The Cherry Blossom
Blink and you miss them.
Cherry blossoms bloom for only a week, but that week bestows upon me a glorious view from my apartment window in Battery Park City.
Americans associate cherry blossoms with Washington DC and the annual Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin.
Most of the thousands of cherry blossoms the Japanese gave the United States in 1912 were planted in DC.You also can find cherry blossoms in several other areas of the United States, including San Diego, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. And some ended up here in New York, and a few outside my window.
But this 18th floor window isn’t the first to afford me a view of cherry blossoms. Growing up on an army base in Japan, I could see a single cherry blossom tree from my window. The small tree didn’t hide the chain-link fence and the gravel field beyond, a field of broken tanks, row after row of tanks waiting for repair.
The cherry blossom is called Sakura in Japan. As a little girl, I used to sing a Japanese folk song, “Sakura, Sakura” that I learned phonetically. I had no idea what the words or title meant.
Kia ora Katie,
I had no idea you had grown up as little girl in Japan! What a cool tie to the cherry blossoms. I was chuckling to myself yesterday thinking of the time you, Tara and I climbed up to Rangiwahia in the Ruahines years ago. That was a very cool day, and you guys did awesome. Hope all is well, and don’t travel to Arizona, or the Mississippi delta – I am going to go listen to Leon Redbone and hurl insults at BP. Aroha to you and Gene.
Cheers,
Robb
Robb,
I remember that climb well–much harder than I thought it would be. But the reward was at the top: a picnic with nice wine and my very first New Zealand mussel. Before that, I didn’t think I liked mussels.
Arizona is off our travel list, despite Tammy living in Phoenix. I’ll just have to meet her in Milwaukee.
Hope you’re recovering swiftly from your surgery.
Kate