Cherry Blossom Sunday!

While many Christians were out at church celebrating Palm Sunday (as a kid I always did like waving around those palm leaves), I was in Washington, D.C. with six friends for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The cherry trees were a gift to the U.S. from Japan; Mayor Yukio Ozaki gave 3,000 trees to Washington, D.C. in 1912; 3,800 more cherry trees were given to the city in 1965. Apparently we gave Japan a bunch of dogwood trees in return; they're pretty, but not as nice as cherry blossoms. The festival celebrates the beginning of spring as well as the friendship between the U.S. and Japan. This past Saturday was the biggest day of the two-week festival, and Sunday was pretty crowded (though not even comparable to the Inauguration).

The cherries were in full bloom, and the weather was absolutely perfect; high of 69 F and sunny. Not too hot, not too cold, and pink cherry blossoms everywhere. And when the light breeze blew, some of the cherry petals would flutter like pink snow to the ground. We couldn't have asked for better conditions to see the city, which was especially nice since four of the people with us were internationals who were seeing our nation's capital for the first time. Don't tell them that in a few months it will be gross and hot and humid. But today, it was sublime. One of those moments where it's enough just to be.


Again, my camera screen wasn't working, so I'm mainly glad that I managed to take any pictures at all; it occurred to me while I was clicking away that I might just be pressing the button, with nothing actually happening.