Thursday, August 24 - A Day in Queens Park

The day is overcast and cool, and a few sprinkles of rain. The prediction is of no rain. Shyamala left for work before Prashanth and Joanna and Asher arrived to leave their car key for Shyamala to go to the Lostock train station and retrieve it and bring it here until they return Tuesday the 29th. We shared hugs and high fives until they needed to go to the train station. They have a noon flight to Amsterdam where Prashanth will deliver a paper tomorrow.  He said he will go over his speech again tonight.

The painter arrived to paint the outdoor window frames, and Rajkumar left to pick up a couple grocery items. I will leave for Queen's Park after he returns. I departed around 10:30; about a half hour later I arrived at the park and sat on the first of several benches, this time around the formal garden. The patterns of flower planting looks formal with yellow and red flowers in in a specific pattern in eight settings.

Throughout the day I followed many of the walkways, up and down hills and steps. Inspent time watching waterfowl in their daily activities,  as well as the swan, who entered the lake from a bank where many seagulls were resting. I watched children playing with the many articles of creative play equipment.  I  ate my lunch with the umbrella up during a light rain, just about an hour in length. I found a location which was quiet and sunny, when the sun came out in the afternoon, perfect for being quiet and meditating. Today’s activities may not sound like activities,  but they offer the opportunity to do what I would like to do in my home setting: taking time to appreciate the natural world around me and making time to meditate. Total steps: over 13 K.

When Shyamala arrived home we shared tea and snacks and watched BBC news. She showed me a video of Asher in their hotel room in Amsterdam and stated that he slept the entire 90 minute flight.. She then left for her walk including walking to the Lostock train station to pick up Prashanth's car and bring it home for the bank holiday weekend. 

BBC, Sri Lankan news given in Tamil were on the TV in the evening, and if course cricket.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday, July 13, 2025 - Travel Day to Kyoto

 We selected breakfast items and picked up some requested items for Kenji rom the grocery store across the street. Karin had already started a load of laundry while I was still asleep. In our room we ate our purchases. I had a banana, a small bag of shelled edamame,and half a ham,cheese and llettuce. It was p,enty to hold me over four our 1130 reservation at a shabu ahabu restaurant.  Karin had researched inexpensive shabu shabu restaurants and found this one out of the main  touristy areas and in a metro mall. This meal had many parts: a choice of broth which is simmered on a burner at the table. On c houses a meat and how much  eat. One chooses  two dipping sauces and what kind of rice,  oh yes. The. There was a large bowl of fresh vegetables some of which I didn't recognize. I put them and the meat into the simmering broth.  With spoons to stir the ingredients there were lots of things on the table. The  meal was delicious,  super deliciou...
Read more

Begining of our family journey in Japan July 1 - 3, 2025

 This blog will cover our travel day and our first full day in Japan. Now, it already early morning on the 4th of July. Adjusting to the humidity is a challenge. Our travel day and our first full day are behind us already. I had no energy to write when we returned to our hotel yesterday. The humidity had taken it away. Nevertheless it's a new day after a good night's rest.  Our travel day passed smoothly as did the flight. We arrived ahead of the scheduled time and then taxied more than fifteen minutes to the gate. Kenji was very helpful in leading us through immigration and customs. He had also arranged for us to be picked up and driven to our hote that was a real gift after a length mostly sleepless flight. Karin lead us to an ATM to obtain cash as well as a "Suica" card. The card is very useful for public transportation as well as purchases in some small stores. I had read that both the Suica card and cash would be most useful in meal and transportation purchases, ...
Read more

Saturday, July 5, 2025 - Tokyo

 Karin and I went to bed Friday watching a newscast about residents being evacuated from a very small Japanese island near Okinawa, following an earthquake the day earlier. Saturday morning we watched a forecast of higher temps with little rain and a bit more about recent earthquakes on the outer islands, and we enjoyed our coffee and banana while listening to Japanese. Perhaps it will seep into our brains to help us understand more? With Leo Karin and I went to the nearby Family Mart to purchase additional breakfast food for the four of us to enjoy in our room. We ate and enjoyed relaxed conversations about the plans for today and train reservations for next week Tuesday to Osaka.  We then took two metro lines to the location of the digital Team Lab light show. For more than two hours we wandered in rooms large and small and corridors. Sights were flowers, figures, curved lines, abstract drawings,  birds butterflies, fish,  and small animals all moving on the walls ...
Read more