A familiar end to the holidays

Although I popped into school briefly on Friday, I am still counting Sunday as my last day of my spring break! I went with Kat and Ellen to Kintaikyo (again!) in Iwakuni, to see the…yep you’ve guessed it….cherry blossoms along the river. After a wander, a spot of picture taking, where the bridge has never looked better with it’s frame of pink blossoms, we had a little hanami near the edge of the river. I have been to Kintaikyo maybe 6 times now, and it has been really nice to see how the area changes with the seasons. I went in August for the festival, when there were crowds of people, ice-cream stalls, and the air was thick with humidity ; I went again in November, to take photos of the vibrant autumn leaves, and capture the brief time that the trees were orange, red and yellow ; I went with Julie and Jen right at the end of march, when the cherry blossom buds hadn’t quite burst yet, but the bright pink plum-blossoms were still attractive and a welcome bit of colour after grey old winter! ; and then I went on Sunday (only 10 days after my trip with Julie and Jen), and all of the trees were bursting with pale pink cherry blossoms…delicate, yet so dramatic. They will probably all be gone in another week (if not sooner!), as the wind carries them away, and the next change in nature begins.