Ode to Cherry Trees

The pictures do not do them justice, and yet they also speak for themselves.

These. Cherry. Trees. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? Now imagine if you could smell them, too.

The cherry blossoms started showing up a few weeks ago and from then on it's felt like spring arrived overnight. I think as a Wisconsinite, I've been conditioned to never think about spring. Just tell yourself it's going to be winter forever and then you get a lovely surprise when the thaw finally comes. Plus, springtime in Wisconsin is sort of - how do I say this nicely - ugly? Maybe ugly is a bit harsh. But it's certainly not dramatic or fast or very pretty. The snow usually melts gradually leaving muddy half melted snowbanks and lots of icky, slightly salty mud. Plus, there's the leftover garbage. If you've seen it you know what I mean. It's the four months of litter that has been happily buried in snowbanks since December. When the snowbanks melt all you're left with are partially fossilized mountain dew bottles. Not very pretty. Now, when it does finally stay above 50 degrees for a whole day, it's magical. You revel at every robin, every tiny bud, every spot of open water in the lake ice. People come out of the woodwork with their flip flops and frisbees. They smile at each other. You can't deny the magic of spring in Wisconsin, especially because you've been telling yourself it's never gonna happen to avoid the disappointment of still having snow in April.

All this to say, I was not expecting the cherry blossoms in Seattle. I thought to myself "surely it can't be time for spring yet." Then, after realizing it was, in fact, not too good to be true we took every rainless night to take a walk around the streets of our neighborhood. Oohing and Ahhing and sniffing the air like bumble bees (note: I'm not entirely sure if bees sniff). Kevin laughed at my walking habits of drifting from one side of the street to another or turning a random corner just to walk under as many cherry trees as possible. These pictures were taken on Easter Sunday on the University of Washington campus. There's one square that's all cherry trees and they were in full bloom. Actually, just past full bloom, which made it better since we were treated to a snow-like flurry of petals every time the wind blew. We couldn't have asked for a better day with brilliant blue skies and mid 60's weather. Perfection.

Now comes the not-so-great part of Seattle weather. In the same way that I taught myself not to think about Spring in Wisconsin, I think I need to teach myself not to think about Summer in Washington. Just because we had a handful of sunny, 60 degree days, does not mean it's summer. There is plenty of rain and grey to go through before we get to that. I have heard many Seattleites say that summer doesn't really arrive until the 4th of July. Or, more likely, the 5th of July because of course it can't cooperate and be nice for the holiday. So self: don't be fooled. It's not summer yet. Enjoy the sporadic beautiful sunny days for what they are. Spring. Washington style.