Shakespeare in the Park

We saw King Lear at Linden Park this weekend. A picnic dinner to share-


A free performance under the shady trees-


And a classic Shakespeare tale of parents and children, dementia, greed, pride, elder care, death, distributing estates... It was actually just like a day at the office.

The same timeless human issues are played out every day now, just as they were in the 1500s.

The thing that most amazed me was how differently I perceived the play now, through the lens of my profession in the estate planning field, as opposed to what I saw when I read it in college. I remember the professors pointing out the paganism, the themes of nature and fate, the existential tragedy of the play. These elements may be present, but mostly I think it's about the same issues every family faces as time goes by.

It made me reflect that it does pay to re-visit the classics because the more you age and mature, the more levels of depth and meaning you will see in them.

P.S. It's events like this that make me fall for summer hard.

A Visit to the UC Davis Arboretum

A week from Friday, May 6th, is National Public Garden Day. Last weekend, we went out to explore the lovely arboretum at UC Davis campus. We began with a picnic to fortify us in our explorations:

The wonderful UC Davis gardens showcase a variety of themed landscaping based on water conserving plant varieties. The garden collections include Native California, California Foothills, Mediterranean, Australian, South African, East Asian, Southwest/Mexican, and North Coast. Each landscape was unique and beautiful in its own way, and we loved learning about the many diverse kinds of plants, trees and flowers:




We were also able to see some of the wildlife that has made a home at the gardens:



But one of my favorite spots was behind the Food Science buildings, where there was an edible garden picture perfect enough to make my mouth drool. Check out the artichokes reaching for the sky and the bright red stalks of chard:
The perfect rows of carrots, radishes and lettuce:

Who knew that cauliflower heads could pop up out of the earth like bright roses? A well-kept garden is a pleasure to behold. I read that this one is called the Good Life Garden and is periodically open to students to come and harvest! All of these gardens are free, so if you live nearby, be sure to stop by UC Davis and walk the grounds. If not, find a public garden near you and savor the sight of spring.