Familiar stomping grounds, slowing down in a fast world
In some ways it is really good to be back in the area where I've spent most of my life. Although much is changing, I am still able to visit places that I remember fondly. Yesterday I visited with a human friend and at an old favorite location, Hakone Gardens: http://www.hakone.com/main.html It was a beautiful day - exactly what I picture when I think of a perfect, crisp, sunny, fall day. We were up high where we could look down on Silicon Valley and see the mountains on the far side of the valley, and the air was clear enough for the view to be pretty. I took some photos of the landscaping and wildlife. There was a particularly majestic tree:
The larger koi were all huddled together in a dark, shady spot the whole time I was there, so I was not able to take any good photos of them. This photo from the park's Wikipedia page shows how big and colorful they are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakone_Gardens#/media/File:Hakone_Gardens.jpg
After the Japanese gardens, I went to lunch in a neighborhood that used to be familiar to me about 15 years ago. Until I saw a particularly distinctive street sign, I did not recognize the neighborhood at all. It was a very surreal feeling to know that I was on the same street I had been on many times and to have it look so totally different. Changes like that happen quickly in Silicon Valley, but that was a particularly striking experience because I had not seen any of the interim stages of the change.
I also got to visit one of my favorite labyrinths a couple of days ago:
After arriving in the Bay Area, I decided to spend a couple of nights at the retreat center that goes along with this labyrinth. I had never stayed here before, but I had visited the grounds to walk the labyrinth a few times. When I arrived, I had a difficult time sitting still and slowing down from all of the forward momentum of my trip. My first walk around the labyrinth, I was impatient, checking to see if I could figure out my progress, and considered just walking directly out instead of retracing my steps to exit the way I came in.
Twenty four hours later, I walked the labyrinth again, and was astonished to be at the center before I knew it, and to be out the other end just as quickly. I could see that I had accomplished my goal of spending a little time at this retreat center -- to slow myself down. I planned to walk it again the next morning before I left, but much to my surprise, as I was gathering my things to load up the van, I discovered that people were starting to gather for a really big funeral at the retreat center. I asked permission, and had to park in a no parking zone to load my van, and I felt eager to depart to make room for those who needed the parking spaces in order to attend the event. When leaving, I waited for a couple of hundred small children carrying what looked like bag lunches to slowly cross the driveway onto the property (I have no idea whether they were there for the funeral or just for a picnic). By then, there were cars waiting in just about every direction on the narrow streets for these children to finish crossing, so I had to turn the opposite direction than I wanted to in order to do my part to clear the intersection. This was not how I pictured my departure, but I did feel greater calmness while it was all happening than I would have two days before, so my mission for visiting the retreat center was still accomplished.
I really enjoyed living near these old favorite places and I really enjoyed visiting them, but I don't ever want to live in this area again. This whole metropolis continues to get more crowded and move faster and I prefer to be able to slow down at this point in my life. I'm really enjoying my visit here, and I am also really looking forward to being back on the road, away from large metropolitan areas.
A photo of me under the same tree:
And some turtles sunning themselves with fish hanging out nearby.
The larger koi were all huddled together in a dark, shady spot the whole time I was there, so I was not able to take any good photos of them. This photo from the park's Wikipedia page shows how big and colorful they are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakone_Gardens#/media/File:Hakone_Gardens.jpg
After the Japanese gardens, I went to lunch in a neighborhood that used to be familiar to me about 15 years ago. Until I saw a particularly distinctive street sign, I did not recognize the neighborhood at all. It was a very surreal feeling to know that I was on the same street I had been on many times and to have it look so totally different. Changes like that happen quickly in Silicon Valley, but that was a particularly striking experience because I had not seen any of the interim stages of the change.
I also got to visit one of my favorite labyrinths a couple of days ago:
After arriving in the Bay Area, I decided to spend a couple of nights at the retreat center that goes along with this labyrinth. I had never stayed here before, but I had visited the grounds to walk the labyrinth a few times. When I arrived, I had a difficult time sitting still and slowing down from all of the forward momentum of my trip. My first walk around the labyrinth, I was impatient, checking to see if I could figure out my progress, and considered just walking directly out instead of retracing my steps to exit the way I came in.
Twenty four hours later, I walked the labyrinth again, and was astonished to be at the center before I knew it, and to be out the other end just as quickly. I could see that I had accomplished my goal of spending a little time at this retreat center -- to slow myself down. I planned to walk it again the next morning before I left, but much to my surprise, as I was gathering my things to load up the van, I discovered that people were starting to gather for a really big funeral at the retreat center. I asked permission, and had to park in a no parking zone to load my van, and I felt eager to depart to make room for those who needed the parking spaces in order to attend the event. When leaving, I waited for a couple of hundred small children carrying what looked like bag lunches to slowly cross the driveway onto the property (I have no idea whether they were there for the funeral or just for a picnic). By then, there were cars waiting in just about every direction on the narrow streets for these children to finish crossing, so I had to turn the opposite direction than I wanted to in order to do my part to clear the intersection. This was not how I pictured my departure, but I did feel greater calmness while it was all happening than I would have two days before, so my mission for visiting the retreat center was still accomplished.
I really enjoyed living near these old favorite places and I really enjoyed visiting them, but I don't ever want to live in this area again. This whole metropolis continues to get more crowded and move faster and I prefer to be able to slow down at this point in my life. I'm really enjoying my visit here, and I am also really looking forward to being back on the road, away from large metropolitan areas.
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