Another Reserved Blossom Viewing

Today was the day for my regular quilting class, the first of two in April. The cherry trees on the way were still not fully blooming, although more than on Sunday.

Sensei has decided that we (her students) should do something special for the victims of Japan's triple tragedy, so she has gotten together appropriate fabric scraps and on Monday after meeting for lunch together at a reasonably priced local restaurant we will walk together to Mama san to see the famous, ancient weeping cherry tree and then spend the afternoon making small fabric drawstring bags (kinchyaku) to send to Tohoku.

Another Busy Season

Does your life continue to get busier? Mine has been pretty busy lately with getting ready for summer teams in Serve Japan, regular duties at the Guest Home and visitors. The weather has had some wet and cool spells, but the last two weeks were filled with sightseeing and visiting with an old friend, and today another couple is in Ichikawa and we may be able to get some time to chat before they head back north tomorrow evening.

The picture is of a door at Meji Shrine featuring a carving of the kamon of the Kiri or Paulowina flower.

If you haven't seen enough cherry blossom pictures, here's one from Hakone in the mountains with the bright clear sky behind it. Japan is certainly a beautiful place to be in the spring.

Late Bloomers

Did your mother tell her friends that you were a late bloomer? The cherry trees out here on the east side of Tokyo are taking their own sweet time coming to full bloom this year. We had a lot of cold days and nights and several days of rain, but today the trees along the river seemed exceptionaly fluffy, and there was only a small amount falling petals in the occasional breeze.

The great number of blossoms in the clusters made me think what it would be like if these were fruit trees and not ornamentals. We'd be looking forward to a great crop this year!

So, spring has come for sure, next will be the Fuji Hanna (wisteria) and then rainy season and summer. The full bloom of the cherries may have taken a while this year, but it won't stop the flow of the seasons.