Salty Lemons

May 5, 2011

Cherry Blossoms

I am hooked on the pom-pom like flowers. This is the fourth year in a row I went to see the cherry blossoms at The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG). The BBG holds a "Sakura Matsuri Festival" annually during the last weekend of April with Japanese food, music, performances, and crafts. It is held under an esplanade of trees teeming with blossoms that makes you feel like you are in the midst of a fairy tale. It is a great day to be out, people are happy and the mood is festive. It is hard to have a worry in the world in such a magnificent setting. (Unless you are 50 people deep in a line for the women's restroom.) Last year the blossoms had bloomed and dropped by the festival weekend. The Swede's Mother and Father were planning to visit at the time of the festival, and we thought what luck since they are Japanophiles (his Father especially has a thing for mochi with a red bean filling). When we arrived, we were greeted by a sea of green. Woe. Not a bad thing normally, but we had wanted to be greeted by a sea of PINK!

This year in the weeks leading up to the festival weekend, I obsessively checked the map. The weather was cold and wet one day, hot and clear the next. Each time the wind blew too hard or the temperature climbed, I held my breath. By Thursday, the cherry blossoms had bloomed and peaked, so I crossed my fingers they would hold until Saturday. They did, thank you blossom gods. The timing was perfect, not only were the cherry blossoms out in their full glory, but the lilacs and tulips were also at their peak.

This year I paid more attention to the teens dressed up in "Cosplay," also called "Costume Play." I realized this was the only event where I have seen large groups of teens hanging out with friends and having fun in a botanic garden without their parents. That to me, is a beautiful thing.

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