Pink Cherry Blossom

This blog began life in Christie Park, Coleraine.
To-day I've gone back there to celebrate Spring. I couldn't let the season pass without at least one photo of pink cherry blossom.

The photo below is the same tree, taken from further down the park. There are a number of similar trees, but this one stands out best.

Pink cherry blossom is linked to a childhood memory of mine.
I was brought up in the country, on a farm. When I was at primary school, one of the highlights of the year was having a day off to accompany my parents to the main agricultural show in Northern Ireland. This was the Balmoral Show held in Belfast in the second half of May.
We always parked our car in the streets behind the showgrounds. This was a well-to-do area of Belfast, with large houses which had really big gardens. Many of the gardens had pink cherry trees just past full bloom. Cherry blossom blew along the footpaths and the roads.
The trees impressed me because, at home, no-one had trees like this. Such frivolous things had no place in our lives.

I've never planted a cherry tree in my own garden. But I admire them when they bloom in parks, or other people's gardens.....earlier each year, it seems.