Back Now To My Awesome Day…

All through the Garden is a pond with some beautiful Koi swimming lazily around. 

The water was so still today that the fish looked like they were swimming in the limbs of the trees that were reflected all around the park…  Some examples for those Koi lovers among us.

This fish was about14-16 inches long.  One of the smaller large Koi that we saw…

Ben told me that if I get a polarization filter the  fish will be a lot clearer but I kind of like the ethereal feeling of fish swimming in the sky…

There is just something magical about watching these beautifully colored fish that fascinates me and soothes my soul.

The cherry blossoms on the trees that were out in the sun were just starting to come on…

The tiny bursts of color around the Garden would just make you catch your breath for a moment at the blessings of the rebirth of the earth just on the edge of bursting out in full glorious songs.

Ben showed me how I could manipulate the exposure of the camera to pull out textures without having to go to Photoshop.  This and the next are examples of this action…

I love textures and there was loads of them to capture around the Garden.

I think these are Cyprus stumps guarding the edge of the water.  A beautiful contrast to the feathery grass growing along the banks of the big pond.

 

More of what I called the “guardians” from the other side of the pond.  Notice the turtle sunning on the rock in the front.

The sounds of  water spilling over the the small spillways built at different areas permeated the air with such calming sounds. With all the families that were walking around with children all was hushed and the kids were not running loose like banshees.  It was just such a peaceful stroll despite the others in the park.

But then we turned a corner on the path and here was the biggest blessing of this turn through the Garden…

This beautiful blue heron was less than six feet from us.

Be prepared for heron overload, if that’s even a possible thing.

This I took from behind the big bird.  His markings look like there are eyes and the long slender feathers look almost like a beak.  We figured it was the protective markings that make the bird look like he is watching any predators that may be approaching from behind.

This was his camouflage from the side that the sun was coming from…

  My Baby Bro and I were both so thrilled.  Neither of us had ever been so close to one of these magnificent birds.  If you look back up at the first picture you will notice that it looks like one wing is hanging down lower.  We figure that he was an injured bird that was rescued and is unable to fly so he was socialized and now lives in the Japanese Garden with lots of small fish in the pond to sustain him.

As we stroll out I will leave you with pictures of more plants and of the curved bridge.  Thanks for letting me share this wonderful day with all of you.  I hope that the length of this post was not offsetting and that you enjoyed this visit to the Japanese Gardens in Ft. Worth almost as much as if you were there with us.

Nandina, commonly know as heavenly bamboo…

Ferns just unfurling to greet spring…

A look back along the edge if the pond.

The large bridge across a portion of the pond.

 

Other than the heron photos this is probably my favorite of the day.

And one more surprise as we turned another bend in the walkway…

A reminder of how we should try to live our lives… See no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil.

The canopy of Japanese maples that shaded us as we were walking out of the park to go meet our sister and brother-in-law for lunch after his chemo.  The knowledge that the earth is reawakening gives us the strength to face the trials that we know we will be facing in the year to come.

What an incredible cycle of life.