Spring Idyl
The resident climber-people were off pursuing their sport today, so I grabbed my camera and a book and hiked down to the University of Washington campus just for a change of scenery. Turns out that this weekend the cherry blossoms on the Quad were out in abundance, and I lucked into a covey of photographs.
The trees were transplanted there in 1964 to make way for a freeway project, and their blossoming has become a much-anticipated event. The Quad was festively packed with sightseers. Oddly, the preponderance of the celebrants were Asian. Not so oddly, I guess, almost all of us brandished cameras. You can view a CherryCam here from the UW’s website.
I really like the contrast of the dark, sinuous, venerable trunks against the newborn blossoms. Age speaking to youth. Apparently these trees are nearing the end of their natural lives, and there is a project in place to replace them. It will take decades, however, for the trunks to achieve the same gnarled character.
Click any picture to enlarge.
From there, I wandered down to the Montlake Cut, the passageway between Lake Union and Lake Washington, plopped down on an ergonomically-shaped rock and read from Henry James’ The American while weekend boaters promenaded past.
On the walk home, I couldn’t help documenting this self-fulfilling sobriquet:
