Poem for Monday, Cherry Blossoms, Hillwood

Sakura
By Saigyo
Translated by Etsuko Yanagibori

Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain
The spring breeze wearing Cherry blossom petals

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Yet another quickie as we have had a very full day -- we woke up early and Cheryl got up even more insanely early to drive here so we could go into DC to the National Cherry Blossom Festival before 10 a.m., since we knew our only realistic chances of getting free parking and seeing the trees without insane mobs of people required getting downtown well before noon. We managed both, though by 11 a.m. the Tidal Basin was still extremely crowded! There was a ceremony going on at the Jefferson Memorial in honor of Thomas Jefferson's birthday with some Jefferson descendants, and there were large families, a pair of beauty pageant winners, at least one bride, and many other people taking photos under the trees.

After eating lunch at the park ranger station near the Washington Monument and circling the hill with views of the White House, we went back to the car and drove to the Hillwood Museum, which was having its annual Faberge Egg Festival (the museum has two of them) with Russian dancing and crafts. There's also an exhibit on Catherine the Great's work as an art patron and lots blooming in the gardens and greenhouse -- we saw some of the orchids from the recent festival as well as more cherry blossoms, tulips, turtles, ducks, and several pairs of mating frogs in one of the ponds. By then we were all tired so we came home for ice cream, Sharpe's Company, some Shoujo Cosette, and Thai food for dinner in honor of Songkran.











The last photo is from Hillwood's Japanese garden; the previous four are from the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Cheryl left after dinner, Adam went on a date, and Paul and I drove Daniel back to College Park, stopping at Shoppers Food Warehouse to get things he'll need for the next couple of weeks. On Monday afternoon, we will pick him up again for the seder, possibly meeting my in-laws at the National Arboretum since it's on the same side of the Beltway as the University of Maryland. Adam and his girlfriend Emily came back here and we watched Fantastic Mr. Fox with them since Adam wanted a Wes Anderson movie -- wow, that's cracky even by his standards. Have a happy Passover if you're celebrating!