It's a death-defying act you won't believe

[sovay]

I had to mask up to drop something off for the upstairs neighbors, so I took my camera and went to check on the neighborhood index of flowering trees.



The cherry blossoms have achieved liftoff!



Also backlighting.



Ready for their close-up.



I had previously believed this tree to be another, earlier-flowering cherry, but a bandanna-masked passerby spotted me with my camera and cheerfully told me to check out "the beautiful almond tree at the end of the street." So now I have no idea. It's pink.



Shadow tree.



Shadow ladder and reflection tree.



This magnolia just seemed so enthusiastic.



And I haven't a clue, but it was extravagantly green.

Today was the first day I've really seen a majority of people wearing masks on the streets—some handmade, some medical, some kerchiefs and scarves. Boston has instituted a curfew and the federal government is just straight-up trying to kill us. At the moment cases are predicted to peak over the week of Passover. I hope the holiday holds true to its name.

Comments

[redbird]

Those are excellent photos, and excellent trees.

[sovay]

Those are excellent photos, and excellent trees.

Thank you. Leaving the house is nerve-rackingly complicated, but the trees seem to be good for me.

[gwynnega]

Those are beautiful photos.

[sovay]

Those are beautiful photos.

Thank you!

[kore]

Those photos are gorgeous, wow. (The UW cherry blossoms are still there....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uir4snUUh1A&feature=emb_logo )

At the moment cases are predicted to peak over the week of Passover

Yeah, I think last I read, the UW model is projecting the nationwide peak to be on April 15 or 16 :-/

[sovay]

Those photos are gorgeous, wow.

Thank you! I really like our local trees.

The UW cherry blossoms are still there....

That is a magnificent surf of blossom. It's nice that they have a camera running.

Yeah, I think last I read, the UW model is projecting the nationwide peak to be on April 15 or 16

Oh, good, that's not on my father's birthday.

[sartorias]

Those blossoms are glorious!

[sovay]

Those blossoms are glorious!

I appreciate our trees!

[asakiyume]

Oh wow, the backlit one, and the closeup blossoms! So, so nice. And always that shadow ladder beckons, at a slightly different angle of surreal depending on the date and the time of day you walk.

Thanks for sharing.

[sovay]

Oh wow, the backlit one, and the closeup blossoms! So, so nice.

Thank you! I like the trees on this street. I like a lot about this street, honestly. (Just not the ever-impending, and now once again stalled, GLX.)

And always that shadow ladder beckons, at a slightly different angle of surreal depending on the date and the time of day you walk.

I tried to get a photo of the shadow stairs—so much more solid than iron—but it didn't entirely come out. I might try again in a few days.



Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome. It seems to be one of the ways I am staying connected to the world.

[thawrecka]

Those trees are beautiful!

[sovay]

Those trees are beautiful!

Whoever lives in the cherry-blossom house has a lovely view.

[yhlee]

Flowers!!! =D

[sovay]

Flowers!!!

I wanted to share.

[yhlee]

I have flowers in the neighborhood, but this being Louisiana, they are completely different flowers. =D

[sovay]

I have flowers in the neighborhood, but this being Louisiana, they are completely different flowers.

What kinds of flowers do you have in Louisiana?

[yhlee]

...I'm ass at botany so I only recognize some of the garden-flowers (and also we have a draconian HOA in this neighborhood): snapdragons, roses (mostly red, I don't know what kind otherwise; I also have yellow ones in my garden), pansies, jasmine. I swear there's at least one magnolia in the neighborhood.

Mostly, the flowers I know are Korean (in which case if I know their names it's their Korean names), which does me no good here in a completely different climate. XD

[sovay]

Mostly, the flowers I know are Korean (in which case if I know their names it's their Korean names), which does me no good here in a completely different climate.

I don't know if I know anything about Korean flowers, so I'm sill impressed.

I know a lot more trees by sight than I know by name, I'm discovering. "Oh, look, it's another one of those . . . small clustered white blossoms with tiny green leaves on a lot of twigs of smooth silvery bark, okay."

[yhlee]

In spring the first flowers to bloom are the gaenari (forsythia)--four-petaled yellow flowers, and the interesting thing about them according to my mom is the flowers come first, then fall off, then the leaves bud green. We also get azaleas in hot magenta and white and pink. The national flower is the mugunghwa, whose common name in English is, for some reason, Rose of Sharon (which fails to sound Korean at all, a problem I have had for ages when trying to write about it in English-language fiction). There are also black locusts and acacias--the acacias are particularly fragrant in the summer, although I am not sure if they are native. (I know of one magnolia tree in Korea, at my old high school, and I'm POSITIVE it was a transplant. Bloomed beautifully, though.) Cosmos flowers, sunflowers.

Beyond flowers, there are also willow trees, sycamores, oaks, Japanese maples, white pines...

Korea is heartstoppingly beautiful in the springtime because there are flowers everywhere, often growing wild, and again in the autumn, when all the deciduous trees turn color. I have not seen Korea in spring or autumn since I was a teenager, because of the timing of winter break and my other visits. Maybe someday.

[sovay]

The national flower is the mugunghwa, whose common name in English is, for some reason, Rose of Sharon (which fails to sound Korean at all, a problem I have had for ages when trying to write about it in English-language fiction).

Oh! I'm pretty sure that's rose mallow in the UK, if that helps. That's a nice national flower and I agree that the translation is unhelpful, especially since Biblically I think it's supposed to be a lily or something.

I have not seen Korea in spring or autumn since I was a teenager, because of the timing of winter break and my other visits. Maybe someday.

I hope so. And then I can ask you to take pictures for me.

Thank you for this catalogue of flowering things.

[genarti]

Forsythia! They were always a sign of spring to me, when I was a kid in southern Ohio. First snowdrops, then crocuses and daffodils and forsythia bushes. All these small low flowers (daffodils less than the others, but still) and then the great bursts of sprawling yellow. I'm very fond of them.

[sovay]

I'm very fond of them.

I didn't put this picture in the original post because it didn't do what I wanted, visually, but:

[sporky_rat]

The national flower is the mugunghwa, whose common name in English is, for some reason, Rose of Sharon (which fails to sound Korean at all, a problem I have had for ages when trying to write about it in English-language fiction).

Funnily enough, my papaw brought home a Rose of Sharon from Korea when he was there in the 50's. (Yes indeedy, he smuggled a plant to the US. It and it's descendants have been in our yards since.)

[nineweaving]

Those trees are glorious. Thank you for taking pictures.

I hope the holiday holds true to its name.

Amen.

Nine

[sovay]

Those trees are glorious. Thank you for taking pictures.

You're welcome. I figured cherry blossom viewing parties were not so much of a thing right now.

Amen.

*hugs*

[umadoshi]

So much loveliness!

[sovay]

So much loveliness!

I don't write about trees the same way I write about the sea, but they are important to me.

[genarti]

What beautiful pictures of beautiful flowering trees! Thank you for sharing them.

[sovay]

What beautiful pictures of beautiful flowering trees! Thank you for sharing them.

You're welcome! It was a really good day for them.

[thisbluespirit]

They're lovely! There aren't any blossom trees near where I am, so it's nice to share in yours (whatever kind they are).

(This is the Almond Blossom fairy, and Cecily M Barker was always botanically correct, so you could compare notes... if it wasn't a tiny icon pic. XD)

[sovay]

They're lovely! There aren't any blossom trees near where I am, so it's nice to share in yours (whatever kind they are).

Thank you! I am glad to share. It seems like a useful thing to be doing now.

(This is the Almond Blossom fairy, and Cecily M Barker was always botanically correct, so you could compare notes... if it wasn't a tiny icon pic. XD)

I could compare notes if my copy of Flower Fairies of the Seasons wasn't in storage! All I seem to have here is The Lord of the Rushie River, which has the Traveller's Joy song, but not the fairy. [edit] "But the Almond is the first!" Hm.

[thisbluespirit]

Could be! :)

Btw, as we were speaking of the difficulty of finding info on character actors in general and Mr Collings in particular, liadt just found an interview with him re. Midnight is a Place and it contains more personal information on him than I'd ever had before:

https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/liadtbunny/48804883/557680/557680_900.jpg
https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/liadtbunny/48804883/558072/558072_900.jpg

(It does contain mention of child death, though, if that would be too upsetting.)

[sovay]

Btw, as we were speaking of the difficulty of finding info on character actors in general and Mr Collings in particular, liadtbunny just found an interview with him re. Midnight is a Place and it contains more personal information on him than I'd ever had before

Oh, thank you! I will definitely read that. I still want to see Midnight Is a Place for him, however the rest of it turned out.

(It does contain mention of child death, though, if that would be too upsetting.)

I appreciate the warning. I saw in his obituary that two of his children had predeceased him, so I figured something had happened.

[tree_and_leaf]

Lovely! And the last photo looks like a magnolia to me.

[sovay]

Lovely! And the last photo looks like a magnolia to me.

Thank you! And thank you.

[shewhomust]

Lovely trees! Lovely light! And I like the feelong that I am growing familiar with your neighbourhood!

[sovay]

Lovely trees! Lovely light! And I like the feelong that I am growing familiar with your neighbourhood!

Thank you! That last especially makes me happy. I can't show anyone my neighborhood in person right now, but I can still show it to them.

[cmcmck]

Lovely pics and there'll be bees too! :o)

[sovay]

Lovely pics and there'll be bees too!

Thank you! I look forward to bees. We need them.

[sorcyress]

The flowers are beautiful too, but there's a picture with a building in the background that's the back of my work, or right next to work, or something like that and it made my breath catch because oh.

Thank you for that.

~Sor

[sovay]

Thank you for that.

You're very welcome. I will say hi to it for you the next time I am out.