Olbrich Diary

6/20

The smallest, and sometimes therefore the most fun, adventures might start with the question as to whether they will work at all.  When the little weather symbols suggest that the rain will come late afternoon for an hour then quickly pass it is always hard to know whether to trust such vague information.  The sky is blue and the oriole is directly outside the front window frolicking in the

juniper bush, so there might be time to hop on bikes and ride the two miles to Olbrich where, if the timing works, you might find the plants under the sun after a recent rain and the leaves and grass and wildflowers will sparkle in uncontrollable jewels.  Minutes away the gray cloud cover, which seemed as if it had been floating over Lake Mendota, marches east, the sky becomes gray, and only the

overhanging oaks on Oakridge street save you from a slight torrent.  "How did we pick this time to go. Why didn't we wear coats?" As the rain hits so the temperature drops – we are cold and wet and our prospect is to head right back into it at the gardens. We make a dash for the rose garden in under the pagoda entry and see that the exotics are lush but drooping from the new weight of the rain and make our way along the cobblestone path and up through the water features to the prairie style pavilion, a great

perch to watch the storm pass as it's now sideways rain blanketed the entire garden.  As hoped, the storm quickly passed, fifteen minutes, and as some portions of to the south and west stayed under rain, to the east the sky opened and the greens turned to glitter and the warmth seeped back into air as quickly as it had left only half an hour ago.  The cool and water had left the mosquitos bewildered or somewhere hidden -- as we toured the rest of the garden, to Thai Pavilion, the frog pond and along the edges of Starkweather Creek, there was not a bug to be found and we took the narrowest of rock paths into the depths of the many small nooks that entice visitors sit wait and listen.  We had made our goal of adventure.  As we left and we bent down to touch the thick moist leaves of a plant we had never seen, a baby frog leaped from the pool outside the conservatory and we held it in our hands for awhile wondering how something this small could be so precisely beautiful.