Sundays in My City: Cherry Blossoms

In the eight or so years we've lived in the greater DC area, we have made it up to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms once.

Yes, once.

I could give you all sorts of reasons why (work, young & nursing children, pregnancy...) but it would be an elaborate avoidance of the truth: I hate crowds.

And yes, while the blossoms are quite lovely, there are lots and lots and lots of people and their dogs and their strollers and their leaflets and their cameras and their political T-shirts in the mix.

I mean, look at these crowds! You'll have to look past my squint-tastic, pre-children self.

I'm happy to say that I have found my own Cherry Blossom oasis just minutes from my house. 

St. Leonard is one of the "towns" in my rural county. This means it includes all of the important things in life---a gas station, two liquor stores, a tattoo parlor, and a watering hole called simply, "The Tavern."

Paul and I call it "The Tav," because we are wicked awesome. 

St. Leonard also has a polling house/memorial garden. It stopped being the polling house back in 1974, but the building remains, and serves as a meeting area for community caroling, egg hunts, and other seasonal gatherings. 

 

I'm always moved by the memorials---the stones and the benches that represent lives, laughter, and now, eternal longing. 

 

Although I am touched by the memorials, I am restored by the incandescent, spontaneous ecstasy of the Cherry Blossoms. 

Yes, the DC Cherry Blossoms are very nice, and everybody should see them at least once. However, I prefer my own private Eden just minutes from my house.

Thanks Unknown Mami for hosting Sundays in My City.