Wednesday, October 30, 2019

More

I recently posted about soccer and the beauty of Autumn.  There's more of the same.

We have been enjoying beautiful weather, cold ( in the 40's and low 50's, I know, cold is relative) and beautifully clear. Tom and I have been getting lots done outside, but I keep getting distracted by the beauty around me. 









 I have been crawling around, grubbing out beds, cleaning up lawn edges, and keeping the leaves raked up off the grass. 




 All the pretty leaves will come tumbling down soon now. I wish they could stick around. 
Tom does the heavy work. He has cleaned out most of the raised beds, spaded under compost, and rebuilt the covers that will protect his bonsai trees and other plants over winter. 

Today he built a cover for the plant bench on the wall outside the greenhouse. You know I told you he can't through anything away, but at least he takes care of it all. 


And then - the soccer. Our Seattle Sounders soccer team was not expected to do all that well in the playoffs, but they made it through round one, and then round two, and found themselves playing for the Western Conference Championship last night. Their opponent was the record breaking Los Angeles Football club - LAFC- and all predictions were that the Sounders didn't stand a chance against them, especially on their home field in LA.

Well, at halftime, the Sounders found themselves up 2-1, and so I celebrated, thinking I probably wouldn't get the chance to celebrate by the end of the match. I was singing, "We're ahead! We're ahead! We're ahead, we're ahead, we're ahead!"

 Wrong. We won! 3-1! Wow! What a wonderful surprise!
On to the MLS Cup on Nov. 10th, place to be determined. The Eastern conference Championship is about to get under way in Atlanta as I finish this post. Depending on who wins this match, Atlanta or Toronto,  we will play the winner either at Atlanta or in Seattle! Needless to say we will be rooting for Toronto. 

Sports are fun, especially when your team wins!

[Update: Toronto upset Atlanta to take the Eastern championship, which means that Toronto will be coming to Seattle to play for the MLS Cup. Woo hoo!]

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Autumnal Beauty of Kubota Garden

Kubota Garden was began by Japanese immigrant Fujitaro Kubota as a private Japanese garden in 1927. That led him into the garden design business, which flourished for many years.  In 1987 the 20 acre property was turned over to the City of Seattle to save it from development. Since then many improvements have been made as well as preserving the original core garden. It is open free of charge to the public, and has become a treasured gem in the crown of the City of Seattle. 

At no time do the jewels of this garden sparkle more than now, when the Japanese maples light up with autumnal color, surrounded by natural and planted trees and shrubs in many glorious hues. 
Enjoy your stroll. We did!


















 We were restricted from crossing my favorite moon bridge because some large trees are being removed. I never like to see big trees taken down, but apparently there are safety and/or design issues. The good thing is that the city continues to fund this garden at its high standard.