I brought you back Cherry Blossoms

I'm home! I missed everyone on blogland. I checked in whenever I could. I can see that you have been busy doing wonderful stuff. I did a little bit of stitching too, but it was totally different than I planned! More on that later. I'm still in a vacation mode so I would like to show you some Cherry blossoms. Sakura is the name in Japanese. We couldn't have gone there at a better time for the Cherry blossom season! The first week in Kyoto the blossoms were about 30-50% in bloom, then in Tokyo they were 90-100% in bloom, and then at Kanazawa 80-90%. All in all our timing was perfect. I fell in love with the cherry blossoms. I suddenly like pale pink and their smell is so gentle and sweet. The Japanese use cherry blossoms in so many things. For instance in cake, tea, juice, cooking and in air fresheners. Our friend Lesley even had cherry blossom printed toilet paper!
Cherry trees grow all over the country. Some are growing wild, but mostly they were planted many many years ago. There are many species of cherry trees in Japan. They come in all shades from pink to white. I took the photo above at the Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa.
I decided to group the photos into postcards, please double click on the photos to see the larger images. The photos in the postcard above were taken at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa. It is one of Japan's great three gardens. If you have a chance please check the links above.
I hope you noticed the snow on the mountain? Yes, it was snowing in Kyoto the day we were there and it was colder than we expected. I found that it's not easy to take photos of cherry blossoms. You need a contrasting background against them to get a better effect. I'm pleased with how they turned out. I hope you enjoyed them too.
I like how they use the cherry blossom shape for a drain hole on the road. The bottom left corner photo was the first tree I found in a small lane in Kyoto. I was so excited that I sent them off to some of you, but unfortunately my iPhone so called roaming service decided to stop working just after I did that. Anyway, here they are and you can all enjoy them at your leisure.

By the way, I totally fell in love with Japan. I already thought about going back there for our next vacation. If you have not been there please consider Japan for your next holiday. You will love it too...!