These are probably the only cherry blossoms I’ll see this spring, which is pretty ironic given that Washington, D.C., is renowned for its cherry trees on the Tidal Basin, site of the Jefferson Memorial.
I heard that the cherry blossoms were at their peak this weekend, but unfortunately half of them were reported destroyed during the unexpected snowstorm and cold snap of recent weeks. The weather was also ugly today, and even if the trees were in full bloom, with all the blossoms, I wouldn’t have braved the crowds down there because I personally don’t like to see them unless the sky is blue and the sun bright. One other distressing fact about going to the Tidal Basin is that the beautiful white marble dome on the Jefferson Memorial is very visibly deteriorating and turning black, invaded by some kind of fungus that can’t seem to be killed. It would have been heartbreaking to witness all this today, so instead I photographed this cherry tree in Stanton Park, on Capitol Hill, with a statue of Edwin M. Stanton, US secretary of war during the American Civil War, in the background.
The reluctant model, posted earlier:
