Cherry Blossom Festival in D. C.

My sister Jeri and her husband Ron are here. They very kindly made the 12 hour drive from Indiana to visit and bring us the Tell City table and chairs set that we bought from an estate sale. One day on her way to work, Jeri spotted them as she was passing. She was talking to me on the phone and she mentioned them...next thing she knew she was sending me pictures of the set from her phone. Ain't technology grand? The set looks just like the one my mother had and since Judy and I hate the set we have...the price was low, the condition was good...Eureka! New table and chairs for us. Of course, the set was in INDIANA and we live in Maryland, but they had good storage and a truck for future delivery. It was a match made in heaven.

Ron being a sweetheart, came with Jeri to deliver the furniture even though he felt very poorly. I was glad I had a 36" TV and lots of cable channels to reward him with at the end of the drive. Meanwhile, Jeri and Judy and I were determined to see, in person, blooming Cherry Trees in D.C. Reminder: Jeri came LAST year to see the trees but our plans were stymied by my car accident/concussion and her serious middle ear infections.

We followed our usual plan and drove to Arlington Cemetary to park. I personally planned to take the tour bus around the city and get off at Jefferson and the FDR Memorials because the cherry trees are all around there. (And a whole lot of other places!) Judy got the idea we should just walk across Memorial Bridge and down the river a little and we'd be at the Tidal Basin with great access to trees. It was a "short" walk. Huh. I'm here to tell you 4.5 miles later...it is NOT a short walk. It is, however, a worthwhile walk. We got up-close and personal with lots of trees. Appropriately. No picking of blossoms by OUR team because: 1. the blooms just die so why take them off the tree, and 2. only old wood sprouts fruit so that kills that part of the tree and is a really bad thing to do if you want to continue to see the display of blossoms every year, 3. the Park asks you not to do it. See--three compelling reasons not to bother the trees. My camera took some great pictures however, which you may now enjoy!