A Stroll Through the Rose Garden - Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA

Stopping To Smell The Roses

On our walks lately, we've been skipping the rose garden section of the Botanic Gardens, because it's near the entrance and for that reason has been a bit overcrowded. We've been doing our best to social distance, so these areas have been pretty much off limits to us.

Especially since we have a baby on the way - which is incidentally scheduled to be induced on Sunday if she doesn't deliver by then. It's getting real!

Lucky for us, on this particular day it turned out that there was hardly anyone around, so we had the whole area to ourselves. There is a nice trail leading around the rose garden with some sidewalks running through the middle.

There are also some nice gazebos and benches here and there that one can relax on. However, we're technically not supposed to be using them because of the virus. For a while, they actually had yellow tape on them but people keep pulling it off and sitting anyway. Oh well, all I can do is try to protect myself, my wife and unborn child so I'll just follow the rules and hope for the best.

There are some rose bushes that are on their second flowering since I've been coming to the gardens. I remember coming a month or two ago and the bushes were looking pretty sad with all of the dead flowers. But they are now back in full force! It's interesting to watch the life and death cycle in action. It can make you a bit contemplative about your own fleeting existence.

Every time we come back it's as if the entire garden has been dug up and re-planted. Everything grows so quickly that it changes the whole look of the landscape. Often we'll be walking around the gardens in general and say, "Have we been to this part before?" only to realize that we have been there a ton of times.

It really only takes a good rain, or a couple of weeks for a section to look completely different. That is the wise ones' "impermanence" in action for sure. We kind of like it. It breaks of the monotony of walking the same paths all the time.

If you've followed me for a long time, you may remember me posting about our walks down to the promenade in San Pedro, CA. The walking area is nice, and the ocean is pretty cool. I'm not a big fan of the shipping containers at the LA harbor, though. And you certainly don't get that constantly changing landscape like you do in the gardens.

Well, I guess you could say that the shipping containers and tugboats are always in different positions. But that isn't exactly pleasing to the eye!

We're looking forward to the little one being born and taking him on our walks with us. It will fun to be with him as he experiences all of the rich colors and shapes in nature. I try not to get overwhelmed with the outrageous responsibility that I've created for myself. I just want to teach him everything and not have him hate me.

I guess all we can do is the best job that we can, and hope for the best!