cherry thoughts

i discovered recently, while perusing the sierra magazine, that macon georgia has some of the best cherry blossom viewing in the states. as it is about a 2.5 hr drive from where i live, we had to check it out.

yesterday was a good day to go; the trees were blooming ahead of schedule, and the festival doesn't begin until saturday, so the crowds would be low. the trees were spectacular, ethereal, uplifting, and overwhelmingly beautiful. the delicate flowers rained down with the slightest breeze, and covered the ground below in a soft pink veil.

there is a cherry blossom trail which you can drive down, mainly through residential areas, which we followed. the day was warm, and breezy, and the views were amazing.

we were inspired to buy two small yoshino cherry trees, which we have planted this morning. when they are bigger i would love to lay a quilt down beneath them and gaze through their branches, perhaps with a cup of green tea at hand. it surprises me how much nature calms my soul and quiets unhappy thoughts, i felt things similar to when i was in the kokedera moss temple. it is a feeling i wish i could capture for the moments i panic and become overwhelmed.

two for the season

i went to provide hydration for one of my orchids when i happened to notice a fairly good sized bloom unfurling from one i've had for years. not that it's unexpected for things like this to happen, but this one has never even shown an interest in blooming, let alone a flower stem. i'm very excited and wonder if it will stay awhile or be one of those "fly by nighters". this will be the second orchid within the last year that has bloomed out of the blue, i think somethings up. hmm. oh well, a mystery, and meanwhile i'll continue to enjoy the exotic presence of a flowering orchid.

some of us just take longer to mature

i've had orchids for 10 years now, and without a scale invasion 4 years ago i would have 22 of them. sadly, i have but 6 remaining. i never got back into it after the scale devastation of '06, so i have not added a new orchid in quite some time. i have one which blooms for 4 days once a year, one which blooms off and on throughout the year, and one which bloomed 2 years ago and not a peep since, the other three have invisible blooms that only pixies can see, or so i thought.

luckily though, one of the first orchids i bought survived unscathed and gave me quite a surprise four days ago; it bloomed and has flowered into a most funny face. the reason for the surprise is that when i bought this plant 9 years ago it was but a baby and the shop owner told me it would mature in 5 years and then bloom. as you see, i had no expectation of it ever blooming once we got into year 8 and there was still no sign. it is a pretty thing to see, and has made my current "cold virus from the depths of hell" suffering brighter.