Cherry Blossoms

Tomorrow is the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and I hope to be taking part in the festivities. The kick off will be taking place at the National Building Museum and there will be lots of hands on stuff and demonstrations. I wish I could say with some certainty that we’d be able to go but there are way too many other things to be done this weekend. If we do go it will be the first time, in the nine years that we’ve lived in the DC area, that we attended any formal festival activities. We did get to see the cherry blossoms in person about 2 or 3 years ago but it was a spontaneous, on our own thing.

Anyway, the cherry blossoms are always gorgeous and in the past I was able to track their progress daily on my commute to the city. I used to slug (more on that some other time) and I’d approach the city each morning over the 14th Street Bridge. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the Tidal Basin is along side of the Bridge. In the weeks leading up to the bloom you can see the subtle changes in the trees as they slowly come to life. You can kind of see what I mean if you go here.
When they finally bloom it is spectacular. Unfortunately it’s also fleeting and we’d watch the weather with great concern. Cherry blossoms are very fragile and wind or rain will hasten the end of their bloom.

This year I’m working across the river so I don’t get to see them each day and I miss them. *sigh*

In other news, I turned the heel on the second EL sock last night so I’ll definitely finish these by Sunday. Then I can try out the new blockers. Hooray! That also means that I can start a new pair of socks – maybe for me.

Have a great weekend!