How I spent my summer vacation...
(If you look closely, there are hostas in several pics...)
Remember Cheech and Chong... Sister Mary Elephant...
"The first day on my vacation, I woke up.
Then, I went downtown to look for job.
Then I hung out in front of the drugstore.
The second day on my summer vacation, I woke up,
then I went downtown to look for a job.
Then I hung out in front of the drugstore.
The third day on my summer vacation, I woke up...
Then I went downtown to look for a job...
Then I got a job,
keeping people from hanging out in front of the drugstore."
But here is a little project that ended up eating up a phenomenal amount of my sumertime.
-----------------------
We've got a big deck and a portion of it has been mentally dedicated for several years to a peaceful "outdoor zen room." It went through lots of designs, but it always had to include a mountain, a pond, and a meditating monk. When we replaced the siding last year, I found that the old cedar still looked pretty neat on its interior side, so we decided to incorporate it.
The area is about 15' wide, set just outside the dripline of the garage.
To the left end, I built a gate that blocks the view into the woodshed. It has a dragonfly ornament and a clever latch I designed that incorporates an old crystal doorknob that She just happens to like. Next to the gate is a temple bell. We couldn't buy one until I found a website that has mp3s of how the bells sound... She is very particular!
Next, the mountain. I found this 1600 pound limestone mountain tucked away in a corner of a big landscaping company storage yard. The two old idiots moved it ourselves from the driveway to the over-engineered base last year. The whole room was built around the mountain...
We were lucky to find a couple of gems on ebay several years ago before the prices on Chinese things went way up. The statue is Kwan Yin (aka Guanjin)... a bodhisatva whose name means "Observing the cries of the World." She is often described as "the female Buddha" and "the Goddess of Mercy." This statue is very old - they claimed sixteenth century - and because she was broken in several places and repaired, the price was something we could manage. She radiates peace and tranquility... really quite lovely. We also found the very nice jade incense burner on ebay.
No zen garden is complete without a pond. We went with a formal rectangular one, 3' x 4', about 18 inches deep. I used some bamboo we picked up on the beach in Cozumel years ago and a rain chain to make a mini waterfall... and then added a bubbler with a filter. She is enjoying her goldfish immensely - they all have names!
Around the pond, a dipper we picked up years ago in Korea, and a seedling hosta that grows in a rock... been growing there for many, many years... seems to winter over just fine...
And finally our delightful Shaolin child monk. He meditates facing the mountain. We liked seeing him from the front and the side and the back, so he is placed in a way we can enjoy him in all directions. The "window" was designed with a peak so that when we view him from our living room, the mountain is also visible and framed by the window. In winter, the snow will form caps on both the statue and the mountain.
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