Kubota Garden & The Real Adventure Man

One rainy June weekend, Justin and I took off to one of the Japanese gardens up in Seattle - the Kubota Garden which was founded by one (!) self-taught gardener and Japanese garden enthusiast, Fujitaro Kubota, in 1927. The long story short, as this visionary dreamt, his 20 acre garden eventually became a public garden, free for visitors and open every day, as a city park, till dusk.

I adore gardens and parks - they are some of my very favorite pastimes ever. In fact, when Anya gave me $20 as her Mother's Day present this year (a totally unexpected and very generous gesture), it was exactly how I decided to spend it - visiting some of my favorite paid gardens. We are so blessed with gardening culture here in the Pacific Northwest. I adore them all - small and large; themed or mixed; flowering, foliage or stumpery; public or private. I have about a bazillion photographs of gardens in all seasons in my archives. They are always inspiring, refreshing and welcoming.

Japanese gardens take a very special spot in my heart though. There is a strong connection with Japanese culture and the history of Japanese people here, and as a part of it, there are quite a few Japanese gardens in Seattle and vicinity (Seattle Japanese Garden is another large one - it's a part of the Arboretum which we visited a couple of times, but we haven't been to their Japanese garden yet; smaller ones in Bellevue Botanical Garden; amazing garden in Bloedel Reserve located on Bainbridge Island; the impressive Bonsai Collection in Federal Way; a cute little one in Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden in Burien near the airport ... those are just a few from the top of my head, a lot of them are free of charge). If you are a lucky visitor of Portland, Oregon, please see their Japanese garden which is considered to be the best example of a Japanese garden outside of Japan, truly magnificent (you can see photos of our visit in Winter 2013, with my parents, in my Russian blog here).

As I thought about what to wear for a stroll in this beautiful and peaceful garden, two things came to mind: something comfy and something minimalistic, not overly ornate, in honor of Japanese garden aesthetics. The silk blouse, one of two I found at Goodwill earlier this year was my first choice(another blouse and the story in my post Asian). The rest came into place easily. I did not even think that we would find such a perfect location for my red and blue outfit - the Heart Bridge.

But do you know who was the star of the garden that day? Justin was!

A couple of the cutest little girls, twin sisters of age 4 to 5 I would say, rushed towards him in the big open area, talking to each other: "Is he here?" - "Yep, here he is, you see? The Real Adventure Man!"



The Real Adventure Man - that is the perfect name for Justin. You pretty much any day will see him dressed like this (without the hat in the office), often in comfy Ecco boots, often with the camera in his hands, and almost never without a notebook (paper or computer). That is the way he dressed when I met him almost 10 years ago, and that is still his favorite way of dressing today. I have nothing to do with his preferences. Maybe just introduced him to a few new colors, that's all. But then, he introduced me to so many new things, including love of bright colors - that my little intervention doesn't even count. :) The Real Adventure Man in this family is definitely him. (I wonder, what those children meant by that?!) 

Tell me about yourself. Do you like to go out when it rains? Are you a lover of Japanese gardens? Does your partner picks his own style, or do you pick clothes for him? And who is the real adventure man in your family? :)

Silk blouse - thrifted at Goodwill for $5.99 (Chico's Design)

The rest - remixed from my closet.

All photos, as always, by Justin (except for his portrait of course!)

Linking up with 52 Pick-me -up: Minimalism (that's my sort of minimalistic these days, anyway :)