unless you'd like to hear a little more…and I could add some pictures…only if, y'know, you want.

No!?! 

Pffftt, well then we'll go to the Gardens.

But first, before we head off into the blistering heat, let's look at the latest entry in our SquareBob SpongePants collection. 

We caught this little beauty in our local WalMart. Honestly, it seems like we can find at least ONE SquareBob SpongePants item in every store we go into. It's kind of a sad commentary on our commercialism and how the market is saturated with items branded with cartoon characters aimed at kids.

Here he is, again. SquareBob SpongePants the backpack. 

Only $9.88.

It was that kind of a day, a lazy day. 

I got antsy around noon so I grabbed Carol and we headed out the the Kubota Garden

Hidden in South Seattle, Kubota Garden is a stunning 20 acre landscape that blends japanese garden concepts with native Northwest plants.

Seattle acquired the property in 1987 from the estate of master landscaper, Fujitaro Kubota, hence the name.

Kubota was a horticultural pioneer when he began merging Japanese design techniques with North American materials in his display garden in 1927.

The Gardens are a spectacular setting of hills and valleys, interlaced with streams, waterfalls, ponds and bridges with a rich array of plant material.

And, it never fails, every time I go there I get lost.

Every time.

'Nuff said.

Here's the entryway into the park which is, amazingly, still free to the public.

Shhhhhh... 

Don't say anything otherwise someone will realize they're losing money and start charging an entrance fee. 

Shhhhhh…

There weren't a lot of flowering plants there. I expected, y'know, a garden to have plenty of flowers. What we got were a lot of shrubbery and an occasional flower.

Like these...

We saw some unusual flowers like these that, really, don't look too flowery at all. More like parchment paper. I have this preconception of what a flower should look like and these just don't fit. Flowers should have color and Nature has given these a pale, light green color. And they're flat…flowers have curves and shapes.

Still, an interesting flower. I wonder what they gain by being that flat and that color? It has to serve some purpose.

Now, did you see the Bee?

Look close!! 

There he is, just a bit right of center. Doing his thing.

Didn't see him? How bout now?

EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!!

And then, this lovely arrangement. 

It was a hot day. I mean, really hot. I mean first time I really felt uncomfortable hot. So we were meandering and moving slow. With plenty of breaks…in the shade.

And plenty of time to catch things like this. It's like a floral arrangement.

Then there was this tree and it light-tipped leaves. Hard to tell in this pic. Trust me, they were.

Another dry and parchment-like flower. This one has a little color, though.

I don't think the two are related other than they were planted close together. Nice contrast, eh? Go on, you can say it, "Jack takes GREAT pictures."

I know you're thinking it.

This one is included because it looks like a piece of modern art. A painting if you will.

But look at the stamen. Isn't that something else!?!

More flat, dry and parchment-like flowers. I didn't notice it until just now but there seems to have been a lot of flowers sharing these same characteristics. And flat, too.

Just different colors.

Maybe they are related to those small bunches in the background. 

Hmmmmm...

Doggone it!! I just realized!!! No B&W!!

Ratz!!

But, I got another, 

EXTREME CLOSE-UP!!!

This ol' boy has seen better times, eh?

And, these good ol' boys were out in force today. Doing their thing.

Finally got lucky and got one of them to sit still long enough for my camera to focus.

Finally.

Break time!! 

Let's see…

Shade? Check!

Bench? Check!

Let's take a break.

And thank goodness we did. Because, right in front of us in the grass were these little beauties.

The next three pictures are of flowers that were less than a half inch in width. Tiny little things.

I shot them with the zoom. 

Ka-Pow!!

Look at the stamen. Busy.

Then, by accident, (and, honestly, most of my photography is what I call a Happy Accident) I got this fellow busily at work on a small flower. 

I didn't even see him until I got home and unloaded the pictures.

Then I moved a bit and got this one. 

And, yeah, another happy accident. For some reason I do not understand, the background was dark so the flower stood out.

Happy. Accident.

'Nuff said.

Love my little cameras. They've opened up new worlds for me.

I got these from a distance, using the zoom again. Kind of a nice confusion.

Then Carol, who is a source of inspiration for a lot of these pictures, suggested I shoot up into the trees. Stress the lines upward and maybe get some drama from the sun behind the tree.

So I did.

There is a certain beauty in trees. I just haven't been able to capture it yet.

But I'll keep trying.

Oh, look!! I tried again!!

OK, it's a start. This one didn't work because the sky got blasted out. 

Hmmmmm, I'll do better next time.

They have a couple of ponds there, in the Gardens. And they're stocked with Koi.

Is that right? I call them Big Goldfish but I'm told the correct name is Koi.

Anyway, they have a lot of Big Goldfish in them.

Like this guy.

And then they have these guys. They skate across the water. Amazing.

Look at this flower. 

It's a Grinch with a French Mustache!!

Right!!

Nature's got a great sense of humor.

And an eye for beauty.

And they have several small creeks or rills (go look it up!) They stumble down the sides of the small hills and feed into the ponds.

Let's see; 

Shade? Check!!

Bench? Check!!

Water running nearby? Check!!

Break time!!

A detail of a small fern.

Love the zoom.

Love the beauty that Nature presents to us each and every day.

Ahhhhh, break time.

OK, back to the water.

And water lilies. Well, the pads at least.

No lilies were present to be shot in this episode.

Some duck weed. And their shadows. 

Here's Evinrude. Don't blame me, Carol named him.

I got several shots of Ol' Evinrude so count yourself lucky I only put in the one.

Still, pretty good for a little ol' camera and a long, long lens.

ARTSY-FARTSY ALERT!!

The next two pictures are my lame-o attempts at A*R*T.

Haha, I know. Quit laughing so hard, you'll hurt yourself.

The first one is lame but this one has a bit of a chance. Both shots are of one of the two bridges in the park. It's their reflection. I just felt I had to state the obvious there. That they're reflections.

A detail of a Hasta leaf, a low-light plant. Anyway, they have humongus leaves. This is the backside of one of these broadleaf plants.

H*A*P*P*Y A*C*C*I*D*E*N*T

Seriously, this was a spur-of-the-moment shot taken with the minimum of thought.

And it came out OK.

Like this one. Another H.A.

Did I mention it was hot today? It was.

The sun, she was shining. A lot.

And I got another shot looking up towards the sun. I was trying for a back-lighting effect.

Hooah!!

Carol's pick. She loves the nuances of the color contrasted against the bark of the tree.

A nice play of color and light.

We really enjoyed ourselves, despite the heat, walking and talking and shooting.

And seeing.

I saw this reed and it had three of these joints with skinny branches or leafs radiating outward from the reed.

When we got back we played with it and got these three pictures from the same shot. And we only used one of the joints from the three in that picture.

My first interpretation. Looking at the branches and the joint.

Then Carol wanted a close-up of the joint.

Same picture, different cropping = Different picture.

I know, cool.

Then Carol, and she's more creative than she allows herself credit for, suggested we turn the whole thing on its head.

And we got this. Same joint, same picture, different interpretation.

Nice, eh?

I shot a bush as we were leaving and was just about ready to delete it (WHAT!! You actually delete pictures!?!?! I never would have believed it!!!) when I saw this growing out of the top right corner of the picture. 

I used some EXTREME cropping, this was a small detail, and got this interesting composition.

Colors and patterns of the backlit leaves.

And how else should you end a rewarding trip to the Kubota Gardens on one of the hottest days Seattle has seen in a LONG, LONG time??

You go to McDonald's and treat yourself to a ice-cream cone!!

And, we did.

Hooah!!

Got to see a lot of new things today; got out and got to walk around; AND got a great excuse to go and get ourselves an ice-cream cone.

Whew, tomorrow is suppose to be only 78 degrees. 

Finally.