After a stupendous moment in the sun, the common white cherry blossom has all but evaporated from Kyoto, but there are still plenty of other varieties of cherry tree (and other tree, I suppose) in full bloom or just starting to blossom. The weeping crimson at the old imperial palace are one example, but there are plenty more, such as this tree full of fluffy pink I came across on the way home from Mass on Sunday. They were so nice, I had to return with my camera...
I like how in the photo above you can see all the various stages: bud, unfolding blossom, and fully-expanded blossom. These reminded me somewhat of the late-blooming blossoms from 10 Gallons of Blossoms on a 5-Gallon Branch, but these were more delicate and airy, less bunched.
The green of a neighboring willow tree made for pretty contrast...
... especially where some blossoms poked through the curtain of green....
I wondered how they compared to the aforementioned “10 Gallons” blossoms, so I stopped by on my way back to check them out. They were much further behind the curve, probably hitting full bloom some time in a week or two...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/5, ISO 320 — full exif & map
Much More Yet to Come
(such as this)
While there, I noticed Aotan, the great blue heron that's trained the owners of a local building to feed him (as seen in Lunch with a Great Blue Heron), waiting at his normal spot...
The first floor of this building is the Reina de Reina Mexican restaurant, which is unlike any Mexican restaurant in America in that its food is excellent. Really, really top notch. Fumie took me there the other day for my birthday, and just as it was when I was there before, the food was absolutely superb. If you have a chance to visit this area, I highly recommend it.
If you do, be sure to say “hi” to Aotan.
A few moments after taking this picture, a couple and their three young kids exited the restaurant, and not knowing there was a huge gray bird just outside the door (and not expecting there was a huge gray bird just outside the door), all parties – human and fowl – were somewhat startled. The humans reacted by taking a step back, while the bird reacted by flying to the roof one floor above.
They stared at each other for a while before the humans went on their way...
I have actually been to the pictured “Mexican restaurant” and saw the heron in the picture, but had no idea that it served Mexican food (I think we had a coffee there). I am really looking forward to checking it out as I love Mexican food, though I must say that I have had good Mexican food in the US (have you ever been to New Mexico?). Thanks for the tip!