BLOEDEL RESERVE

Bloedel Reserve. Bainbridge Island. A beautiful day in a wonderfully curated set of gardens with excellent company.

FLOWERING BONSAI

I have visited the Pacific Bonsai Museum many times, but have never been there in the spring when the trees are in bloom. I rectified that today.

Two of the flowering plum trees were in peak bloom. There were many other bonsai—juniper, sweet gum, Gravenstein apple, Japanese maple, azalea—with new growth. Buds and infant leaves were just starting to appear. I'm glad I visited!

BONSAI SOLSTICE

Tonight was the annual Bonsai Solstice at Pacific Bonsai Museum, an event I anticipate each year. This year's display of trees had three that were adorned in lights. One was dressed in "classic" Christmas bulbs, another was framed with angular blue LED tube lighting that looked like neon tubing, and my favorite looked like it was draped in radioactive yellow pasta noodles.

THE VIOLENCE of CLIMATE CHANGE

I attended "The Violence of Climate Change" by Dr. Kevin O' Brien, professor of religion and environmental ethicist at Pacific Lutheran University. His presentation was hosted by Christ Episcopal Church of Tacoma.

He posed two main questions to us:

1. How should Christians respond to climate change?
2. What kind of problem is climate change.

He tackled the second question first, and admitted that it was so complex that anyone who claimed they completely understood climate change is lying. Instead we defined it as a multifaceted problem:

• It's a justice problem.
• It's a youth movement.
• It's a problem of colonialism.
• It's a religious problem.
• It's a political problem.
• It's an economic problem.

But, more importantly, it's a "wicked problem." That means that climate change (a) has no single definition; (b) adapts and changes across time and space; and (c) has no ultimate solution, although it embraces many responses.

And, climate change is a problem of violence. Creation bears our violence. Creation suffers our violence. Climate change is destroying homes, destroying land, destroying livelihoods, hence, it is violent. Ultimately, climage change is a problem of structural violence.

Some symptoms and problems of structural violence:

• All are complicit, but not equally so.
• Those who perpetrate and benefit from violence are often unaware of it.
• Multiple forms of violence intersect. 

To answer the initial question of "How should Christians respond to climate change?" Professor O'Brien highlighted the mission and ministry of two examples of pushing back against structural violence: Martin Luther King Jr. and Dorothy Day. These two modern-day prophets were shown to be beacons of hope in a difficult issue that can birth a lot of despair. But MLK and Day also didn't puch back against the extremes of the problems but those in the "middle" or mainstream.

"If you are fighting the extreme, you are more likely to feel the despair I'm talking about."

—Kevin O'Brien

In a call to action, we were reminded that because problems intersect, they need to be confronted by coalitions!

BONSAI SOLSTICE

One of my favorite seasonal events is Bonsai Solstice at the Pacific Bonsai Museum. This year, we went a bit earlier than we typically do, getting there right at sunset (4:20 p.m.) and so we still had a bit of dwindling daylight around. (I would have preferred it darker.) It was drizzling. There were also a lot more people present than in past years. That was probably due to word of mouth, good promotion of the event, and people ready to be out and about after a couple of years of pandemic. But it made the event less memorable for me as we had to navigate people in the way and listen to a lot of chatter. Oh well. I tried to tune most of them out and just enjoy the bonsai.

This year, they added a color-changing light to illuminate the dead wood of one of the bonsai. It was a nice addition to sparsely-lit exhibits. I caught it as it cycled through purple, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, but the green light provided the best presentation of the tree itself in such low light.

BONSAI

Japanese Beech. Orange leaves.



Firethorn. Bright red berries!



Ginkgo Biloba. The star I came to see in its stunning yellow fall foliage.

A visit to the Pacific Bonsai Museum to view the gifts of autumn.

RAGNARÖK

Ragnarök. An unmoored frozen honeybee as Loki, piloting the curled and dropped leaf of Naglfar, the ship of the dead, sailing toward the end of the gods.

North Hill, Puyallup, Washington. October 31, 2019.

LAVENDER

We went camping near Sequim, Washington, so we set a day aside to visit various lavender farms. (It was interesting to explore the different emphases that each farm placed upon the same crop.)

Hidcote Blue and Dwarf White varieties of lavender from Victor's Lavender of Sequim, Washington found their way home with me.

CHERRIES

Last year, we planted two cherry trees to replace dying hazelnut trees, the latter of which are at the end of their life cycle. We planted a Bing Cherry tree for my birthday and a Rainier Cherry tree for our anniversary.

The 2022 harvest from our two "toddler" cherry trees consisted of one Bing and seven Rainiers.

Each tree is just over one year old, so I'm surprised we even had this many.

The Rainiers are especially delicious. (I'm ready for next year's crop!)

RHODODENRONS and BONSAI

As many times as I've visited the Pacific Bonsai Museum, I've never visited the adjacent Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden. Today, however, The Wife and I visited both as part of my staycation.



The weather has been abnormally cold (April 2022 was the coldest April on record in Seattle), which has delayed the blooming of many flowers, so it was wonderful to wander among patches of color here and there on the grounds of the Rhododendron Garden. 



There were plenty of splashes of color peppered throughout the evergreen leaves.



The Rutherford Conservatory had these enormous ferns (fifteen feet tall) that were in various stages of unfurling. This frond was the size of a human fist. The Wife liked the "knuckles" at the center.



I think every variety of rhododendron must be included somewhere on the grounds. Round leaves, oblong leaves. Thin leaves, thick leaves. Chunky leaves, tapered leaves. Every shade of green. Blossoms of red, pink, white, yellow, orange, purple, blue. China, Japan, India, Nepal, the rest of Asia, North America.



We spent a lot more time with the rhododendrons on this visit, but made sure to stop in a check out the bonsai on display. This was one of my favorites this time. I like the playfulness of the "dead" trunk with the branches growing out of the top. It reminded me of a nurse log.



New on this visit was a series of "prints" on two of the walls near the exit. I didn't spend a lot of time with them, but I'm intrigued, so I'll have to visit again!

(It appeared that they were printed onto sheets that were then glued to the wall? Canvas? Lithographs? Wheat-pasted prints? Like I said, I need to return to explore them in more depth.)

STEEL WEEDER

Five weeks ago, I wrote "I'm tired of garden tools with plastic pieces that break. Metal and wood! Full tang!" about a new hori hori knife I purchased. Well, that full metal tang snapped in two! Fiskars included a small notch in the design for cutting vines and gardening twine but I think it weakened the overall structure because that is where it broke. So I replaced it with a Black and Decker Steel Weeder. It's a quarter of the price, will do what I need it to do, and (hopefully) shouldn't break. I'll get a better designed (most likely of Japanese manufacture) hori hori soon.

•

This Steel Weeder and I spent a few hours in the backyard, and filled up half of the yard waste bin. It was supposed to rain, but it didn't.

Not only is the blade well-designed, but the overall ergonomics are excellent.

I was/am quite pleased with this tool. Highly recommended. And only $10.

FUZHOU TING

Tacoma's Chinese Reconciliation Park: Fuzhou Ting, guardian Lion, Chinese magnolia.

It was a beautiful day and The Wife and I were down on Ruston Way. I had been wanting to visit the Fuzhou Ting and take some photos of it as references for a piece of art I was working on. Needless to say, the piece of art ended up taking a different direction, but I'm glad I stopped by to revel in the wonder of this spectacular architectural specimen.

HORI HORI

Weeding gets down-and-dirty and intimate this year: hori hori knife!

I'm tired of garden tools with plastic pieces that break. Metal and wood! Full tang!

LAKEWOLD GARDENS

We needed to get out of the house. We had been trapped inside due to extremely wet weather. So, I went and checked out a pass from the library and we visited Lakewold Gardens in Lakewood, Washington.

We wandered the grounds, although backwards on the "classic path" according to their signage and the map we had in hand. Much of the flora is on the cusp of blossoming in the next few weeks, but not quite there. But even though we were heading the wrong direction and just shy of some spectacular colors (other than the infinite versions of green), we still had a great time.

BANDED CLOUDS

Bonsai revels
beneath banded clouds

trained branches
raised in brash Alleluias.

PACIFIC in BLUE

Pacific Beach meets Pacific Ocean. Sky meets sea. 

Blue is expressed and reflected.

Sunset approaches.

PACIFIC

It was slow driving on 90 miles of compact snow and ice to get here (also known as "white-knuckle bullshit") but ultimately worth it. That was two days ago.

Relaxation. Refreshement. Rejuvenation. 

Pacific Beach. Pacific Ocean.

Dunes and snow and sand and waves and wind.

BONSAI SOLSTICE

Tonight was the annual Bonsai Solstice, the only evening of the year that the Pacific Bonsai Museum is open to the general public. The trails leading from the parking lot to the Museum grounds were lined with luminaries. A few full-size trees and one larger bonsai were adorned in white Christmas lights. A few select bonsai were lit with spotlights. Otherwise, attendees viewed bonsai by flashlight.

It's a magical night during a season of gloomy daylight and long evenings, and an event I look forward to each year. It's also an opportunity to view the bonsai during their winter hibernation, many sans leaves.

REPORT from PLAGUELAND

It was a day of walking and wandering. Across downtown Puyallup, from northeast corner to southwest corner, then catching a portion of the Puyallup Loop Trail, and returning to the beginning. Later, it was a trip down the Riverwalk Trail with the dogs and a stop at my favorite corkscrew willow. By the time evening arrived, I had walked more than eight miles.

OCEAN SHORES

Pacific Ocean, Ocean Shores, Washington.

Eating breakfast at the beach.