Yesterday we went to some very old, semi-famous mochi shops in north-west Kyoto, near the Imamiya Shrine. We took the opportunity to walk around the shrine a bit, and in doing so, found a plum (I think) tree just starting to blossom. This was especially surprising because this part of the city is known to be generally colder than the main areas, by a non-trivial amount, so I would have expected it to be later than our area.

In any case, my first blossom-related post is quite a bit earlier this year than last year (April 8th) or the year before (April 7th).

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 — full exif & map
Buds on a (Plum?) Tree

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/5000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif & map
One of about three blossoms on the tree

Near the tree in question, Fumie watches Anthony running around and playing. I really like this shot..

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 52mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — full exif & map
Watching Anthony Play

I'll continue to be really crushed with work for the next few days, but I'll post more pictures from the shrine area, and from the mochi shops, over the weekend.....