The Homestead Hobbyist

Originally posted on The Expat Garden(er)

The Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, just near the San Francisco Botanical Garden, is a tiny but jam-packed with garden areas, walkways, and fun buildings. I enjoyed the waterfall, as well as the zen garden. I didn't know until I read the plaque (which I only read because someone was having wedding photos done and we stopped to watch for a minute) that zen gardens are actually meant to resemble landscapes. Rocks of various sizes signify islands, mountains, or other terrain, and the sand and small pebbles represent waves in the water. So the patterns raked into the garden is supposed to represent the flow of the ocean and such.

Now, I'm in Doha, Qatar, for the World Conference of Science Journalists. That will be excitement! My plants back in the new housing are doing fine. Not many kicked the bucket, but some of them may just have a lingering death. We will see.

I received my personal effects shipment last week, so my life has been in an upheaval getting all of that sorted through. It's amazing what I decided I thought I would need here in the Kingdom. It's also amazing what the packers thought I wanted to bring--I ended up with a heavily protected empty glass jar of instant coffee, somehow. It almost beats the steel wool (which I'm certain I never purchased--I buy the blue Brillo pads) that I found in my underwear upon my arrival in the country.

I have a few Recipe, Plant Profiles, New Acquisitions, and Garden Report posts planned (including a few Plant Deaths, I'm afraid). Keep an eye out for them in the coming days!