Cherry Blossoms: Nothing Abides
March 26, 2014
“Since every variety of tree and plant comes into bloom in its own time in one of the four seasons, we prize the timeliness and rarity of the blooming of each. . . . Now what we call hana or ‘flowering,’ what we call ‘interesting,’ and what we call ‘rarity’ are not three separate things but really one and the same. But all flowers eventually are scattered, none stays in bloom. And it is precisely because it blooms and perishes that a flower holds our interest as something rare. . . . to know the flowering is first of all to know that nothing abides.”
— Zeami, from Kadensho, translated by William LaFleur
“Death is the mother of Beauty.”
— Wallace Stevens
Cherry blossom viewing carries with it a Japanese sensibility, the awareness of the ephemeral. It is heartening to see such a diverse group of people enjoying the magnificent blooming cherry trees on the University of Washington campus. These Yoshino cherry trees are a natural wonder.
Too Much Too Fast
March 25, 2014
“March brings too much too fast.”
— Hazel Heckman, Island Year
Yes, I am finding that March is bringing too much too fast. I am feeling behind, and as much as I’d love to sit down and paint some flowers, I can’t find the time. Here is a small sample of what’s bursting into bloom right now. I took all of these photos this morning in my neighborhood.
March’s Sour, Blustery, Fickle Weather
March 20, 2014
“March is certainly a step from winter towards summer, yet its sour, blustery, fickle weather, if one looked no further, and did not consider the law, would induce the belief that the earth had taken the wrong road, and that summer did not lie in this direction.”
— John Burroughs, from The Heart of Burrough’s Journals, edited by Clara Barrus
“Well, March has gone out, as she usually does, angry and sniffy, and slammed the door behind her.”
— John Burroughs, from The Heart of Burrough’s Journals, edited by Clara Barrus
Today is the vernal equinox. Happy first day of Spring!
O March that Blusters and March that Blows
March 13, 2012
“O March that blusters and March that blows,
What color under your footsteps glows
Beauty you summon from winter snows
And you are the pathway that leads to the rose.”
— Celia Thaxter, “March”
March weather is fickle. But the iron hold of winter is softening. The melting proceeds unevenly and wonderful abstract shapes form around grasses and leaves.
Running Hot and Cold
March 4, 2011
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.”
— Charles Dickens
This quote captures perfectly the capricious, inconstant, fickle, and unpredictable March weather we’ve been experiencing the past few days.