Thursday, April 7, 2011

Cherry Blossoms

On my way to work this morning
I have been entranced by the Cherry Blossoms this year.  Maybe because they took so darn long to arrive!!  Or maybe because I want to photograph them.  Or maybe because they remind me of Japan and Japan has been on my heart and mind lately.

I found this today and it said what I was feeling so well:

Nothing says spring quite like the froth of cherry blossoms silhouetted against a late-winter sky. The delicate blooms usually blow to the ground within weeks, but their appearance, and the lacy blanket of confetti they leave behind, evokes new beginnings as few other trees can.

Beloved for their beauty, ornamental cherries were sent as gifts of friendship by Japan to cities in North America starting as early as 1912, when 3,000 were given to Washington, D.C. In the early 1940s, 700 saplings were given to Vancouver, and were later planted in the city’s  Queen Elizabeth Park. During the 1950s, Vancouver parks officials, who thought the cherry was the perfect specimen to replace forest trees that were crowding city boulevards, purchased more and began grafting their own. Today, almost 20,000 cherry trees grace Vancouver’s streets , and there are many more beautifying public and private gardens across Canada.

Cherry blossoms are symbols of simplicity, transience and ephemeral beauty. In medieval Japan, they symbolized the samurai. These men, who were prepared to sacrifice themselves for their masters, led lives like that of the cherry blossom—beautiful but brief.

Close to my office - I love the sculptural branches too

It was windy this afternoon and already - those blossoms so newly arrived, were blowing around..... such a brief but glorious thing a Cherry Blossom is and what a sign...... that seasons change...... which is one of the great joys of living here..... seeing each season slowly become the next.......

Thinking of Japan and hoping that beauty will come from ashes and blossoms will bloom there again soon.

No 3 Rd

Stanley Park (not my photo)

UBC Botanical Garden (not my photo)

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