Sunday, April 7, 2019

Still Life with Robin....and with Cherry Trees in Bloom

Photo by Thomas S Mann
by Peggy Robin

My favorite local gang (not exactly your average local street gang) is the Capital Weather Gang, the Washington Post’s top-flight collection of weather nerds, who usually begin each day’s weather report with an overall rating on a scale of 1 - 10. 

Today's grade was a 9 (https://wapo.st/2G5Ceiz) and yesterday earned a perfect 10 (https://wapo.st/2G3aObU). I suspect today would have gone to 10 as well, if not for a reluctance to give out two perfect grades in a row and appear to be an easy grader. 

Yesterday’s perfect score was illustrated with this retweeted photo:

Judging by the photographic evidence, I for one would have awared both days the top score. Which brings me to the subject of photos of the trees in bloom. This year the Post outdid itself in aerial photography of the Tidal Basic at peak bloom seen from space: https://wapo.st/2G6THXN.

But the Official Cherry Blossom Festival Guide’s photographic how-to page took the opposite approach, urging amateur cherry blossom camera-phone picture takers to zoom in for tight close-up of the blossoms this year:

You’ll still have another week to take some dazzling photos of the trees in bloom, whether zoomed in or out.

Think you’ll never be able to take the sort of photos that make it into the Capital Weather Gang’s annual parade of cherry blossom images? You won’t know till you try – and here’s a gallery of inspiration for you:
and

But why confine yourself to the trees of DC when there are cherry blossoms in bloom all over the world? Take a look at this slideshow of spectacular blossoms from around the world, as captured by the lens master of National Geographic:

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. It’s not often we get them like that!
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Still Life with Robin is posted on the Cleveland ParkListserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays….and sometimes (like this weekend) on Sundays.  

1 comment:

  1. I was happy to see today’s blog post from the tree-loving/tree-supporting Casey Trees Foundation – see below – which struck me as an excellent follow-up to the column above, posted yesterday, about our cherry trees in bloom. Go to the Casey Trees map at http://bit.ly/2VvRnPb (copy and paste the link) and you will find a tree-by-tree guide to every flowering tree in town. If you want to see beautiful blossoms, you don’t need to go anywhere near the densely packed walkways around the Tidal Basin. A great resource for agoraphobes – or just people who hate to be stuck in tourist mobs!

    -Peggy Robin

    Casey Trees Blog Post
    By Jona Elwell April 8, 2019
    We Updated our Blossoming Tree Map

    Tourists from all over the country — even the world — flock to D.C. to get a glimpse (and the perfect Instagram) of the cherry blossoms lining the Tidal Basin. However, the Tidal Basin is not the only place to find those cherry blossoms — nor is the cherry tree the only tree that produces beautiful blooms!

    Many trees from the American Linden to the magnolia produces gorgeous flowers and blossoms! Now to figure out where to find these majestic blooms. We’ve made it easy and updated our Blossoming Tree Map! Check it out: http://bit.ly/2VvRnPb

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