Friday, January 4, 2019

Friday Smiles # ???


I'm sure you know by the title of the post, I'm here joining Annie's Friday Smiles, with my final Botanica Garden post that I hope will make you smile.  Since Annie joined WOYWW on Wednesday, I'm sure she'll be around for Friday Smiles.

Let's start with a few funnies:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson and said: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see."

Watson replied: “I see millions and millions of stars."

Holmes said: “and what do you deduce from that?"

Watson replied: “Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like earth out there. And if there are a few planets like earth out there, there might also be life."

And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent."



Ever wonder how blondes remember their Passwords?

During a recent password audit, it was found that a blonde was using the following password:

MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofy

When asked why such a big password, she said, "It had to be at least 8 characters long."



A blonde decides to do a puzzle so she grabs the puzzle and pours out all the pieces and tries to put it together.

After a while of trying she gets frustrated and calls her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend says: Honey whats wrong?

The Blonde says: I'm trying to put this puzzle together but I can't do it.

Her boyfriend says: Well look at the picture on the front of the box and tell me what it looks like.

The blonde says: Okay, well the background is blue and there is a tiger on it.

Her boyfriend says: Honey, put the cornflakes back in the box.



 And finally 10 games for older people to play at parties:
1.   Sag, You're it
2.   Pin the Toupee on the bald guy
3.   20 questions shouted into your good ear
4.   Kick the bucket
5.   Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over
6.   Doc Goose
7.   Simon says something incoherent
8.   Hide and go pee
9.   Spin the Bottle of Mylanta
10. Musical recliners

I know you have waited a month to see the final botanical garden I visited last year.

In June 2015, this addition to the garden took shape with the Chinese Garden of Friendship, a Scholar-style garden designed to celebrate Wichita’s relationship with its Chinese sister city Kaifeng.  It highlights traditional Chinese architecture, art, and culture.

You get to the final area by walking through the main lobby.  This recent addition to Botanica begins inside. 

You are now entering Lotus Hall, which also houses the ticket counter, lobby, gift shop, Terrace Room, and Children's Library.


Here you learn about the life cycle of a Chinese Lotus.


This is the Vliet Dome.  No matter where I stood,

I couldn't completely get this dome in my lens.   

I believe there was supposed to be symmetry in this area.

Although they don't show in the photo, these are glass panels with bamboo.

This was rather bizarre.

This piece pointed the way to the Chinese Garden.

These panel looked more like glass, but the floral arrangement was missing from the table.

We have now entered the Chinese Garden of Friendship.  On the southeast side is the courtyard, with an inner garden area. 

This area is known as the “earthly world,” an area where people live, work, and experience “earthly life.”

It is a formal courtyard with a pagoda style sculpture.

A pond with lilies and koi tapers to a stream that runs throughout both areas. 



A portion of the new events center can be seen on the left, while the beginning of the tiled wall can be seen in the background.



Sung-dynasty style paved bricks run along the tiled wall that separates the two  distinct gardens.

The stream connects the two areas, while the wall divides them.



Unfortunately, the face of the dragon was in shadow.


The northwest part of the garden is the “dream world,” or “heavenly world.”

This part of the garden consists of a waterside pavilion.


By crossing the bridge, you step into this "dream world."


A group of artificial rocks surrounds a (man made) mountaintop pavilion with a bench and a view of bamboo plants.  There is a small waterfall running out of the cliff.


The event center can be used for weddings

and the garden terrace is near the food bar.

You leave the Chinese Garden of Friendship either through the Pagoda or back through the Pavilion. I chose the Pagoda.

It was finally time to leave.  I was actually quite tired and welcomed my return home with a way to get out of the heat (sounds strange, since I'm showing this in the dead of winter!).

You leave the same way you enter.

As I left, I even remembered to take a photo of this woman and child sculpture.

As always, I am grateful for your continued visits.  Next time we'll visit a museum.  Now let's visit Annie's Friday Smiles, where it never hurts to begin the weekend with a big smile, just like Annie's. Feel free to join in with a post of your own, too.


21 thoughtful remarks:

Helen said...

loving the latest pics from the botanical garden.

Valerie-Jael said...

That's a beautiful garden, but my fave photo is that dome, it's gorgeous. Have a great day, stay warm. Valerie

Annie said...

What a beautiful post Elizabeth. I love Chinese gardens and especially the dragon. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Hugs,
Annie x

Dortesjs said...

lol lol great post loved the Holmes joke and all, and the photos from
the chineese garden to

Lisca said...

Such beauty. I really like this garden. The inside exhibits are beautiful too. The glass/bamboo wall objects, are they lighting? They are lovely.
In the outside section, my favorite is definitely the wall with the green tiles.
I did giggle at the jokes although I didn’t understand the games joke as I don’t know the games (apart from hide and seek). I’m looking forward to telling my hubby the other ones.
Have a lovely weekend,
Lisca

chrissie said...

The jokes were terrific and Vic and me will be laughing all day at the holmes and Watson one. Thank you for sharing thiose Elizabeth

The garden is wonderful and deserves to be saved until last for sure. Your photographs are very beautiful and give us a grerea tour .

Have a nice day

Love Chrissie xx

Barbara said...

Love the photos, especially the dome shots! Thanks for your visit to my blog!

Jeanie said...

I really do love Asian art and gardens and these photos are exquisite. I think I would want to spend a good deal of time in this park, walking or writing or reading or doing photography. Your photos are lovely and I can envision you using their inspiration in your future art!

The funnies were fun too -- especially the passwords. Makes sense to me!

And thanks for popping over! I always love your visits and comments and smile when I see "Elizabeth and Bleubeard" in my list! Happy weekend!

CJ Kennedy said...

The gardens are beautiful. So very peaceful and perfect timing for those of us in the dead of Winter. I'm ready for the heat. I thought the running, wild horses carving was magnificent. Was that carved from jade? Enjoy your day.

froebelsternchen said...

Oh my gosh - what a fantastic place to visit! Absolutely AMAZING Elizabeth! Thanks for the wonderful photos! I really enjoyed this !
And as always I love your funnies!

Happy Friday!
Hugs, Susi

kathyinozarks said...

Wow they put allot of thought, planning and work for the Chinese gardens and in the building as well-I really enjoyed all of the photos.
great collection of "smiles"
I had kinda looked into the glue gun for the wax seals but decided I would not enjoy that as much with the process-I love simple better. and it seemed like it really used up allot of wax too-needed a second stick in the gun to work as well-thanks for the tip on having a dedicated glue gun. I think I have a glue gun kit that I picked up-will run into it while packing some day-lol-thought it might be nice for crafts-but I am not into using glue all that much.
Happy Friday Kathy

Words and Pictures said...

Sherlock Holmes and the tent made me laugh a lot! Lovely to see such a celebration of Oriental garden architecture - thanks for sharing all these great photos.
Happy New Year to you!
Alison x

Felix the Crafty Cat said...

Hi Elizabeth, your funnies just make my day but the oriental garden.......I just want to be there! Have a great weekend. Big hugs, Angela xxx

Divers and Sundry said...

The Chinese art and garden are gorgeous! I don't remember how far a drive this is for you, but if I lived under 30 minutes away I'd have to have a membership because I'd want to go so often. I'd have to see it through the seasons. You've shown such a wide variety of spaces there. It's definitely a garden to be proud of :)

da tabbies o trout towne said...

I had to scroll VERY FAST PAST the koi ponds ☺☺♥♥ bleu and squiggles probably know why ;)

the vliet dome is AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meggymay said...

Today's smiles are great, I loved the first one about the missing tent..
The photos of the Botanical gardens were good to see on a cold and very frost day like we have here, you must have super memories of the warm day you went for your visit.
I really liked the gardens and those two glass bamboo panels looked amazing, but the photo that caught my gaze was the very last one of the mother and child sculpture.
Yvonne xx

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, such an uplifting post! The Botanical Gardens look amazing, I so enjoyed exploring them with you in the sunshine 😁. The exhibits on Chinese architecture, art and culture look wonderful too! Thanks for sharing and wishing you a happy weekend! J 😊 x

aussie aNNie said...

WOW love this post and the photos are so interesting. xx

My name is Erika. said...

The Chinese garden is really lovely and an interesting additional at the Botanical gardens. It looks a lot like Japanese gardens too. I think those 2 cultures do share many similarities.I bet it was peaceful there , especially with the water with the koi. Happy weekend my friend. Hugs-Erika

Sami said...

The Chinese Garden is beautiful Elizabeth. I loved those glass panels with the bamboo plant on them.
And had a good laugh at the funnies too of course :)

mamapez5 said...

What a beautiful place. It is a bit more exotic than the botanical gardens I have visited. It looks very peaceful, and not at all crowded. I like the glass panels and the dome is so lovely. Thank you as always for taking us with you on your interesting visits. Kate xx