Every year Laguna Beach has a Garden Tour. We decided to take a look and celebrate Mother’s Day one day early–my daughter, grandson, his girlfriend, and I. To be honest the tour was a bit disappointing but Laguna Beach itself definitely was not. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and will return.
We decided to do the cardio tour–yes, that is what they called it. The shuttle drops everyone off at Garden 1, you follow a map, and walk the rest of the tour. The option is to take the shuttle just about everywhere. We did not do that. Here are a few photos I took along the way.
The rest of my family in front of me walking one of the cardio sections.
A door I loved in an alley along the way.
Laguna Beach is very hilly. Many houses are not only like those above but perched at the top of the hills.Some interesting flowers along the way.
The final street of the tour was the street closet to the ocean.
Looking through the gate at the side of one the elegant houses along the sea. Some people apparently prefer more privacy.I found this undulating grass quite fascinating.This and the following photo are of Shaw’s Cove, a rather hidden public beach with waves crashing against rocks and only a few locals. There is a series of steps that lead down to the Cove.
April is National Poetry Month. While emptying one of the boxes still stacked in the garage after the move, I found the book in which Missouri high school student’s poems were published. The following includes a photo of the book and my first published poem included in it.
Unlike The Huntington where you can find plants from all over the world, this garden focuses on plants native to California.
Near the entrance.
Not sure you can see here, but the mountain top has a tiny bit of snow left even though in the 80s in the garden.
Many of the plants are labeled. This one was not.
This is the sycamore mentioned in the previous photo.These large trees are everywhere. I did not see a label.Channel Islands Bush Poppies. I have not made it to Channel Islands National Park yet.In this photo the snow on the mountain is evident. Much of this garden is forested and cool.California IrisPoppies and Firecracker Penstemon. Wild Iris blooming everywhere.A small Coastal Redwood forest. Redwood trees grow better if more than one so they can join roots and communicate. I have one in my yard and no space to plant another to keep it company.One of the mountains often referred to as sisters.At my house all the squirrels are brown. Here I saw both grey and brown.California Buckeye. The flowers emit an intense heavenly perfume.The flowers. If I had space in my yard, I would plant one. Wild strawberries.The edge of a sculpture garden with some interesting sculptures.Poppies and Iris.More Iris .Many flowers, many colors growing together.
Since this is National Poetry Month, I have decided to post a few of my poems from my book “On the Rim of Wonder” which can be found on Amazon. This particular poem has been one of the more popular poems.
The day I met Tom
my toenails were pink.
A big mistake!
He called me the lady with the hot
pink toenails.
I am not a hot
pink person.
They should have been red
or orange.
I am orange person–
mixed with lot of red.
It took me two weeks
of looking at those hot
pink toe nails
to paint them red.
Am I happier now?
Not really
but I know
it is the real me,
my own toes when I
look down.
When she painted them pink
the woman said,
“Old ladies want red toenails.”
Will I be able to look
at my toenails and not
think “old lady”?
Will I have to find
a new color?
Probably.
Maybe orange marmalade or cinnamon spice or burnt sienna.
After several trips to the gardens, about which I have already blogged, and one to the two art galleries, earlier this week I went with Faith Mowoe to The Huntington Library. The photos are somewhat self explanatory.
It is possible for scholars to see some of the many documents not on display.The second floor is full of books and documents, but regular visitors are only allowed on the first floor.Chaucer.Cicero works copied in the mid 1400s see above.Sir Isaac NewtonNewton was interested in astrology–this surprised me.I learned that Newton was quite interested in astrology. Hence the photo previous to this one.More on Newton’s interest in astrology.The Gutenberg Bible.A little known play by Shakespeare as it was published during his lifetime.The above two photos are original copies and drafts of Joyce’s most famous work.This book is extremely large and contains original Audubon pictures.Octavia Butler was a California native. I am a big fan of her work and am currently in the middle of her Patternist series. Last year I taught one of her short stories about a pandemic.
The library is also full of old maps from all over the world. They compare maps to novels and how the plot of a novel is a map in words. Here is an example of a map from Don Quixote. Many modern fantasy novels have maps of the locations of places in the novel.
writingontherim 