Snow Flowers

This weekend I went to Kumamoto Castle for a picnic, celebrating the cherry blossom leaves as they flutter and swirl around like snow; soft cherry snow. Hanami is a special time in Japan, where the dead-looking trees bloom with color-explosion flowers, looking like the living dead, since there aren’t any leaves on the trees yet. Blooming flowers on a dead stick. It was so lovely, I can’t think of anything like that in the States; the closest things being Fall, when dead leaves fall off. When I saw Memoirs of a Geisha, I thought the cherry blossom scene was a dream that only movies could produce. But, these cherry trees are dumping rose-colored petals in the wind like confetti; like I’m continuously at a wedding or royal ceremony. It makes me want to shout, “Long live the King”. I keep thinking, there is no way that this is real, it’s like a dream.