sakura matsuri

chanda and i traveled out to brooklyn today, for the brooklyn botanic garden's sakura matsuri festival. chanda rarely misses a year, but i hadn't attended since . . well . . since 2009! that's the last tag i can find for when i was there. there were only two other tags from 2016 and '17, when chanda had gone with a friend and then on her own. i guess it's good i finally went. (here's the 2009 post).

the trees are incredibly beautiful and chanda and i took lots of photos . .

of course we weren't the only ones . . it was very crowded, as it usually is, and which is probably the reason why i don't go.

the crowd in the distance is for a line to enter the japanese garden. we didn't even attempt to enter, though i had read they were giving guided tours which i would have enjoyed. perhaps another time.

there are many more people dressing up in beautiful kimonos, which are stunning to see. they also now have vendors at the entrance, selling vintage kimono fabric and new and vintage kimonos which are all very tempting! (except for the price tag, of course.) the beauty of the patterns and the workmanship of the garments amaze me and i can't resist exclaiming over each one that i stop to look at.

here are bonsai trees in the aquatic house. there was actually another bonsai exhibit that had a long line . . i was glad we found this mini exhibit.

we walked through the desert conservatory where i recognized an apache plume plant that we had seen at the grand canyon.

i first thought it was a desert mallow, indicated by a sign in the ground just below the plant. but everything grows so close together, and not all plants are labeled, that i think the sign was referring to . . 

this delicate orange flower growing seemingly from beneath the apache plume.

this plant made me think of an olive tree . . but the sign said "violet bottlebrush." the photos i google online only show the flowering plant. i can't tell what the leaves and stem are like. i think the garden needs to fix up their signs.

this was clearly labeled: it's a hoop pine and is native to australia.

lunch in the garden cafe.

we did not escape all the lines: we waited for an hour, from 3 to 4 pm, to see the tea ceremony.

i've never seen this before and have always wanted to. chanda is pointing out the tea cup. inside is the cherry blossom tree at night, and outside is the tree in the daytime. it's a very intricate and meditative ceremony and i wonder how it's been incorporated into modern social life. do friends get together to have a traditional tea ceremony? do they take only parts of the ceremony into their daily lives? is everyone's tea ceremony different?

enormous london plane trees . . 

the aroma of the lilacs reached us before we saw them . .

crabapple buds . . 

and a yellow elizabeth magnolia . . 

the garden is in our old neighborhood from when the girls were little, and we passed by the street that we normally took to get to the garden and the library.

we've walked this block so many times . . 

but today we headed to grand army plaza . . 

and the subway home . . 

back in manhattan, chanda wanted to sample the coffee at the nespresso store. they recently renovated their space in soho and one day when walking by we saw they had a tasting bar. it turned out to be free. we tried two different espressos. next time she would like to have a cappuccino, as she wants to see them use the frother on the machine!

 on our way to the japanese market store on broome street, we passed a new cupcake shop (georgetown cupcakes), which ended up being not so new. they've been in soho for six years. i guess we rarely walk along mercer street between prince and spring. (we couldn't resist getting some to have with greg after dinner.)

here are the cupcakes, which ended up falling over in the box. chanda had a gluten free strawberry fudge, greg had the salted caramel, and i had the lemon cheesecake.

 festival fare . . the bottom two are mochi cakes from the japanese market (red bean and rice cakes), and the rest are gifts for birthday and christmas.