Shakespeare vs. Tea

Had two very different experiences in two very different Golden Gate Park gardens today. Visited the Shakespeare Garden first, with that lovely bower of cherry trees as a centerpiece, a lawn (which needs tending, the grass is not dense enough for little people to walk and roll around in comfortably), and a few people sitting or lying about, reading or admiring the blossoms. Visited the place with three other mothers and their babies; that quiet environment seemed to have a calming effect on our children, who rambled and played in the grass with no complaints for over twenty minutes as we older folks gabbed away.

In the Tea Garden, we had to be more focused, maneuvering our strollers over tiny stone bridges without accidentally pitching stroller and baby into the shallow ponds below, or just keeping our strollers and ourselves out of the way of other visitors on the narrow pathways. And something felt chaotic about the place, even though most people were very calm and polite. I think the placement of plants and trees and rocks and ponds and bridges felt, somehow, not as graceful and reposeful as I would have expected. It seems more like a jumble than an orderly arrangement. It's just a quick first impression--or I should say second, as the first time I went there was, I think, in fourth grade (and I might have returned once since then, I don't quite remember).

The best moment in the Tea Garden was when two older ladies, perhaps in their late sixties, climbed up the extraordinarily steep, U-shaped wooden bridge and slowly made their way down the other side, smiling gleefully. "The last time we did this was when we were much, MUCH younger!" they shouted, telling anyone who happened to be in the vicinity. Hopefully, that's the way I'll approach my "golden" years--or even, all the years with my son, when I'll try to introduce him to the adventure anyone's life can be.