rkold | And you thought those were my only flower pictures?

Passover is nigh near on us and I am so not looking forward to it. About the only positives I can come up with are this year I am eating rice and just don't care and the fact my bath tub is now clean so I can take long hot baths with salts in them once Passover has started. Is that a bath bomb calling my name?

I should mention now, I just got a new camera. It's another canon and it took me a bit to get the hang of it, but I so love it! It takes such amazing close-ups. BTW if anyone wants to use some of these images, just drop me a line and be sure to say I took the pictures. :)

In October but blogged about in November I went to Kairakuen. And while it was quite pretty with its Fall colors and the few trees that were confused by the unseasonably warm weather, Kairaku-en truly shines during ume season.

Ume are the first of the flowering trees to blossom and the sign that Spring has finally sprung in Japan. For me, living in NY that same signer was forsythia and crocuses and I always felt happy to know the weather was finally improving with that happy flash of yellow from all the forsythia. Unlike its more famous brother, ume is more than just a beautiful flower, it is also produces FRUIT! The ume produced in Kairakuen end up being pickled and sold as concessions there to help maintain the park and keep it free. It's a lovely and productive cycle. Ume season starts in mid February depending on the weather and lasts until mid to late March, so I had missed peak by about a week, but it was still stunningly beautiful.