What's Looking Good November 2024

I am not sure, but I think Mao Tzu Tung was.

 

Glad you went on that tangent, I was aware of Mao’s gardening, but had not made the effort to wonder what that might look like. No photographic evidence, of course. Researching images of Chinese gardens vs Japanese, I was struck by the contrast between the flowy, lush, rich aspect of the former, and the stark, acetic, discipline of the latter, both poised in beautiful equilibrium in their own idiosyncratic ways ... the comparison below being somewhat simplistic, I trust you have had occasion to sample both, as it were, in the flesh?

Sadly, Mrs Lao and I have finally decided against visiting Kyoto; I had wanted to go there ever since, some 20 years ago, over a cup of tea, I had asked an indefatigable traveller and friend what in his view was the most beautiful place he had seen; his unhesitating answer had been “Kyoto”, and that compelling memory endured (call it my madeleine). Unfortunately, recent reliable reports have made us aware that, nowadays, long queues meander at the entrance of all the Kyoto zen gardens and that, once inside, they are so crowded and regimented that “one can barely move” … associating this with our recent Vatican experience, we’ll continue to dream …

Chinese vs Japanese