A delightful stroll at the Seattle Japanese Garden

Photos by Lorie and Cipp Tais

Words by Lorie Tais

Next month, this trellis will be crawling with blue wisteria in full bloom! 

If you’re in or near Seattle and happen to feel weary, I suggest that you take a stroll around the Seattle Japanese Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum. Every second you spend there will definitely soothe your soul.

I’ve been to the arboretum a few times before to run with friends, but I’ve never visited the Japanese garden until last Saturday. It was an unplanned visit late in the afternoon. We just wanted to be outdoors, take a walk and enjoy the sunshine. And, wow, it was the first time in months that I was able to wear flip-flops outdoors! I felt like I was in the tropics again.

The arboretum parking lot teems with flowering trees. Oh look! My date is here!

Upon entering the gate and courtyard, we were greeted by a Japanese maple tree. Its leaves were the miniature version of an ordinary maple's. Its tiny flowers were surprisingly fragrant.

A Japanese maple tree, also called Acer palmatum or Koto-no-ito.

Ubiquitous snow lanterns (yukimidoro) adorned various parts of the garden and made a great accent to the assortment of beautiful spring blooms, flowering trees and bodies of water. There were also lots of little nooks to rest, read a book, reflect or converse.

One of the many benches scattered around the garden

The garden is currently a splash of pink and white. Camellia japonica, azaleas and rhododendrons are just a few of of the flowers that are currently budding or in bloom this time of the year. There were ferns, flowering cherry trees, magnolias, maidenhair trees (Ginko biloba), pines and a blue wisteria tree hat was not yet in bloom. Of course, flowering cherry and cherry plum trees were also present. Looking back, it's quite funny to think that we literally stopped to smell the flowers.

The cherry orchard

The streams converged to form a lake where koi fish and turtles swam freely. Bridges made of earth, stone, wood and bamboo also spanned the lake and portions of the garden close to water.

A snow lantern stands beside an arched stone bridge 

It's quite amazing to see the garden so full of life, knowing that, just like the rest of nature, it went through the past two seasons too. The Japanese garden has only recently reopened after winter. I'm sure that a lot of work was put into making it ready for public viewing again. I'm thankful for the minds that envisioned such a garden and the hands that continue to care for it so that we may have such a place of sanctuary.

A couple of blog entries ago, I wrote about my thoughts on patience. The visit to the garden reminded me of another quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Chasing Cherry Blossoms

"What happens to a dream deferred?" Langston Hughes asks in his poem.

Ever since I was a child, I've dreamed of visiting Japan. When I got much older, I specifically added its Hokkaido Prefecture to my list of places to visit as I was curious to see the place Haruki Murakami made so magical in A Wild Sheep Chase. However, from the inception of this plan, my ultimate reason for visiting this country was totally unrelated to its literary relevance. I really just wanted to witness the sakura zensen or cherry blossom front. I planned to travel across Japan, following the  cherry blossoms' advance across the country.

For many years, I kept both planning and pushing back my dream trip. In 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, causing a tsunami with 30-foot waves that damaged nuclear reactors and took thousands of lives. I didn't want to visit so soon after the disaster as I was scared of being exposed to radiation. Thus, my dream of going to Japan to chase cherry blossoms was temporarily crushed. I was still living in the Philippines at the time – so close to Japan – so I figured that I could just postpone the trip until conditions improved. I was wrong. I ended up visiting other countries in the succeeding years and moved to the U.S. in 2015.

Months before moving, I realized that the probability of visiting Japan had significantly diminished due to geographic constraints. I was no longer going to be just a five-hour flight away. However, a silver lining appeared in the form of photos sent to me by my fiancé (now husband). Nature had announced the coming of spring in Seattle through its appointed town crier: cherry blossoms!

I was so jubilant when I found out that they can also be found in Seattle. A research I made much later showed that the flowering cherry trees were gifts from Japan and were first planted in great numbers in Seattle in 1929.

I arrived in Washington towards the end of summer, so I knew that the wait was going to be long. When March came this year, I couldn't be happier. I especially wanted to see the cherry blossoms in the University of Washington's main campus as I had seen in the photos the year before.

Last Saturday, my friends and I decided to have our Saturday running rendezvous at the UW campus. I've never been there before. When I arrived, the sky was gray, the air was cold and a light drizzle danced on my path as I walked to our meeting place.

It didn't take long for the mood to change, though. Walking to our meeting place, splashes of color from spring flowers here and there greeted me. I was also impressed by the Harry Potter-like architecture of the buildings that towered over me. Then came the familiar faces and beautiful smiles of my friends. We walked towards the "Quad" where I had my first glimpse of UW's flowering cherry trees.

After an energizing run, the sun came out and the sky turned blue. Along with the impressive architecture,  they were a beautiful background for these breathtakingly beautiful cherry blossoms in full bloom. 

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...."

A windstorm hit Seattle this week. I'm pretty sure many of the flowers were blown away. I'm just glad that I was able to witness their beauty at their best.

In Japan, when the blossoms come, people celebrate with picnics under the trees. This flower viewing festival called Hanami is for people to stop and make the most of the moment. My dream trip to Japan will have to wait for now, I guess. In the mean time, I wonder if we can have a similar event here in Seattle where we can picnic under the cherry trees and really be present in the moment. After all, life, just like the beauty of cherry blossoms, is so transient.

(Photos taken with my Windows phone)

Celebrating Spring and the Joy of Friendship

Spring has sprung in Seattle!

The other day, my husband made my day by surprising me with tulips when he came home from work. While he often does the sweetest things like this for me "just because," this gesture was for a particular occasion: it was Mărțișor [mərt͡siˈʃor], the Romanian celebration on March 1 to mark the beginning of spring.

Beautiful tulips to mark the start of spring

Before he left for work that morning, I helped him choose some items to give as gifts from a small box he had at home. They were small trinkets attached to bows made of silky red-and-white threads. These are said to symbolize friendship, love, appreciation and respect, and it is customary for men to give them to female family members, friends and colleagues on Mărțișor.

Late in the evening, our Romanian friends, Oana and Florin, delivered their gifts: lovely accessories they made and a daffodil from their garden. 

Our other Romanian friends also gave me some mărțișor trinkets: a traditional one from Radu and Sandra (who are also our nași or godparents) and a modern one from  Ionuț and Irina.

Left: Snowdrop as a symbol of spring
Right: Horse shoe and four-leaf clover - a traditional mărțișor

Ahoy, anchor trinket + 1928 fashion!
I love the Art Deco postcard it came with.

I couldn't help but be amazed by this tradition. We definitely didn't have such a celebration in the Philippines. My motherland of eternal sunshine (and the occasional torrential rain) doesn't have four seasons; I grew up seeing the same flowers and trees bloom and grow all year. I realized that this is actually my first time to experience all four seasons in a row, and this is my very first spring!

Just add water

Upon our return to Washington this January after spending most of winter in Romania, our friends Sonia and Razvan informed us that, sadly, the plant we asked them to take care of for us didn't survive. We didn't mind, of course! Our plant had a higher chance of surviving when left with them than left behind at home while we were on vacation. All the same, they returned our pot filled with soil, told us they had a surprise in it for us and instructed us, "just water it everyday."

Two weeks had passed, and my husband and I totally forgot all about the "surprise" sitting on our patio until the same couple asked us about it. I immediately started watering it. A month later, we enjoyed the beauty and fragrance of two hyacinth flowers!

It was a wonderful experience to witness these flowers grow, and it was also quite a treat to see them bloom exactly on my birthday! When I have my own garden, I'll definitely continue planting hyacinths in springtime.

Our hyacinths' journey

Running outside – rain or shine!

Moving from the tropics to a temperate country meant that spending time outdoors is – and will always be – quite cold for me. Nevertheless, I started running with my new friends, Pilar and Melanee, every weekend. Aside from being able to spend time together outside of school and pave our path to fitness, we are also often rewarded with the sight of beautiful blooms along the various trails we take.

 Glorious daffodils and the perfect running weather around Greenlake Park.

(Yes, Seattle! More of this, please!)

Cherry  trees in bloom around  Lake Union

Crocuses near the end of a 5-mile run at the Seattle Arboretum

It's been almost seven months since I moved here. I sometimes find myself a little achy to see my family and friends back home. Still, my heart remains grateful to feel so much love from family and friends here.

As I reflect on Mărțișor, the well-wishes of health and prosperity and the meaning of those trinkets, I bow my head and say a prayer of thanks for the beauty of new beginnings, life, love and friendship.

Sa ai o primavara frumoasa!

Isang magandang tagsibol!

Have a beautiful spring!