THE ORIENTAL GARDEN: BRANDY REYNOLDS As I started to walk to the meeting hut, I immediately noticed the beauty of the gardens. The winding trail of stones lined with beautiful plants and floweres made me think I might actually be glad I had to be here at 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I even began to think that the three hour trip that began at 7:00 a.m. from Houston might be worth it. The gardens had gained my interest.

We started our journey through the gardens and the little bridge was the first thing that caught my eye. When we were told we we're going to go over a bridge, I had no idea it would be a bridge that little kids fit better on. I felt like Gulliver going over it. Although small, I did find the fact that it was made from bamboo shoots interesting. I am a big fan of bamboo made things. I noticed in the hut the bamboo shoots that made up the side of the hut. I have always liked the smoothness of bamboo and the nature looking aspect of it. For some reason the bridge, and bamboo, gave me a nice sense of relaxation.

The next thing that caught my attention were the stepping stones. I know we were supposed to "read" the stones like a book, but personally I was concentrating on NOT falling in. I did however find it neat that such a unique trail was taken to view the gardens. This trail actually took you THROUGH the gardens and no other trail would leave you with the same effect.

Once I was safe on normal ground I came upon "The Mother Tree." This tree really caught my eye. I stopped for a moment, read the story, and looked at the most unusual tree I had ever seen. The story behind it makes it that much more unusual. To think she helped Taniguchi to finish the garden and then when the garden was completed, she died. How weird is that? "She gave her spirit to the garden." What an incredible phenomena. It is one of those things that you cannot explain and that makes it so intriguing. Many people say we are "one" with nature and others think there is a clear distinction and separation. Honesty, I have had views that swayed both ways. You look at the tree and say, "oh, it had to just be a coincindence that this tree died when the garden was finished." For some reason I don't think it was a coincidence. It was quite spooky. Ordinarily, based on my usual thinking, I would say that it was a coincidence. "There is no way there is a connection, right?" This time there is. The tree struck me and I know the tree and Taniguchi had a REAL connection. This connection seemed to illustrate the theme of Taniguchi's words. "One unified beauty...the embodiment of the peaceful co-existence of all the elements of nature." For once I had experienced a total unity and connection between man and nature.

The one other element fo the garden that caught my attention was the waterfall. I discovered it after we were dismissed to do our own thing. I climbed down one of the rock walls and sat on an available rock. I tried to get as close to the waterfall as I could without actually getting IN the water. As I sat there I didn't write. I just took everything in and watched the waterfall fall into the pool, enjoying its relaxing sounds. It is one of the only sounds that blocked out the entusiastic screams of the neighboring soccer teams. All I could hear was the rushing water which was peaceful. Here I thought about the beauty of the day as well as the beauty of the garden. When we first walked through the garden I was disappointed to not find a waterfall. But I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across it. With waterfalls being one of my favorite things, finding it made the garden complete.