7-minute read, including photo captions at bottom

I missed the Cherry Blossoms this year.

Stay home. Isolate. Flatten the curve. Be safe. And I did.

But I also missed a lot of things. Not as much as many people - I have been very lucky. I didn’t miss the end of my senior year of high school, or my freshman year of college. I didn’t miss putting food on the table. I’m not dealing with the trauma that has afflicted so many health care workers. The list of deprivation and loss is endless. What I’ve missed is minor compared to many others, so I count my fortunes and push on. For many, remembering those things missed and lost will be the defining character of 2020 - and well beyond.

So, even though this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival would have come and gone by now (had it not been cancelled), I digitally dusted off my photos from the last Cherry Blossom Festival I went to. Spring is in the air, so now’s as good a time as any to showcase some cherry blossoms.

Ironically, I missed the Cherry Blossoms last year too - but for a different reason. On the day I chose to go down to the DC Mall, it was so absurdly, ridiculously, crazy-crowded, that I just couldn’t take it and went back home without even making it to the Tidal Basin. There was literally no room to walk the closer you got. It was just one of those days where you realize it’s better to cut your losses and abandon the plan, rather than deal with the profane crush of humanity - even if there isn’t a novel virus threatening life and limb.

I figured I’d go back another day when things weren’t quite so overwhelming. When cars weren’t leaning on their horns at pedestrians streaming ceaselessly through crosswalks, ignoring “Don’t Walk” signs. When traffic cops weren’t yelling, shrilling angrily on their whistles, and having to restrain restless mobs at intersections. Or maybe I’d just go next year, if that’s what it came to. Neither one happened.

With last year’s debacle in mind, I was all prepared to get a jump on things this year - I was on point and primed. I’d been tracking the progress of the trees, watching the “blossom cam” daily, all ready to catch the early peak this year. But the message was too loud and too clear: stay away from crowds. Despite that, crowds of people showed up at the Tidal Basin on the peak bloom weekend anyway. Maybe the full impact hadn’t really struck home yet. Or maybe they all had the same idea that I did: no one else is going to show up, so if I sneak down there, do a quick circuit of the Basin - and keep my distance from the few people that do show up - it should be fine. Right? Yeah…no.

It took parking lot and road closures to finally convince me they were serious. Better to stay home and just give it a miss this year - the trees won’t miss me, and they’ll be there next year.

Strange times. Strange and stressful times. Hoping next year will be different. No second - and third - wave….please. We’ll see.

Whew! Gotta shake off the nega-vibes! So much to process this year! Move on! Look forward - and back….

For those unfamiliar with the history of the cherry blossom trees, here are some quick facts to prime the brain pumps:

• In 1909, the First Lady, Helen Herron Taft, was approached with the offer of a gift of 2,000 cherry blossom trees by the Japanese chemist, Dr. Jokichi Takamine. Upon arrival in the US, those trees were discovered to be diseased - infested with nematodes - and so were destroyed.

• In 1912, the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, gifted another 3,000 trees to the US. Those were planted around the Tidal Basin.

• The first Cherry Blossom Festival took place in 1935, and has since expanded to a month-long celebration spanning March and April, attracting millions of visitors from around the world. Every one of those visitors showed up on the same day I did last year. Every. Last. One. Of. Them.

• In 1965, the Japanese government made another donation of 3,800 trees to the First Lady at the time, Lady Bird Johnson. Many of those trees were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

• Clippings of the original 1912 trees continue to be propagated, preserving the genetic characteristics of the lineage. 400 of these “clones” were planted between 2002 and 2006 around the Tidal Basin

It was a bright, brisk early-April afternoon in 2018 when I made my way down to the Tidal Basin. It was crowded, but not claustrophobically so. There was a stiff breeze blustering intermittently. Most people were still wearing winter jackets, some, like me, with hats and gloves too.

It was a good day - I was in the zone, walked the full circuit of the Tidal Basin, shot 1,636 photos in 6 hours, and came away with 45 worth sharing. Not a bad ratio, even if some of the images aren’t that stellar.

When my addled brain remembers such routine things, I will often start my GPS walking app to record my “journey”. You can see my route outlined in red to the right (or above, if viewing on a mobile device).

Here are the photos from that day - April 8th, 2018 - no video or processing highlights this time. Most of these images just got the basic editing treatment: a bump in contrast, saturation, etc - no real heavy lifting for this shoot.

As usual, there will be more photos than those shown below in the Gallery for this post - don’t forget to check that out. Enjoy!

The deceptively plain Japanese Pagoda, positioned near the FDR Memorial, is actually quite old. Given to DC by the Mayor of Yokohama in 1957, it is made of 3,800 pounds of granite and dates back to the 1600’s. The structure is composed of five distinct symbols, from bottom to top: earth, water, fire, wind, and sky.

As always, thanks for reading my blog posts! Check out the Gallery for more shots!

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