I photographed these fragrant blossoms on a dawn walk through a frozen Vondelpark the morning of 26 December. (Many more photos of that cold but lovely walk still to come.) I’d already seen such blossoms twice before on walks through the mostly-gray landscapes of autumnal and wintry Amsterdam: I’ve already shown you some photos I took the first time, in Small Wonders.73. That was an interesting experience, because the morning of the day I experienced those blossoms, I had realized the sun had mostly into hiding for the season, and sadly posted my “farewell to summer” entry with the last photo that captured the glory of Amsterdam’s canals on a clear and sunny day. Some weeks after that, I was out for one of my “I must get away from my computer” walks around the neighborhood on a drizzy, wet, gray and cold day during some anti-social phase of the lockdown we’ve all lived through, and I smelled a lovely floral scent in the air…and looked up from the mud puddles I was trying to avoid to notice a bunch of these blossoms sharing the beauty and their fragrance just above my head, along one of the busier streets. Due to the aforementioned rain and mud puddles, I didn’t pull out my camera to photograph those blossoms, but my point is I realized these cherries are truly a miraculous gift of nature to those of us who want a wee pick me up in the grayer days of winter. Thank you, oh cherry blossoms! (At least, I sort of assume they’re cherry blossoms; botanists among you, feel free to add a corrective comment if so needed.)
For those who’ve been following my posts for a while, you’ll recall that before my January hiatus, I mentioned many photos backed up from walks around this lovely city in the autumn and winter. Now that I’m nearing the end of my light-festival photos, I’ve begun showing you more of the autumnal color and (spoiler alert!) even the occasional blossom in winter :-). And, @Sam, the photo below is another is my personal series just for you of all the cool outdoor park public-gym equipment you’ll be able to explore whenever you visit me here.
As I’ve shown in the last two posts, December 21 dawned bright , clear & cold – and it ended bright, clear & cold. I played hooky from (American) or skived off (British) work in the afternoon to play tennis…but got to the courts to find frost still on the courts and all play suspended. The choices then were go home and slouch around depressed either avoiding work and feeling guilty or doing work and feeling put-upon, or embrace the day. These photos tell you my choice :-). Look closely the canal photo in the gallery below & you’ll note that there’s still frost in one corner of the photo. I think the air temps were formally just above freezing between 2 and 4ish, the time of this bike ride — but unless the sun was shining directly on something, the overnight frost did not melt. And that’s me soaking up the sun with my tennis bag in the bike’s basket behind me–didn’t go home to drop it for fear I’d sink into torpor if I did.
As I’ve shown in the last two posts, December 21 dawned bright , clear & cold – and it ended bright, clear & cold. I played hooky from (American) or skived off (British) work in the afternoon to play tennis…but got to the courts to find frost still on the courts and all play suspended. The choices then were go home and slouch around depressed either avoiding work and feeling guilty or doing work and feeling put-upon, or embrace the day. These photos tell you my choice :-). Look closely the canal photo in the gallery below & you’ll note that there’s still frost in one corner of the photo. I think the air temps were formally just above freezing between 2 and 4ish, the time of this bike ride — but unless the sun was shining directly on something, the overnight frost did not melt. And that’s me soaking up the sun with my tennis bag in the bike’s basket behind me–didn’t go home to drop it for fear I’d sink into torpor if I did.
(so much world, so little time....) 