Hello blossom! Yes, despite everything that is happening, the cycles of nature just continue on. So the second flush of blossom is upon us – cherry blossom is now in full bloom. It is a sure fire way to make you feel happy; a sunny day and walking under the blossom. Troubles? Crisis, what crisis? Of course, there is more than just cherry blossom blooming, and we’ll come to that later.

Even pigeons enjoy the blossom

There’s not much to say about the weather at the moment – it is pretty much the same as it was in February. On some days you just want to get out into the sun, and other days it is not so difficult to be inside. We are not in lock-down here, though I think it is past time we were, especially in Tokyo. For us, life is pretty much continuing as it has for a while, except that we have no guests and no prospect of guests in the foreseeable future. The one ever so slight change is that we are limiting our exposure to the outside world, ie people, as much as possible.

One thing we are really enjoying at home is the sudden spurt of growth in our garden. Everything is coming up fast, especially in the last two weeks. We are particularly pleased because we were a little concerned about some of the plants which appeared to completely die off over winter and we had never had experience of this in these plants before. One example is our geisha plants. In Adelaide they remained green year round but here all the leaves eventually died off late in winter and we were very worried. Now, however, there are leaf buds all over them – relief. The other shock was when the hostas died, because I had hoped they would fill out the area I put them into. Anyway, I checked the electronic oracle and it said that they would grow back in spring. Low and behold, there are new buds pushing up through the ground right now. Phew!!!

Our potted veggie patch

Peonies on the way

My first ever tulips

Hosta growing fast

Another hosta, a bit slower

A bit hard to see, but there is new growth on the geisha

In terms of life outside of our home, our outings consist of shopping runs, going for walks on nice days and going to the gym – yes, our gyms are still open. I only do classes; 2 x ballet, 1 x latin and 1 x Pilates per week. Three weeks ago, the gym implemented a limit on the number of people in the classes, and the classes were all shortened by 10 minutes so that staff could go in to clean the rooms and any equipment used between classes. In the studio my classes are in the numbers are limited to fifteen, but I have to say that most classes are now smaller than that anyway, as many people are not attending at the moment.

There are hand alcohol stations set up practically every few metres, so I am making good use of them (I think my hands are becoming alcoholic…), and I wipe over the barre with alcohol before every class, just to make sure. I am also wearing a mask when in the lifts – not in classes, though, the number limit means that we are all well separated (or is that socially distanced?).

One last comment about the current world situation; it has been interesting seeing how panic buying has panned out in different countries. Most, if not all countries have had a toilet paper and mask issue, although, while the toilet paper scare hit here early on it settled down pretty fast. On the other hand it is still hard to find masks and hand sanitiser here. I read that in the US there has been gun and ammunition panic buying, while in Holland there has been marijuana panic buying. Priorities…

Recently, the spring sumo basho was held – without an audience. It was eerily quiet in the auditorium and you could hear all the noises the rikishi made, which you would never normally hear. Strange to watch and even stranger for them having to wrestle with no-one nearby except the referee, the judges and the yobidashi (the various assistants), I imagine. This was the first time this has occurred in the history of sumo as it is today. At the end of the basho a special ceremony was performed to thank all the people who had watched the sumo over the fifteen days. Apparently the numbers were huge. Oh, and Hakuho won – again 😊.

Hakuho at the front – not sure if he’s having a snooze after his win!

In terms of our walks in the outside world, we chose places to visit mainly for hanami, ie to look at the blossom. We went to Heian Jingu to wander through the garden and then walked back along the lovely canal into the Gion area. While it was a little early for much of the blossom at Heian, the garden there is so beautiful, that it really doesn’t matter what time of year you go there. Having said that, the massive beds of iris will be in bloom soon, so I am hoping to go back there for that.

On the way

Ah, the sun…

One of those “yes, it’s Japan” shots

A young couple in wedding attire

Did I mention I also love willow trees, especially at this time?

For our other walk we chose to walk along Kiyamachi dori (one of my favourite streets in Kyoto) into town to buy Craig a pair of shorts from Uniqlo, then back home via the Gion. It is unbelievable how quiet it is in these areas. One of the most famous streets in Kyoto is Hanamikoji dori in the Gion area, and normally at this time of the year it is cheek by jowl along that road, with hundreds of people pushing to get through. Not now. Truth be told, this means it is very pleasant to walk along there at the moment.

Hanamikoji dori on the left, another Gion street on the right

Given we haven’t done that much, I thought I would add in some photos of our local area in this blog, with photos taken in the streets nearby. I also took some photos at the bus stop recently, where I catch the Princessline bus – my personal chauffeur service, for the most part! It is near the entrance to the mausoleum of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, hence the giant stone lanterns there.

The children’s playground

East and west of the bus stop

North of the bus stop, and one of the stone lanterns next to the stop

The back of the large Buddhist cemetery

As a special extra this time I have more photos of the flowers in bloom at the moment, because I love taking these photos and I think we all need to see some natural beauty to remind us that “The promise of spring’s arrival is enough to get anyone through the bitter winter”, if you know what I mean.

One of our plants

Ah, camelias…

This one is ours

From a distance and up close. Unusual flower

Azaleas have started 

And these are our tulips 😊

Cheers !

Sometimes Craig sneaks me into some shots…

And sometimes I sneak him into some shots (although the last one was an accidental photo)

Starbucks during a pandemic…normally you can’t get a seat here

Took the first photo, then got the evil eye

These ducks just kept one eye on me

The view out our bedroom window

Miro just wants to be near Zowie

Toy race horses in animal costumes…?

Just because I liked these shapes and patterns

I like to dream…(it’s an Aston Martin Vantage, if you can’t tell)

Not even in the middle of a pandemic!!!