Sakura

My eyes cannot believe that spring is here. I don't laugh when people joke that winter lasts for nine months in my neck of the woods--seriously, it has been a long, cold winter. Despite my disbelief (I still don't know what to do with spring), I was plesantly surprised by cherry blossoms. What flower better symbolizes spring than the cherry blossom?

It's so cool that I actually have cherry blossoms in my back yard. Late in the fall, after I planted my cherry tree, I took precautions to protect it from the elements and neighborhood animals (I wrapped the trunk with a tree wrap and then put a thin sheet of metal around the trunk). I knew that my tree was going to be okay, but I didn't expect it to bloom in the spring. I believe that it's somewhere between three and five years old, and I thought that it would take several more years before I could expect any blossoms. Hopefully, these blossoms mean that I will have enough cherries for a pie. Here's to a potential cherry pie.