It has been two years since I visited Lan Su Chinese Garden (in Portland, OR) in December.(Photos from that visit are here.) That visit was on a cloudy gray day (in fact that whole week my house guests were here had some rain each day). This year gave them more sun than rain, blue skies, and at the garden, clear reflections in the lake, and a heron for a special treat.
Tea House
No visit is complete without a stop at the Tao of Tea, which serves a large variety of teas in the tea house. Floral teas were our choices this time, accompanied by moon cakes with red bean and mung bean fillings. We would have tried green-tea filling, but changed plans when hearing it would take an hour.
As before, the persimmons still clung to the tree, this time enticing a blue jay to feed.
Both birds were feeding, but I wasn’t fast enough to snap the heron with his gold fish. The heron stayed around for a couple hours posing for happy visitors with their cameras.
I caught this view
I think he knows he is gorgeous.
SIL caught this great silhouette
What a profile!
As before there were a few flowers in bloom, but they were different varieties than I remember from two years ago.
We were there between 2:00 pm and 4:30 pm; it was beginning to get dark at the end, which put an end to my picture taking.
knitNkwilt 
Herons are so cool. Let’s both get heron tattoos on our calves! You in? ;o)
What a beautiful place, Claire! For that alone, my son would move to Portland. It’s just his kind of thing. I love the shots of the blue heron – he IS gorgeous!
lucky day to catch wonderful weather and the heron was a bonus! glad the sun was out more for you and your company this year.
You have some great pictures of some beautiful scenes. Thank you for sharing.
Lillian
Wonderful photos! They make me want to go there and see the birds and the blue sky.