sakura

Last year the ume blossom was very late and the cherry quite late, but this year the cherry flowered very early. The magnolia like to wait until after the ume, but this year had barely time to shoot out their flowers before the cherry appeared. The weather has been a bit cold and rainy and the blossom a bit sparse. I find it quite interesting, as the trees clearly don't only respond to today's weather, but the character of the preceeding seasons.

Anyway, flowers this year were a bit sparse at most of the main sites in Kamakura, but at least the poodles remain genki. Komyoji is one of relatively few temples that are sufficiently open access that you can take your dog through.

Up the hill in east Kamakura, some of the tree-lined avenues were looking good. This one is on the way back to Kamakura from a mountain bike ride. The green traffic lights are almost lost in the excess of pink blossom. Although the blooms may not be the best ever, all the trees flowering fast and together makes the effect on the forested hillsides more dramatic as they turn quite white (for once, I seem to have forgotten to take a photograph). Last night I cycled home through the forest under a rain of petals.