Children’s Day
My friends Mandy and Dawn publish this great resource linking to local activities. Yesterday they mentioned the Children’s Day celebration at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. My calendar for the day was blank so I ditched the list of things I could get done and off we went. After all, I do have two children worth celebrating.
We’ve walked by this garden many times but never visited. It was a little smaller than I expected but was happy to see a map detailing an expansion plan. We’ll have to wait until 2014, though. Sounds so far away; space-age even. There was enough for us to see and do for well over an hour, though, so I’m glad we came.
Naturally, there was a koi pond and we do love our koi. We spent most of our time here, deciding which fish we liked the best and watching the groundskeeper scare the ducks away. The place was deserted so I enjoyed the peace and quiet and space to pause.
The girls made koi masks while I wandered around the room looking at the displays.
A rickshaw, a doll house, handcrafted warriors, artwork and gorgeous kimonos so large they take up a good chunk of real estate on the wall. I learned that traditionally, the Japanese celebrated Boy’s Day on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Recently, it was changed to include the Girls’ Day celebration that was held on a different day and now has the new all-inclusive Children’s Day name and is held on May 5th. The koi flags are raised to signify the father (the largest fish) and children.
We ate lunch at the Tea Pavilion then wandered around Balboa Park for a while. I enjoyed getting to know my new 50mm lens by shooting blooming delphinium and foxglove.
We hopped on the little red trolley twice for a rides around the park. Camille read a sign saying, “keep hands and feet inside the trolley at all times.” WIthout missing a beat, Juliet quipped, “they didn’t say anything about heads!” and popped hers out the window to catch the breeze in her newly shortened hair. Gotta love that kid.
And days like these. More photos are in my flickr set.
