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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 [...]

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One of my first posts a few years ago – The Ugliness of Japanese Cherry-Blossom Viewing – encapsulated my opinion of the common cherry-blossom viewing experience in Japan, so I never would have imagined how wonderful it was this past weekend around here, despite the crowds. In fact, as I wrote in Cherry-Blossom Joie de Vivre in Kyoto, the sense of enjoyment was actually heightened by the crowds, a sort of beneficial mob mentality that kept a smile on everyone's face, as if we were all let in on some kind of beautiful secret that bound us together.

It wasn't [...]

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I must have overexerted myself yesterday with the cherry blossoms at the old Imperial Palace, because my cold seems to be getting worse again today. Sigh.

Anthony started his final year of preschool earlier this week, comparable to kindergarten in The States. Dropping him off on the first day, I noticed a beautiful tree lush with deep pink blossoms of some sort....

However, upon close inspection, it turned out that the day of rain Kyoto had just after full bloom in my area had left the blossoms on this tree looking downright ratty...

However, the carpet of rain-flattened blossoms did [...]

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Of course, I was somewhat exaggerating with my previous post, Just Like That, Kyoto's Cherry-Blossom Season Ends, because cherry-blossom season doesn't end the day after full bloom any more than blowing out the first candle on a cake ends a birthday party. The weather – very strong haze and occasional rain – isn't nearly as nice as the weekend was, but there's still plenty of Cherry-Blossom Joie de Vivre left in Kyoto.

I realized this morning that I'd neglected to revisit the trees on the grounds of the Old Imperial Palace that were featured in a post three weeks ago [...]

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