clipped from southeastmain.wordpress.comThe Japanese Influence in Corvallis
We spent some time at friends' home a few days ago, visiting an art exhibit in Corvallis. We had been invited to use their home while they were out of town. It was a lovely scene.
These friends have built their own house, a few blocks from OSU and the downtown area. We hadn't been there for a while, so hadn't seen the mature look of some of the foliage and exterior element around the house.
Their love of traditional Japanese architecture and elements is obvious, even in the vegetable garden, seen here from the front entrance porch.
To the right of this scene, just off the entrance porch and front door, is their semi-enclosed courtyard, which features a pond and an entirely Japanese feel:
Water spills over this huge pot and down into the pond, rippling over miniature waterfalls and gurgling pleasantly as you enter the house.
On the walkway that leads to the courtyard from the house entrance hall as well the kitchen around the corner, we saw an autumnal leaf, balancing, as it were, the pots and minature tree on the far end. I think the leaf was put there by the gardner, for our pleasure and perhaps a touch of momento mori. It is, of course, a Japanese design, and I can't imagine how he managed to place it so perfectly, given that they were out of town and had been for almost a week.
My favorite element (at the moment) is at the end of this walkway, where a crocosmia (crocosmos) flower lingers over the edge of a tiny pool:
I think it's admiring itself, as well it might.
–June
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