3 in 30 - 2001.03.31 Saturday
Early blooming/fallen camellia blossoms
One of the first trees to blossom in the spring is the camellia or tsubaki. The ornamental plums seem to be the first, coming in the dead of winter. We have a camellia tree just outside the back room and I watch it all year long. Our camellia has been visited by a bird which probably feeds on the nectar. After it digs in the flowers the petals fall down to the moss below.
There are many different kinds of camellia. One next door is multi-petaled. It looks like the "roses" in Alice in Wonderland.
The tree produces some very oily nuts that I understand is sometimes used for hair care. With the nuts that this one produces, I should start a small business.
Spring hyacinth
Another early spring flower is the crocus. This is a small planter next to the patio with several crocus. I've been corrected. These are probably hyacinth. Along the canal (outside the designated Matsubara-cho neighborhood) where I pass as I ride my bicycle to an from work, there are also narcissis and grape hyacinth. Situated beneath a row of cherry trees, they preceed the opening of the cherry blossoms.
We should probably plant some more of these.
There are streaks of white spots in the picture. Those steaks are snow flakes on the last day of March. It is an early April Fool's joke. It snowed all day Saturday. We were planning on going to a park near an architectural museum, but decided that we would rather stay inside.
Late spring snow
This snapshot is one that Beverly took from close to the front door. You can clearly see the snow coming down. It was warm enough that the snow did not build up, but cold enough to make it less than desirable to be out and about.
In the foreground is the stone wall around the front of our house. Yanagawa-san anticipated the weather and did no put laundry out to dry (the house on the left). In the distance, across the street, the apartment building fades into the sky.
It seems as if it has snowed four times this year. I don't remember it snowing at all last year.