Searching for Sakura

 

There are a few ways I approach weekends. Sometimes, I plan way ahead - for instance, I formed the habit to plan a coming theater/concert season, so I study what local theaters and concert halls offer in advance, mark my calendar, so I won't miss plays and other events that interest me, and start reserving tickets. From time to time, I revisit my list of events throughout the season and see whether something else catches my attention. I started doing it years ago, and for that Justin calls me our family's cultural ambassador. 

Other times, we play it by ear - we just hop in a car and follow our noses. If it's not too cold or rainy outside, then we visit parks and gardens, or take walks in quaint old towns. If the weather is yucky, we might go to the movies, museums, or browse at antique malls and book shops.  

There is yet another way to spend a weekend - sort of in between the firmly planned and totally spontaneous ways, when something in particular suddenly calls us, and just as was the case this time, it can be seasonal, short-lived, and therefore there is a sense of urgency about it - we just must do it now or never (or, at least, not for another whole year). This time, we were in search for sakura - cherry blossom, which is quite an event not only in Japan, but also in the Greater Seattle area. If you're local, you know what I mean. There are a few spots around here where you can catch cherry blossom (i.e., read the CHERRY BLOSSOM LIST HERE), and every year you can find out when is the best time to visit (i.e., you can monitor on UNIVERSITY OF WA SITE) - usually the end of March - early April.

A row of camelia trees in Point Defiance Park

There are many other magnificent trees and flowers blooming around Seattle in late winter and early spring, so when we drove to Point Defiance Park in Tacoma (about 30 minutes from our home) in search for sakura, we knew we'd be in for more than one treat. Point Defiance Park is one of the oldest Tacoma parks (since 1888) and top 20 largest municipal parks in the nation, at 760 acres or 3.1 square km (Wiki article HERE). In 2011, the American Planning Association (https://www.planning.org/) designated Point Defiance Park as a Great American Place (woohoo! HERE). 

Before we got to our desirable destination point, a beautiful cherry tree in the Japanese Garden near the pagoda, we walked through the Rose Garden, and even though roses are sleepy this time of year, we enjoyed the variety of narcissus (often called daffodils here), a row of camelia, blooming in all shades from white and pale pink to darker pinks, hellebores or Lenten rose (which isn't a rose at all) in green, white and dark purple blooms, and many other plants, until we got to this gorgeous star magnolia, overlooking Puget Sound, Vashon Island and Cascades.

Star Magnolia in Point Defiance Park

Narcissus in Point Defiance Park 

Only then, in the middle of a carefully landscaped Japanese Garden, we saw this glorious weeping cherry tree with its shiny bark and the myriad of  little flowers cascading from the branches. In Japanese culture, sakura symbolizes clouds and is a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life which is best expressed in the Japanese term mono no aware. They say that it's impossible to find an exact translation for this term in English, but I think it is quite understandable for anyone with a sensitive, empathic soul. Every time we encounter something as beautiful and short-lived as cherry blossoms, we feel deeply moved by it, charmed, astonished and ever so slightly sad - we experience what the Japanese call mono no aware.

The Japanese are also known for celebrating the season of cherry blossoms by picnicking under sakura - the tradition started by the royalty is nowadays popular with the whole nation. It wasn't warm enough to picnic under the tree this past weekend, so Justin and I had a dinner in a nice seafood restaurant with a gorgeous view of Puget Sound and ferries coming and going to Vashon Island. And even though we didn't find the whole garden bursting with sakura clouds that day, as I pictured in my imagination, I will always remember our peaceful walk discovering all kinds of blooms on the way to sakura. 

Lightweight brocade coat - Eloquii (bought on clearance; sold-out)

Dress - Prabal Gurung X Lane Bryant 

(old; also shown in JUNE 2017, APRIL 2017)

Silk scarf - thrifted 

(old; see the pattern in MARCH 2014)

Bird brooch - Chico's (old)

Shoes - Dansko (my favorite lately)

Purse - Karl Lagerfeld via TJ MAXX

Linking with Patti's Visible Monday

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