Getting some sun and some culture

This week Tetsu and I took advantage of a sunny day and went on a daytrip.  Tetsu finds things in the newspaper that he thinks I might like and then we head out and sometimes we get lost, and sometimes we find some really lovely places!  This week was one of the lovely places.

When Tetsu suddenly suggested we go out, I rushed and put together some obentos for us hoping that we could find a park or someplace where we could eat them.  I really had no idea where we were going but we ended up in a little town that has turned itself into an art town with the center of it being an art museum.  Though I'm not up for much walking, the pace of strolling around an art museum was just about right.

The architect of the museum itself was very interesting with the outside walls surrounded by these huge boulders.

That's a pretty sturdy outer wall!

Inside was much like many museums with art behind glass and in frames.  There were seating areas in the different sections and I caught these three friends taking a breather.

Me taking a breather too...  Behind me was an interesting rock garden that we explored.

A lone stone in a sea of sand.

Some pine trees growing out of a rock.

What do you think I was thinking of while I looked at the pretty designs in the rock garden?

"Hmm.  I wonder if I could make a quilting pattern like that with random arcs and squiggles..."

Taking another breather.  These modern chairs were actually very comfortable.

The museum went on forever with some buildings dedicated to Japanese paintings and some to pottery and some to modern oil paintings, and some to sculptures...  There weren't very many people there (or even staff!) and we found an enclosed garden between buildings with tables and chairs and we spread out our obentos.  Let's see...  Onigiri, broccoli and egg salad, ginger pork, pickles, and yellow zucchini.

I had the same obento in smaller portions using an obento box from when the kids were in kindergarten.  It's just the right size for me now!

We had sweet tea and chocolate for dessert and altogether spent about three hours in the town. I was hobbling around pretty badly by the end and Tetsu regretted bringing me out thinking that I might be waylaid to bed the next day but actually with a good night's rest I was in commission again the next morning.

I think this a plum branch...   Cherry blossoms bloom right after the plums...  They are expected to bloom this coming week around where we live... and then maybe we'll get in a cherry blossom viewing outing too.