Wednesday, September 3, 2025

WITH LOVE AND LUNCH

On Monday we drove over to our favorite walkabout garden. We forgot that everyone had the day off for Labor Day. When we arrived, we found that the barrier was down preventing us from using the parking lot (at least the staff had a day off), but the garden itself was still open to the general public.

 There were dozens and dozens of cars parked outside on our side of the barrier, and on each side of the narrow road leading down to the main road, with more cars arriving only to have to turn around. There wasn’t a spot to be had. We would have had to go a considerable distance to find a place to park, this on the busy main road without a sidewalk. Walking back between parked cars was not an option for us with all the traffic driving by. There was a long, grassy ditch to navigate also. We decided it prudent to turn around and let others enjoy the garden today. The weather was gorgeous! 

My collage shows one of the parked cars at the top of the road, where we made a tight u-turn. I saw the message on the car and of course my phone came out. A wonderfully positive message that I added to my collection of positives. I added the word 'love' on the other car to obscure the license plate for privacy. It seemed to fit in with the theme.

We had the sushi for lunch, purchased from our supermarket and made fresh shortly before. Avocado and grated carrots wrapped in seaweed, brown rice with flecks of quinoa, made for a very tasty and quick lunch. It was vegan and as we are adding more meatless dishes these days, it was perfect. Packets of soy sauce, marinated ginger slices and wasabi come with it, and when applied to the sushi, finishes it off nicely. Very tasty! And on that note...

I hope you all had a great Labor Day, 
and are having another nice one today.



54 comments:

  1. What a disappointment! But at least you did get a good blog post from the trip, the car with the quote!

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    1. We are fortunate that we can come any time. We never go on weekends because it gets more crowded but this was definitely one up on that. We were happy people were out and about enjoying Labor Day :)

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  2. Hi Denise, I love ❤️ the "love your neighbour as yourself" in the second photo. The closest I have ever had to sushi is smoked salmon. I don't have an interest in sushi but I am glad that you enjoyed it ☺️ Thank you for sharing dear friend.

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    1. Hello Dear Linda, you are very welcome :) the only sushi I buy is usually the vegetable one but I also recently discovered shrimp is pretty darned good. Our son and daughter-in-law love it all.

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  3. Too bad you didn't get to visit the gardens. I probably would have turned around too.

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  4. It's quite a shock when you realise that everyone is having a day of leisure!

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    1. It was definitely a surprise but we didn’t remember it was Labor Day and it is such a pretty place to walk around :) I am glad there were so many people able to enjoy it.

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  5. Sorry you could not find a close up parking place. I like the message on the car.
    Take care, enjoy your day!

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    1. Thank you Eileen. The message on the car was a great consolation prize :) You take care and enjoy your day also.

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  6. Despite the disappointment at not finding a parking spot to walk the garden, it seems you made the best of the holiday, Denise. It was thoughtful of you to block the license plate, but actually not necessary. As you know, I share vanity plates in blog posts and learned that it’s OK as the vehicles were all out and about in public. Just sharing in case you also find an amusing one in the future.

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  7. You had me at the title of this post!

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  8. I love vegan sushi. My daughter loves the cucumber makis so much too :-D

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  9. Not a fan of Sushi..too much rice. I usually just eat the topping.

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  10. Supermarket sushi is pretty good these days although I got some from an Asian grocery store.

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  11. Sounds like you and Gregg had a good day doing what you enjoy and having good food
    Hugs cecilia

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    1. Thanks Cecilia, it was a very good day :) sending hugs!

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  12. That’s too bad about the garden effectively being closed to you due to parking.

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    1. Yes, it’s the first time we have seen it closed to the public Glad everyone could enjoy the garden though :)

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  13. Sushi is my idea of the perfect lunch. I've never tried it with brown rice.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. Hello Amalia, I can count fingers on one hand the time I have eaten sushi with brown rice. I found it very good :)

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  14. You learned a lesson this time. Don't go out when it's a public holiday.

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    1. Very true! We don’t usually, just forgot it was a public holiday this day :)

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  15. I think its wonderful so many people decided to enjoy a walk through the park. I think I'd like the owner of the car.

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    1. Yes I agree Sandra :) I think I would like the owner of the car also.

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  16. I like to buy that kind of sushi but Dan doesn't partake. I'm sure you'll return on another day to that garden.

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    1. Fortunately we both enjoy this sushi. We are already planning our return to the park :)

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  17. That must have been disappointing, but t sounds like you had a lovely day anyway.

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    1. Thanks Sandra, I think we were more surprised than disappointed :) we live not too far away as the crow flies. We can go anytime and yes, we had a lovely day.

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  18. I like the message on the car. I've never really been into sushi, but my son loves it. This avocado sushi looks pretty good.

    Happy September Denise! It's such a pleasant month, isn't it?

    ~Sheri

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    1. How nice that your son enjoys it :) I found the message on the car very uplifting. Happy September to you also Sheri. It certainly is turning out to be a very pleasant month.

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  19. Your pivot was a good idea on this day!

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  20. You made a really good day of it, regardless.
    Love that car's thought spreading! :)

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    1. We did, thanks Rita and wasn’t that car’s message great? :)

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  21. Has disfrutado bastante bien de tu día de descanso.
    Saludos.

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    1. Lo hicimos y gracias por tu comentario. Saludos también de mi parte :)

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  22. It was a beautiful Labor Day...perfect weather wise for walking the gardens but glad the staff had the day off. A lovely start to September...here's to many more beautiful days and opportunities to walk the gardens!!

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    1. It certainly was :) and I am glad too. They certainly deserved that day off as hard as they work to keep the grounds looking beautiful!

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  23. too bad about the garden walk but it is nice to hear that people are out and about, getting fresh air. i love sushi, but only the cooked stuff. i always get a shrimp tempura roll and a sweet potato roll, both are really delicious!! the message on the car was lovely!!

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    1. I agree with you 100 percent along with the message on the car :) shrimp tempura and the sweet potato roll sounds wonderful!

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  24. The weather has been wonderful the past few days.

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  25. Me alegro que hayas disfrutado de tu comida aunque hays tenido que dejar el lugar. Te mando un beso.

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    1. Qué amable de tu parte decir eso. Muchas gracias :) Te mando un beso.

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  26. Yum.... I LOVE sushi!! We don't have any grocery stores that sell good sushi around here but oldest daughter does. The grocery store is called Martin's and they have the best sushi ever. We sometimes go up there, get some sushi, and park by the lake & eat it while we watch the water. I'm so glad you had a good day. Love, Andrea xoxo

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    1. That’s great Andrea :) I know Martins. We don’t have a store close to us but there was one my friend used to go to in her town 50 miles away. Parking by a lake sounds an idyllic setting to eat sushi. Sweet of you to say Andrea, thank you my dear friend. Sending love xoxo

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