100 Seconds – Sakura Sunday 4/4/21

In my spring garden, I gaze in rapture, each day new life, new blossoms of white or pink, first peach, then apricot, pear, and lastly apple, each tree setting its own time to stir. It reminds me of Sakura, the ancient Japanese festival of cherry blossoms and the tradition of “hanami”, where people walk amongst the cherry trees, share a meal, and admire the beauty of spring in the flourish of buds and flowers.

Sakura parties and crowds were banned this year in Japan, during this second spring of global pandemic, but no one told the trees. They continue to thrive, although 2021 is the earliest cherry blossom bloom for 1,200 years, the sign of another planet crisis called climate change.

I hold my own hanami, alongside my mini orchard, watching in silence and wonder as the buds burst, burgeon, fall and inevitably fade.