As I mentioned yesterday my wife and I paid a visit to the Japanese Friendship Garden, known in Japanese as Ro Ho En, on Thursday as we marked 46 years together.
The garden is designed as a place of serenity in the heart of a bustling major city.
An interstate freeway travels through a tunnel below Margaret Hance Park, named for a former mayor, just to the north of it but the quiet in the park would never let you know that.
On most days.
During our visit the serenity of the park was disturbed by a constantly circling police helicopter just above us.
Just before the chopper left the area SWMBO heard an annoucement from it stating that they had spotted some miscreant below and a canine unit was now pursuing him.
Life in the city.
But back to the garden.
The enterpiece is a huge pond shared by hundreds of koi fish and ducks.
At the top of the above photo you may be able to spot some tiny ducklings that appeared to be quite newly hatched.
I had noticed a pair of white swans swimming together but it was Judy's sharp eyes that noted they were not real.
They were styrofoam!
Nice touch, though, as they are quite well done.
There is a waterfall, surrounded by carefully handpicked boulders from near Congress, Arizona.
The largest, I believe just to the left of the falls, weighs 25 tons.
This huge tree started out as a humble ficus plant.
Another water feature is designed to resemble a burbling mountain stream.
A representation of a pagoda with its 13 levels which in Japan were a storage place for Buddhist relics.
And Shachi, a mythical fish with the face of a tiger (or dragon), which is used as a talisman against fire in his native Japan.
Here he has become the symbol of the garden.
Without police helicopters circling overhead, the Japanese Friendship Garden is a welcome place to escape the stress of the city for awhile.
