Fruit of the Bloom

On Monday I noticed a lot of the wearing o’ the green because, of course, Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as if we are somehow Irish. It’s a fitting burst of color as winter slowly but inevitably surrenders the seasonal baton. Soon you’ll find a full-on rainbow of blooms in every garden you pass. For now however, let’s drink and dance in honor of another bright color this week: pink. More to today’s topic, cherry pink.

If you’re tuning in from Washington D.C. you already know where I’m going with this one.  Today is the first day of spring, and the beginning of the Cherry Blossom Festival in our nation’s capital: four weeks of seemingly countless opportunities to celebrate the flowering of the graceful trees on the banks of the Potomac.  If you’d asked me a week ago what the bloomin’ fuss is all about, I’d have said the festival’s significance is as shallow as the water in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.  But now I’m properly informed.  There’s more to this story than just pretty in pink.

In the early 1900s, America and Japan were unconditionally friendly countries (years before that little dust-up in the 1940s).  To acknowledge the friendship, Tokyo’s mayor shipped 3,000 Japanese cherry trees to Washington D. C.  There’s a longer, more convoluted history behind this gesture, including players from both countries making repeated efforts to populate the city with trees, but the details are about as interesting as pushing a bill through Congress.  Suffice it to say cherry trees were planted along the river, up and down the avenues, and in numbers worthy of an annual festival starting in the 1930s.

I love cherries; always have.  I think the flavor itself appealed to me before the fruit, in the popular junk food of the 1970s.  Hostess Fruit Pies.  Life Savers.  Slurpees from 7-11.  Or the proverbial maraschino on top of an ice cream sundae.  As much as I got my fill of those, I could never get my fill of my mother’s homemade cherry pie, and I mean homemade.  The cherries were passed down from her mother each year, picked, jarred, and ready to go.  The crust was made from scratch, including the signature latticework on top.  It’s a wonder the butter wasn’t churned from the milk of a family cow.

It’s also a wonder I’ve never been to D.C.’s Blossom Festival, considering my unabashed affection for the fruit.  I’m sure I’d find a couple dozen new ways to enjoy cherries besides the usuals.  I’d happily scarf down a serving of flambéed Cherries Jubilee over ice cream, or the cherry-filled sponge cake of a Black Forest gateau.  For the more adventurous there’s a savory Hungarian soup made with sour cherries.

Of course, there’s a lot more to the Blossom Festival than just food.  You’ll find parades, concerts, and kite-flying, with every shade of pink you can imagine.  Tour the historic Anderson House, filled with art and floral displays (featuring the cherry blossom, of course).  Compete in a “Petals and Paddles” boat race across the tidal basin surrounded by the trees.  Or get wet in “Pink in the Pool”, a family-friendly swim party replete with colorful beach balls.  There’s even an “Opening Ceremony” event on the first Saturday, (already sold out by the time I checked the website).  The weeks-long agenda proudly declares “events are primarily free” but I beg to differ. Tickets to the first several on the list were decidedly pricey.

For all I’ve just written, it’s a wonder the word “cherry” appears less than ten times in the hundreds of posts I’ve published on Life In A Word.  One time I referred to the children’s game “Hi Ho! Cherry-O”.  Another I talked about Cherry Coke.  The rest were the same things I mention here – ice cream sundaes, Slurpees, and so on.  So let’s add the Blossom Festival to the list, shall we?  With four weeks of celebrating, it’s safe to say life is a lot more than just a bowl of cherries.

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LEGO Notre-Dame de Paris – Update #9

(Read about the start of this “church service” in Highest Chair)

What was once a giant box of LEGO pieces is finally starting to resemble a cathedral!  Bags 15 and 16… of 34 bags of pieces, focused entirely on the body (nave) of the structure.  We’re now building in the years 1220-1225, when the walls of the nave rise to the same height as the semicircular chancel at the east end.

The parishioners look rather tiny, now that we’re working so far above them.  And notice all those free-standing columns from last week aren’t so free-standing anymore.  We’ve capped them with structural elements to support what is still to be built up above.  Also notice we’ve closed in the west end of the cathedral, which patiently awaits the addition of the soaring bell towers.

Okay, it’s time to address the elephant in the room; an elephant that gets bigger with every update.  A few of you have sounded the alarm on my running count of leftover pieces.  It’s a fair concern, considering the LEGO Grand Piano also started as thousands of pieces but only amounted to a handful of extras.

Here’s the truth of it: the twenty-six leftovers shown here amount to just a handful as well.  Every one of them is among the tiniest pieces in the entire cathedral.  It probably cost LEGO pennies to add in these “bench players”.  And given the tendency of pieces to run away I’m grateful to have them.  Heck, by the time the cathedral is finished maybe I’ll have enough leftovers to build a small elephant. 

Running build time: 7 hrs. 57 min.

Total leftover pieces: 26

Some content sourced from the National Cherry Blossom Festival website, and Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.