This time last year I was waiting for two big events. First was my second trip to South Africa, which remains my nearly-most-favourite-place-on-earth, and the second was for the blossoms on our cherry tree to make their appearance.
I say 'our' cherry tree, but really it's the street's cherry tree. It's in the front garden of the first house we built in this street, Paul & I planted it back in 1997. After we sold that house we became good friends with the new owners and they carried on the care for the tree. It's grown into a huge spring blossoming tree which hangs over the pathway. We've placed a community seat underneath which has seen many happy children playing and many late summer evening drinks as the neighbours get together to chat.
Waiting for a cherry tree to blossom doesn't sound like a big event, but it is. It marks the end of winter for me, and there is a competition riding on when the first blossom opens. A friendly neighbourhood bet… winner gets the coveted 'cherry tree trophy' and the title of "getting the date of the first blossom right".
There's no South Africa for me this year but there is the wait for the first cherry tree blossom. Every morning this week I've been walking along to the cherry tree to see if the blossoms are out yet. There are a few that are very close, I'm hoping they'll hold out for a while though, as I chose Sept 8th as the day they would make their appearance.
Don't you love when traditions just happen, kind of like this one? Don't you love them even better when they are shared with neighbours as fabulous as the ones we have down my street?
(Interesting things I notice in the pics below.. Autumn has Jess & Abby playing with chalk.. something they still do, our road is often covered in chalk drawings… Winter has Jacob holding Molly, Abby's kitty. Molly went missing 11 Feb 2011 and we never saw her again. Summer has all the guys in the shade but Lucy in the sun. I'd probably been sharing a drink right beside her before getting up to take the pic.
Most interesting of all though – my kids are in T-shirts and shorts in all 4 pics. I love NZ 🙂
Laters
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