First Unit 86 meeting of 2011

by Lynnda

SJG • 2/13/11

It was good to see so many guides at our meeting last Thursday. The Tateuchi Community Room was almost filled to capacity. Joan began the meeting and brought our attention to the new projector recently purchased by Unit 86. What a great tool for all future meetings and trainings.

Lisa Chen explained there would be a new sign-in sheet this year. She emphasized the importance of accurately collecting volunteer hours, both at the Garden and off-site. Last year, about 4,000 on-site volunteer hours were recorded. Many, many more hours were spent off-site, and Lisa is asking us to keep track of those hours this year. The totals allow the government bodies funding the Japanese Garden to know how committed the volunteers are. This is also instrumental in pursuing grants for future projects.

Belinda Chin gave an excellent program to encourage us to review our tour techniques. Her suggestions for leading a tour were helpful, along with comments from the group. Her handout will soon be posted on the blog. She ran through the entire tour, including suggestions for introducing yourself, setting expectations, knowing who is in your group, using teachable moments, and ending the tour. It was a perfect way to start preparing for the busy tour season.

Here is link to Belinda's handout (this click will take you off this site, but you can click back)

It's OPEN!

by aleks
Enjoy this from Nat's email on the subject, dated Feb. 14th:

February's soft sunlight gently washed over the Shinto altar at yesterday's blessing and renewal ceremony.  Walking about afterward, talking with friends, I felt the light take on an almost timeless quality.  In winter, before foilage and flower soften and hide,  the 'bones' of the Garden's design lay before us.  And it's not just the sense of sight that's affected.  All the senses are.  Consider, for example, the scent of sake, in the absence of competition from plant fragrances.  How it wafts some time after it's been sprinkled, along with salt and paper squares, by Reverend Barrish in the 4 precincts.

The weather forecast for today was 'rainy all day', yet it brightened up and rays of sunshine graced the water in the pond during the opening of the Seattle Japanese Garden for 2011 season (from noon till 3 PM)....

SJG 2/13/11 - blooming camellia

The lovely blooming camellia greets visitors right after the fork of the road, past the entrance.  It was so nice to see people filling the garden once again, after the closed winter months.  The newly pruned from excess vegetation east side of the eastern path looks now airy, lacy and transparent, the way it should in the Japanese  Garden, and not like a jungle it was last fall.

People were filling in for a traditional Shinto blessing of purifying the air, water and earth before the new season in the Garden - it's done every year by Rev. Barrish, who chants, offers sake, rice and flowers while asking to bless the garden....

SJG - 2/13/11 • Rev. Barrish and Shinto altar on the moon viewing platform

SJG 2/13/11 • People observing the ceremony from the orchard

SJG 2/13/11 • Rice offering

SJG 2/13/11 • Flower offering

SJG 2/13/11 • Sake offering

SJG 2/13/11 • Kids back on the zig-zag bridge, looking for koi

SJG 2/13/11 • Sorry, couldn't help myself:  cool shoes! where can I get a pair like that?

SJG 2/13/11 • the Koi didn't freeze, after-all:)

SJG 2/13/11 • 'Did you get the pic of the people?' asked Nat...
So here they are again, sitting in the orchard...

The calligraphy workshop followed the Shinto blessing - Midori Kono Kiel was in charge of the workshop.

Guides, Garden Volunteers - the Season Begins!

by Monzie
Plan on having that second cup of coffee or tea and nibbles with us at our first monthly continuing education meeting of the year:  10:30 am to noon, Thursday, February 17 in the Tateuchi Community Room.

To help us freshen our guiding scripts and techniques, Parks Educator Belinda Chin (her talk at the 2010 training class won wide acclaim) will lead off the season with "Tips for Interpretive Guided Tours."

Belinda is the K-12 education program supervisor for environmental learning at Parks and an enthusiastic volunteer herself.  She is a former earth science teacher at McClure Middle School and National Park Service interpretive ranger.

In addition, there is much news to cover after our three-month vacation.  So this meeting will begin very shortly after 10:30  with opening remarks by Unit 86 President Myrna Aavedal. 

Parks Horticulturist Lisa Chen will give an update on improvements made in the garden in November, staff changes and the outlook for more thinning and pruning on the west side later in the year.

Please refer to the standing column on the right for the dates and topics of upcoming meetings.  You will receive reminders and more details on each session here and also by email from Myrna about one week in advance of each session.

Special note:  We are alternating meetings between Thursday ad Saturday again this year.

The March meeting will be from 10:30 am to noon, Saturday, March 19, when Chris Charbonneau, president of the Washington Koi and Water Garden Society, will talk about the lake's living art.

Your continuing education committee welcomes questions and suggestions!  Contact Michele Malo, Mary Ann Wiley, Shizue Prochaska or Joan Kelday.

Garden will reopen February 13th

by aleks

What possessed me to stop by on the rainy Saturday and look?  The Garden is as closed and locked as it has been since November:

But the rain drops on koto noito maple and on the pine tree in the courtyard look beautiful:

I shot this sign through the gate:

ATTENTION:  Our Education committee will be posting here the full 2011 program of activities about a week before the Garden opens.  So check here in about a week's time.

A word from our Continuing Education Committee

by aleks

SJG  2010 - Photo by Mary Nagan

I posted this info in the right hand side column to stay there, under 'Garden Volunteers' info, but here is a post to draw your attention to it, as I got the message from our Continuing Education Committee, which reads as follows:

Hi, Aleks!

Here's the list of dates and topics for 2011. I've included  separate category for Field Trips because Dewey got in touch some months ago in order to avoid conflict with our Saturday programs as  has happened in the last two years. 

Others have volunteered to lead field trips and their names may be added.  I should mention that the cont . ed. committee regards field trips as a separate type of activity most effectively arranged by the volunteer leader,  with publicity help from the committee (and appreciative support)!

Thanks for posting!  Please let me know if there are any problems.

 More info will follow shortly on the Feb. 17 programs.  

Joan

Guides’ Continuing Education Meetings

2011 Preliminary Schedule and Topics: 

All meetings are from 10:30 am to 12 noon in the Tateuchi Community Room.

Thursday, February 17  - Techniques for effective guiding

Saturday, March 19 - Inside story of koi, garden stars

Thursday, May 19 - Water from garden entrance to exit

Saturday, June 18 - Photo essay on Kenroku-en, West Japan & b

otanical drawings

Thursday, July 21 - Serving tea in contemporary Japan

Saturday, August 20 - Buddhist influences in the Japanese garden

Thursday, September 15 - Japanese art from guides’ personal collections

Saturday, November 5 - Festivals and holidays in Japan

Guides’ Field Trips: 

Saturday, June 4 - Seattle Chinese Garden Tour –   Guide Dewey

Reflections on being a new guide

by Lynnda

Last Spring, I spent 4 consecutive Tuesdays training to be a guide at the Seattle Japanese Garden. We were given a notebook filled with all varieties of information. In addition, we had many very enthusiastic and knowledgeable speakers each week. We then toured the Garden with experienced gardeners and guides. How would any of us be able to condense this vast amount of information to a 45 minute guided tour???

SJG - Koi  -  Photo by Lynnda

I was quite nervous before my first tour. My Japanese pronuciations leave much to be desired. How do other guides remember all the correct words? Who could remember all the names of the plants? What if I got some of the information mixed up and told untruths? I was filled with self-doubt and was feeling quite unprepared.

SJG-Blooming Osmathus  -  Photo by Lynnda

My first tour consisted of two couples from far away and they had never been to this garden nor to any Japanese garden. They asked questions I could answer and the garden was gorgeous. The winter hazel (corylopsis) and osmanthus were in bloom and their fragrances filled the air. I did several tours in May and June and was always thrilled to see the progression of blooms. Every week a different plant was more vibrant than all the others.

Two tours gave me practice in handling the unexpected. Humor helped. On was a tour of six; two young women, two older men who often left the tour and returned every few minutes (wanderers), and 2 other women, one with a walker. When we reached the north-west end of the pond, I explained that we were going to reverse our walk and would see new things and hear stories not yet told. One of the men asked why we had to do that and I explained that the stairs were an impediment for the walker. Without saying a word, he carried the walker (not the woman) up the stairs and the 2 younger women assisted the woman without her walker to climb the stairs. This all happened in a heart-beat, and I wondered what an experienced guide would, or could, have done.

SJG - Turtle sunning - Photo by Lynnda

My other memorable tour was a goup of 3rd graders. I had six students and 2 dads on my tour. At one of my training sessions, someone had suggested that mangifying glasses were a good tool to use with elementary students. What a great idea! My group seemed very energetic, so I was surprised when I arrived at the azumaya and no one was behind me. Looking back on the path, the students were on their hands and knees, studying something intently. They were completely engaged and I was happy to see that until I realized what they were doing. One of the dads was showing how to start a fire using the magnifying glass and some dried leaves! Thanks Dads! And I thought you were supposed to be helping. I haven't brought my magnifying glasses to a tour since then.

SJG - Autumn Gingko leaves - Photo by Lynnda

The Garden is closed now, and I am reviewing the notebook we received during training. I've forgotten so much! I'm looking forward to new adventures and additional learning. I'm looking forward to sharing the Garden with visitors and seeing my fellow guides again in 2011. I can't wait for the explosion of color in May and June, the tranquility of lazy summer days, and most of all, introducing my new granddaughter to the Garden. : )