Anthony officially started first grade today. Today was just the entrance ceremony; tomorrow, he starts class.

Before heading off, we asked Fumie's mom to take a picture of us in front of the cherry blossoms next to our building.

The sign welcomes us to the elementary-school entrance ceremony. This was at the front gate of the school, which was a common spot to take pictures. The layout of things placed the sun directly into your eyes, so the results were pretty bad all around.

Once inside, the Anthony switched to his inside shoes (and we switched to slippers that we'd [...]

Today was a wonderful day in Kyoto... warmer than it's been lately, and sunny. And with spring break over and kids heading back to school, it wasn't crowded in our area. The cherry blossoms are almost at their peak, so today was perhaps one of the nicest days of the year in one of the nicest areas of Kyoto (which is one of the nicest cities in Japan).

So, of course, we left, and spent the day elsewhere.

The cherry blossoms seen above were on a tree next to the parking lot of where we had dinner, more than a [...]

Today was a really lovely day... warmer and less crowded than yesterday. So, of course, I stayed in all day working on my Lightroom plugins. But I did take some pictures during the day yesterday, in addition to the cherry blossoms at dusk that I've already posted, so I'll share some in this post.

Most regular cherry trees in this area are at 50%-70% full bloom, but the trees right outside my window are closer to 100%, so they made for a nice view, and attracted the weekend crowds. Most everyone had a camera.

The picture above includes almost all [...]

So, unlike yesterday's gloom and rain, today was clear and sunny. The cherry blossoms are not yet near full, and they don't seem to be particularly good this year anyway (we had an extended cold snap just as they were starting to blossom, which seems to have messed them up in varying ways), but nevertheless, I took the tripod and headed out for the last evening of the local cherry-blossom lightup.

Last year I took shots from closer to my place, but this year I wanted to try the long view, from where the canal bends, so I made the [...]

The shot above is pretty horrendous, of course, but that's expected at 1/6th second handheld, freestanding, while on a bridge that quivers as people and vehicles pass. It pretty much reflects the mood for the cherry blossoms in Kyoto this year.

We were on track for a slightly early season, but just after some of the trees started to flower, we were hit with a long cold snap that continues, so the blossoms have been struggling. The cherry-blossom lightup that my area of Kyoto holds every year is scheduled for just three days this year (yesterday, today, and tomorrow), but [...]