Seattle: Danny Woo International District Community Garden

How's the weather where you are? Here in Seattle it's been pretty grey and chilly the last few weeks, as the stereotype of the city likes to suggest. To be fair, this late fall season of 2019 has actually been pretty mild compared to recent decades, with low-snowfall occurring in the mountainous areas up north and a light drizzle rather than a downpour. Mild, of course, is not to suggest that it's been particularly sunny or warm- simply that it's not as chilly as it should be. Could that be global warming at work? You betcha! I'm not going to lecture you about the climate situation right here and now, but it's certainly a topic we should all be mindful of, if not deeply invested in. #Reduce, #Reuse, #Recycle . I'll step off of my tiny soap box now...

If you so happen to find yourself in the city of Seattle and able to partake of this especially "mild" late-fall season, you could pop over to the Danny Woo International District Community Garden for a quick stroll between bites, since it's mere steps away from one of the main drags of the International district, with access to a wide array of delicious restaurants within either short walking or driving distance. There are many public gardens dotting the cityscape of Seattle and they're all as unique as the areas they thrive in, so I think it's worth taking some time to visit them when you spot them. On the day we visited this garden there was a consistent drizzle plopping down upon us, so the garden grounds were well-saturated and a bit soggy, to say the least. It's probably better to visit when it's less likely to be so over-hydrated, but this is Seattle we're talking about, so your mileage may vary. While the ground may have squelched a bit below our feet, and we may have slipped a smidgeon once or twice, we quite enjoyed our visit and were happy to have found this little green gem tucked in among the sloped streets of the International district. Besides, it's good for your health to take a walk in nature, so not only are you upping your step count but getting to take in some hidden nature!

Seattle: Japanese Garden

It probably goes without saying, but just in case you need to be reminded, I'm absolutely and utterly enamored with the country of Japan, from the beautiful scenery of the natural landscapes to the dense urban sprawl of Tokyo to the kind-hearted and incredibly generous people I met along the way, there's something just so magical about the place. Given this state of affairs, it should come as no surprise that when I learned of Seattle's Japanese garden, conveniently located within the gorgeous and expansive Washing University Arboteum, there was no doubt that we had to go. The 3 and a half acre park was constructed under the guidance of Juki Iida, a renowned designer of Japanese gardens, during the 1960s and has remained a fixture of the Seattle gardens scene ever since. The Emerald City itself is home to roughly 6,000 acres of parks, so even if you're not much of a Japanophile the city will have something green and gorgeous to appeal to you. This is a city that takes it public greenery seriously, and for that, among other reasons, I'm all the more in love with it. 

There's a reasonable fee for admission, but as I said, it's reasonable. You can park for free at the Arboretum nearby, which is a rare gift to find in Seattle. The grounds are meticulously maintained, and while it was a rainy day during our visit there were still plenty of people walking about taking in the beauty of the place. It was still the midst of fall during our stroll, so shades of red, orange and yellow burst through the green to add a spark of vivacity to the surroundings. It was an absolutely lovely stroll, even in the drizzling rain, and I look forward to seeing the garden again under the light of another season! It definitely gave me some hard nostalgic pangs for my time living in Japan, and for that, I have to applaud the designer. They knew exactly what they were doing since they were a professional designer of these gardens in Japan! 

There are plenty more photos to come, but if you ever get the chance to visit the gardens in person I seriously encourage you to do so! There's only so much I can capture in a photo, after all...

Seattle: Washington Park Arboretum

If you're a consumer of cannabis, which is now legal for recreational in 10 US states, you've likely heard of terpenes before at your local dispensary. If you're not a cannabis user, and the word terpene sounds like some crazy drug terminology, chill out, man, it's good stuff. Terpenes are aromatic oils released by plants that help them to communicate, and there are different kinds that can help you out in different ways- from easing the pain of migraines and muscular aches, to fighting infection or even depression. Think of them like essential oils, like how you can use lavender to help reduce stress! Given the history of marijuana prohibition through the US, it wasn't until more recent years that the study of terpenes in that particular crop and how it affects us has been done, but scientists throughout Japan and Korea have been finding that the terpenes and other compounds released by trees (forests) are extremely beneficial for human health and well-being.  Just walking among the trees for a brief, casual stroll can boost your immune system measurably, and the more time you spend among the foliage the better for your well-being. Pretty cool. We all know we should try to spend more time outdoors, with our modern, sedentary lifestyles leading us to wrap up and nestle into our climate controlled dwellings, but we're beings of the earth and need to get out there and actually experience it from time to time. It's good for your health!

If you're in or near the Seattle area, you're in luck. Not only is the Emerald city absolutely studded with trees at nearly every opportunity, there are roughly 6,000 acres of public parks incorporated into the city! There are so many options to get out and immerse yourself in nature, or to even just walk alongside a tree-laned path downtown to help break up the concrete and asphalt of the urban jungle. One of the parks you could visit, should you choose to do so, is the Washington Park Arboretum. This park alone comprises 230 acres, with distinct areas dedicated to different trees, so that you can better understand and appreciate the diversity of this common constituent of the local environment. It's free to park, and free to enter, and there's so much ground to cover that you can spend hours casually strolling and soaking in all those delicious terpenes. The longer you wander, the better for your health, after all! Not to mention the step count going up on your pedometer, if you're into that sort of thing.  I've been keeping track for years now, and I find it a valuable measure of how active I'm being, but to each their own. 

As I mentioned above, the Arboretum is free to park and free to enter! They do have a small gift shop near one of the parking areas, and we took the opportunity to grab a mycology book that Antho had heard good things about. They also offer coffee and tea, which is great for warming up on those chilly days!

More photos below~

Road Tripping: Hornets and flowers, St. George, Utah

Look at that big, bright, beautiful butt. Don't let the appearances fool you, though- it's got a terrible stinger on the end of it! And lucky for them (but not for us humans), unlike their cousins the bees who have to kamikaze and rip their own guts out when they sting you (making the majority of bees far more hesitant to sting unless absolutely necessary) hornets can happily keep stinging and stinging until they feel satisfied that any and all threat has gotten the message; "F**k off!"

Yeah, hornets are jerks. They're pretty awful, and because they know their stings come with an unlimited (or nearly) supply of ammunition they're not hesitant about using them and can get rather aggressive. Because of this fact, we had to be extremely cautious in our efforts to capture photos of them. We managed to get these without receiving any unwanted pokes or prods from the models, but we quickly ceased our photo shoot when they grew agitated. While pain is often equated with the price of beauty, we were in absolutely no need of pain on this particular day. 

I believe these particular beauties to be the European wasp variety, given their bright brown and yellow coloration and extra-large size. There's also yellowjackets in the area, but they tend to be smaller, about an inch or less, while these guys were well over an inch in length. Whatever their particular strain, their stings still suck so we noped out as soon as they got tired of our attention. I can't recall being stung by a hornet or wasp any time in my lifetime, though I've been stung by bees and know I had no allergies when I was a kid it's not a risk I'd like to take.  They are fascinating creatures, though, those insects. Personally, I like studying them from a safe distance, ideally. How about you?

Vegas: Springs Preserve Botanical Gardens May 2018

No visit to the Springs Preserve would be complete without taking some time to explore their gardens! Now, I know what you may be thinking; but isn't it all pretty much gardens? Well...yes...technically speaking, that would be correct, however there's a separate botanical gardens area near the butterfly exhibit full of edible plants and cultivated raised beds where they offer lessons and classes! You can even send the kiddies off to a gardening summer camp to learn about the fun of growing your own. While I've never caught any of the lessons, Antho and I have explored the area and tried to make note of the various new fruits and veggies coming in with the changing seasons. On one visit we might find an abundance of chili peppers scattered among the many bushes near the Sustainability gallery (there's a lot of garden, after all) or mint and basil flourishing. Sometimes there's a bunch of little green tomatoes like on this visit, other times the bell peppers or squash steal the show. It's always quite exciting to me how many different plants and animals can thrive in this seemingly inhospitable climate. Our land is often more compacted sand and pebbles than deep brown loam, but the evidence is right here in the Preserve that in spite of our scorching summers, gardening is absolutely possible. It may pose more of a challenge than other regions, but with enough tenacity and know-how it's possible! Luckily for us, the volunteers at the Preserve, along with the various farmer's markets we have here in Vegas, make it easy to speak to knowledgeable people with experience on how to find your gardening groove with this land. If you're not keen on trying the DIY approach, you can simply stroll the gardens here and admire all the beautiful results of their work over the seasons, or check out the butterfly exhibit, the OriGen Museum, the Nevada State Museum, the Zoo or Waterworks and Boomtown, or come out for one of their holiday events!There's a lot to see here! It's no secret that the Springs Preserve makes the short-list of my favorite things to do in Vegas. 

As I've mentioned before, the gardens are always changing as a result of the seasonal shift in temperatures. This never ceases to entertain and fascinate me, as I think being born and raised primarily in the city lends a lot of us to dissociate from the seasonal nature of things. I really appreciated the awareness of it I found in Japan, and the use of seasonal produce is obsessively followed and planned for in the cuisine. There's a prime season for each and every fruit and vegetable, and being in tune with that makes it easier to get the best flavors and results in your cooking. It's a secret a lot of chefs know and utilise, which is why it should surprise no one that a lot of the culinary geniuses occupying this city can be found at the farmers markets or any of the specialty markets scouring out the best of the best of that season's offerings. Going into summer, I'm excited for all the tomatoes that will be available! A good tomato sandwich is a gloriously simple and delicious thing. Antho is especially fond of fried green tomatoes, which prelude the big beefy red ripe ones of later days. 

 

More photos below!

Vegas: May visit to the Springs Preserve part two

Invariably, another post about my much beloved Springs Preserve rears its head here upon my wee little blog. I apologize in advance for any this abundance of flowers and animals and things may upset, offend or otherwise make grumpy. This place happens to be one of my happy places here in the city of Las Vegas, a real escape without having to go-too-far, an oasis in the city of sin. Long story short, it's pretty here and there are lots of flowers and animals to ogle for your relaxation and optical entertainment. I've found no end to the amount of amusement I've been able to glean from this place, between their butterfly exhibit, the Origen museum, Boomtown and Water works, or the external wildlands where you can hike among the less-tended grounds. There's even a restaurant on site if you grow hungry and want a salad or tasty wrap! Not to mention the endless parade of different events they have going on throughout the year for all the different holidays. Such a fun place and really great to take the whole family! We go for date days out, because it's nice to stroll the grounds together and look at all the flowers and details. The staff has always been extremely pleasant and friendly when we've talked to them, and we've felt welcomed here. 

...at least, when it comes to the human occupants!

This little bird above didn't seem too pleased with our presence here, and while we were able to get some awesome photos of him, we eventually decided to leave him be and move along before he got too fed up with the attention. Thanks for your cooperation, little friend! Cheers.

It was a warm and beautiful day out and we enjoyed this visit immensely. There will be plenty more photos below, thanks in part to our little bird friend above being kind enough to model for us, along with my propensity towards taking an exorbitant amount of photographs on any given outing. Hope you enjoy this glimpse into our life! 

Vegas: May Visit to the Springs Preserve part one

Another Springs Preserve post! Can you believe it? I know, readers, I certainly like to drivel on about this place a lot, but it's endlessly evolving and so much fun to visit!

This post is, unfortunately, a bit delayed in going live given that it's from a visit last month. It's been a hectic month or so, though, with new jobs and changing schedules, adventures, out-of-town work requiring road tripping, and all sorts of other excitement. I've touched on this outing a little bit already, having shared our visit with the friendly tortoise and the snazzy Gila monster, but these photos will cover more of the open grounds from when you first enter the preserve itself. The Springs Preserve is massive, with a lot to try to take in on any given visit and then it changes with every season and holiday to boot, making it an endlessly fascinating place to stop at while here in lovely Las Vegas. Antho and I got annual memberships after our very first visit in the September of 2017, and we've gone time and time, and time, and time, again since then! There's a museum with rotating exhibits, live animals to check out, then gardens and hiking paths galore. It's pretty epic. Not only is there the animals in their zoo, but plenty of wild animals stop in, too, like this cute little green guy above. Nature doing nature stuff. 

This particular visit took place on a warm, beautiful, sunny day in early May. I guess you'd say that was the tail end of spring by Vegas standards, as we start to get into the high 80's / low 90's (Fahrenheit) by the end of May, if not higher. Once the heat really settles in, it takes hold for months on end with only brief thunderstorms and heavy rains surprising us once or twice, if we're lucky. Those summer monsoons provide much-needed moisture to the drought-ridden desert landscape, along with providing some flash-floods that catch unwitting drivers by surprise. You win some, you lose some. The ground is so hard packed here that when we do finally get that rainfall the land so desperately needs, it tends to collect on the surface and run into the lowest points of elevation before eventually draining. There's an extensive system of tunnels and drainage tubes underneath the city of Las Vegas, because even though our rain is few and far between it tends to come with quite a flash.

  

Despite our drought conditions, life does thrive here. From lizards to birds, spiders to mountain lions, there are plenty of creatures that have adapted to survive the terrain. Plantlife, too, has adapted to these tough conditions. 

More photos below~

Korea: Yangjae Citizen's Forest part two

Not only is the Yangjae Citizen's Forest park a beautiful place to take a stroll or have a (boozy-optional) picnic and forget about your worries for awhile, but there's a lot more to the location than that. There are historically significant statutes commemorating brave Koreans of yonder years, exhibits, tennis courts, bicycle rentals, playgrounds, a small shop selling snacks, even a public library box! The Yangjae river connects this area to the Yangjae River Neighborhood Park so if you like feeding the fish or aquatic settings that's a lovely spot nearby to check out. I spent a fair bit of time there feeding the fish! I love watching them squirm about gulping for food as they get whirled up into a feeding frenzy. I'm also keen on areas with lots of water, having been a swimmer for much of my childhood. Here in the Vegas desert, we have to rely on swimming pools or our man-made lakes, or drive out for the Colorado river...or we can take an even longer road trip out to the ocean, 4+ hours away. My love of water made living in Japan, and then Korea, especially wonderful because rivers or the beach were never too far away... and as much as people love to complain about the rainy seasons, I absolutely adore them! It's always a novelty for me, this concept of water falling from the sky. It's pretty rare in my hometown, and when it does it's usually a brief downpour that floods the streets then recedes quickly. Being near the oceans, I loved seeing all the seafood in the markets and exploring coastlines and tide pools whenever possible!  

All this hydration in the environment also translates to lush greenery and foliage, and a bounty of living creatures thriving among it. You could almost forget that you're in the middle of the capital city. 

I watched squirrels spazzing through the leaves in their hyper-active acrobatics, birds sassing humans on the tennis courts, and several other humans enjoying this park in my visit. It was a beautiful day with glorious weather and I'm so grateful I went out and took this trek. It was much needed and I felt more at ease and at peace. Funny how nature can do that, even when it's confined to a plot of land in the city. Thanks, nature, for always, uh, finding a way.

More photos after the cut!

Korea: Yangjae Citizen's Forest part one

After scoping out the adjacent Yangjae-River neighborhood park, I made my way to the Citizen's Forest park. I'm not entirely sure whether these two parks are their own distinct entities or complementary parts of one whole park, though I'd be likely to guess the latter. If any of you out there in internet-land reading this knows with more certainty than I, please let me know! As rare as it is, I can, on occasion, be mistaken. Shocking, I know. Horrifying, indeed. 😜 What can I say? I'm only human, after all...

Whatever the technical case may be, this (these?) parks are absolutely worth a visit! The citizen's forest has existed in Seoul for over 30 years now. One thing Seoul does well is utilize it's precious public spaces for maximum utility and benefit as well as aesthetically appealing design. Every neighborhood will have a public park or communal area, likely with exercise equipment. You can get a pretty epic work out just walking around the neighborhood and trying out whatever equipment you encounter, but if you feel more like going for a stroll the Citizen's Forest is an especially green and appealing area. There were squirrels! And so many different birds and butterflies! You can get snacks or even bring in booze and have a tipsy-picnic! Feel the breeze in your hair and chuck some popcorn at carp, sip some tea and let out a deep breath. Wave Hello! to the curious older gentleman watching you feed the fish. When the weather is this beautiful and the park this green, it's hard to be in a bad mood. It's hard to believe you're actually in the middle of the bustling capital of South Korea when you're sitting in the shade of a large tree watching squirrels scamper and tumble through the leaves. 

I needed this.

They say that being in nature is good for you, and I believe it. Sometimes a girl just needs to get away from it all and sit in the grass, or take a long aimless walk without worrying about deadlines or distances. Just taking in the scenery. Just reminiscing over the photos is calming and I can almost feel the breeze tickling the little hairs on the back of my neck again... can you? 

More photos after the cut...

Korea: Ilsan Lake Park Fall 2016

Ilsan Lake Park is a residential park a relatively short-ish trip out from Seoul city proper. It's only one or two stops past Hwajeong on the line 3 trains (get off at Jeongbalsan, exit 2) and is a really pleasant place to spend an afternoon or even a full day. During my visit the weather was splendid, sunny and warm without being overwhelmingly humid or sweaty, perfect for a leisurely hike. After lounging around a bit to let my lunch digest and then checking out the animal exhibit nearby, I continued my exploration of the park. It's a pretty big place, and I could spend countless hours here! During this visit I had to mind the angle of the sun as I had quite a long walk ahead for myself and wanted to have some light left near the end of it if possible. There's a lot to see and do inside the park itself, though, like checking out the toilet museum or the various different gardens... if you're more into running or biking there are tracks looping around the park specifically for those purposes! If you'd prefer to relax and watch the birds there are plenty of benches and bird houses to enjoy. It's truly a lovely park and something I was happy to have so close to where I was staying. I didn't get to visit the park as much as I'd have liked, but these things happen. Seoul is such an active and lively city it's really hard to fit everything there is to do into any visit, even one that's 6 months! The seasonal changes here are quite pronounced, too, so it's well worth it to see the different destinations in their different stages throughout the year. This visit having been towards the middle-end of summer or early fall, it was still lovely out and the foliage lush and green. I imagine it's a bit more toned down during the winter, then gorgeous come spring. Perhaps in the future someday Antho and I will get to find out. We have some plans for future travel and living abroad, but they're still just in the planning stage yet. You know I'm not going to let that opportunity go to waste, though! 💗

For now, enjoy the photos!

More photos below!

Las Vegas: Early 2018 Springs Preserve visit

It had been a while since we last popped over to the Springs Preserve for a visit, so we decided to make the trek over recently. It's still a little chilly out, for Vegas standards, but the garden was looking pretty lively with all the sunshine and warmer temps that have been occurring recently. We ended up only spending an hour or two on this visit as we found ourselves growing hungry towards the end, and looking at exhibits we had already spent some time with previously. I'd hoped that we might catch some more activity in their animal exhibits during this visit, but everybody was pretty sleepy so there wasn't much going on. It happens, though! The butterfly exhibit should be re-opening soon, so we're excited about that, and there's all sorts of new exhibits going on now! During this visit they were  still doing the training for the most recent virtual reality experience, so we personally weren't able to experience it but the employees looked like they were having a good time of it. We'll definitely be back to check it out now that it's open to the public! 

There's always so many new exhibits and shows coming through the preserve, and they're always re-decorating for the latest holiday. It's a lot of fun going for a visit when we get the chance and it's really quite affordable after investing in their annual pass. We didn't have to pay anything for this visit!  It's always a great opportunity for photography too as the grounds are quite photogenic, and there's always new flowers coming in to bloom with the changing weather. I'm quite grateful that +Antho Jay  got us the annual passes last year for my birthday, and we've gotten quite good use out of them in my estimation of things. I always look forward to our visits and revel in the opportunity to improve upon my photography skills and understanding of my camera by practicing with all the gorgeous blooms. We've always enjoyed our visits to the Springs Preserve and the employees have always been courteous, even when the girl at the ticketing booth shouted at us to make sure we were paying customer upon entry this time. Poor girl was only doing her job, after all, and was an absolute doll once she knew we weren't trying to sneak in or anything. I can get that. I've got nothing bad to say about the Springs Preserve!