Cherry Blossoms

One thing that made me grin when surfing social media during my recent hospital stay was this post:

— both because of the “World’s Top Destinations” listing and for pitying the hordes of visitors flocking here these days to see the city’s famed cherry blossoms … because very recently it had looked more like they were actually going to see this:

The latest we’ve ever had snow, going all the way back to the beginning of weather being recorded almost 150 years ago. And that after we neither had anything even approaching a White Christmas nor, with the exception of a very nasty hail storm back in February …

(The biggest hail stones in this picture are / were a bit bigger than golf balls.)

… anything else resembling actual winter all (official) “winter” long — AND after temps had already almost reached 20°C (68F) in mid-to-late March.

Well, the bright sunshine is back only for moments at a time if that, but the blossoms are out indeed, and our local paper has duly been ablaze in pink and white lately (feature article in English HERE; photos HERE):

And just for good measure, here are a few images from features in the same newspaper that I shared on Facebook a few years ago:

I decided not to join the crowds, though; for one thing, I think I’d better take things a bit more slowly for the time being, and for another thing, I don’t much feel like braving any sort of crowd (a) now that masks are no longer mandatory here, (b) despite the fact that the pandemic is far from over.

Then again, I don’t actually have to join any sort of crowd to see pink blossoms; I can enjoy them right here in my own neighborhood!

(Note: As the bright sunshine and blue skies suggest, these photos (my own, in this instance) are not from this year, but they’re still true to what it looks like hereabouts every year at about this time, including right now.)

And once upon a time, we even had pink blossoms right in our own backyard — unfortunately, both of these trees had to be taken down in the interim. I’m not the only one to still mourn their passing.