Week Four

     As per the detailed outline I put into the sabbatical grant application, I took Jasmyn and Aislynn on a longer garden tour of CA this last week, most of it in Southern California.

    We visited Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, Descanso Gardens in LA, Huntington gardens, library and art museums, California Botanical Gardens, Fullerton Arboretum, San Diego Botanical Gardens, Balboa Park with all of its gardens, the San Diego Zoo (which in itself is also a botanical garden), and finally drove to Monterey from San Diego and went to the aquarium.  I loved all of them, each in its own way.  Huntington was amazing and expansive, I valued the native CA plants in the botanical gardens, the Fullerton arboretum with its beautiful trees was a place of true serenity and peace, and the zoo was such an incredible place that we ended up spending 9 hours there!  Still, I think Descanso was all of our favorite.  Ironically, it was the only garden we hadn't planned ahead of time to visit.  It came up as I was scrolling through local gardens when we were in LA and decided to try it out.  It was amazing.  It started off with a gift as well.  Jasmyn was wearing their Mount Holyoke sweatshirt, and the woman who was selling tickets for entry saw it.  She said she, too, was a Mount Holyoke alum, and she gave us free entry just because that's the kind of community the alum of Mount Holyoke share.  

    Many gifts came from this time including a lot of laughter, silliness and singing with the two of my adult children, unexpected kindnesses from strangers, and opportunities for good conversation and food as well.  We were listening to a book on tape as we drove about octopuses (we learned "octopi" is not the correct plural) that was moving as well as educational. Of course the best part of the trip was the time with my kids.  And the secondary gift was the incredible beauty of all the gardens. I ended up walking Balboa park gardens and Fullerton arboretum by myself: A and J were just too worn out.  But there were gifts in that as well.  I love trees, especially redwood trees and to have some quiet time by myself provided unexpected quiet alone time.  I connected with some birds and other animals as well who seemed as interested in me as I was in them. I have more to say, but frankly, I'm a bit worn out.  I hope to have more opportunity to write over the next couple days, though I will also be packing for 6 weeks in Europe.  

    Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble with my photos, and ended up spending over 8 hours trying to get my photos from my phone to my computer.  Since the memory space in my phone demands I move the photos off the phone so I have room to take more, it was a discouraging experience.  The videos I took at the zoo, in particular, appear to be completely lost: as long as I keep them on my phone, I can see them, but I can't move them with any success. Still, that's definitely a problem of privilege.  David and I leave Saturday for Europe and I'm considering that maybe the whole photo problem is an invitation to put down the phone and actually just BE on the trip.  I can let David be the photographer, and then Jonah when I walk part of the Camino with him.  I will try, none the less, to include a few here.  Blessings on your week!