Some Cidade Wandering

my neighbor's pretty chocolate cake,
& Cherry Blossoms for he who's never seen

I think cherry blossoms bloom overnight. I guess all things do, don't they. But they weren't here the night before, it was overnight, just one night and the sky changed from brown little pods to delicate pinky white petals. It's the little things we overlook; things that are often always there, swimming by unnoticed, and thought to appear only after recognition. but they've always been there. I usually take cherry blossoms for granted, a glance, a quiet smile, yeah not much ado, they'll always be back every season. But something's made me look closer, maybe it is to look for the both of us, you who have never seen them, or perhaps they have never been as beautiful before. But be quick! blink and they are gone. You see, time with them is short; really only a few weeks that fade faster than canvas shoes left out in the sun. Two weeks, maybe three, of perfectly perfumed air and overhead canopies so pink and plushy you can't help but exhale a grin and dream yourself into a woodcut scene at the imperial palace, kimono and all--aha, i knew i always loved Mulan the best of all the Disney princesses, though not a princess...what pretty little blossoms, wish i could have them forever.

Yes they bloom in Spokane. Actually, they bloom all over the United States; they were a gift you see, and really don't belong here at all. In 1912 Japan gifted a near three thousand cherry blossom trees (sakura) as a mark of friendship, because that's what you do with friends, send them forests in the mail (did you get the birch saplings i sent you last week yet?) New York, DC, Philidelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle--the Japanese native flaura is as prominent an indigenous figure in this country as is anything else. How lucky. Some people have never seen. So these are for you. Sakura cherry blossoms, in case you were wondering, are not fruit trees they are merely candy for the eyes, perhaps the reason why they are the Chinese symbol for feminine beauty and love. Well. That's that.

There's been a bit of wandering lately, wandering around this city that will only be mine for the next four weeks. Four years down to four weeks, how could this come so fast. let's catch it in a jar before we leave.

Apparently i live down the road from a caterer who is an incredibly talented baker. get to know your neighbors. On my way home from work i picked up E who requested a cookie baking date, he came to the car with a chocolate cake, dome stand and all. May i ask? he replies, i need to request some food photography, i'll pay you with wine. Deal. The cake was baked special by my neighbor (the caterer) as a one year anniversary present, as she is his "mother in law" no they're not married, but what else do you call the mother of your other? Anyways, the chocolate decadence cake available from Colleen Caters was undoubtedly a very pretty specimen, camera candy, if you will. And right down the road too.

oh what the hell, let's click one of those up there ~ theme "Spring"

Chocolate cakes look best with flowers around them. Cherry blossoms, oh how thematically connective. I am too clever. Cherry blossoms are good omens of fortune and spring love; yet simultaneously used in Japanese metaphor for the fleeting nature of life--love it while you can, and remember it when it's gone, because the reality is that it will always come back. Exotic to US soil, they now belong; returning each year to canopy paths even if only to decorate cakes. How romantic, how poetic--you are waiting for me to shout carpe diem, but instead i'll leave you with the fact that the popsicle stick bridge competition is that way, when you see arrows, follow.

a bientot