cherry blossom festival etiquette

the other day i mentioned that it must be the start of spring - with the invigorating morning weather and the agreeable temperatures we've been experiencing lately.

another sure sign that winter is out and spring is in, is the blossoming of the sakura. hunh? oh, cherry blossoms.

this year, the last day of march inaugurates the 2006 national cherry blossom festival.

cavin and i are fortunate to live so close to the tidal basin, which homes a large portion of the 3,750 cherry blossom trees in the district. last year cavin's ma & pa came to visit during the festival. it was a fantastic time that included fireworks and homemade crabcakes, despite the gray skies and ultra-breezy weather (though, we did see just a couple of paddle boaters braving the turbulent waters of the tidal basin).

besides the cherry blossom trees, something else i did see last year was the large amounts of (idiotic) people holding branches of the cherry blossoms they picked, and kids swinging on the delicate branches of the trees. seeing things like this really irks me, and if cavin's parents weren't with us last year, i would have given these kids (and adults) a piece of my mind (which if you know me, could definitely have gotten ugly).

in today's washington post's express, there is a timely article entitled, "cherry tree etiquette emphasized". one of the questions posed: ...how do you sustain the trees so we can continue to sustain the festival?

it's a great question, with very common-sense answers:
-don't snap branches off the trees to give to your SO
-don't let your kids climb the limbs because you are too lazy to keep them in check
-don't place your kids in the limbs of trees for photo ops to send to all your relatives
-don't trample the roots of the cherry trees

april 3-5 is the expected peak bloom of the cherry blossoms this year. this is good news for cavin and i because this falls in the middle of a work week. we'll probably take a stroll down there during the peak to soak up the picturesque views. but because the peak will fall between tuesday and thursday, i'm hoping minimal crowds (yeah right) will result in less exhibits of selfishness and cruelty to one of our nations most beloved trees.