The missing blossoms

The southern belles in my neck of the woods here in Georgia have really gotten their cotillion in a twist this time. And it's no joking matter. No ma'am. Because the way things are looking now, the Cherry Blossom Festival, the pearl of the spring, the start of all things fun and sunny, the apple of the eye of the chamber of commerce, that very festival might just be ruined this year. Totally ruined. And why? All because spring decided to come early. You would think that after a winter filled with snow and ice, spring would wait a while. But no, and that's just not right. As we all know, when spring comes early, that means that the trees blossom early too. And this is all fine and good, but what's the point of having all the trees in region in full bloom now, when the festival that's named for this sprintime splendor isn't for another three weeks? It's a total disgrace.

Unless you're in our area right now, I think it's pretty much impossible to grasp the enormity of this disaster. The local news has dedicated polls to this topic ("Do you think the Cherry Blossom festival will be the same without the blossom? Yes: 21%, No: 72%, Don't know: 7%"), the mayors of the various town have spoken their mind on the local media, and every night, the local weatherman keeps telling us that colder weather might be on its way, which might delay the blooming of the trees. And when the first pear trees in our town started to show little tiny signs of blooming, you would have thought the world had come to an end. Because a Cherry Blossom Festival without Cherry Blossom would make it just a Festival, and that doesn't sound right, does it?

To be honest with you, I do feel their pain. I really do. And I too am crossing my fingers that the trees will hold off on their blooming for another 17 days or so. Granted, my reasons for this are slightly different that one might hope.

You see, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival once, namely the first year we lived here. The reason we never went back is because, besides looking at the gorgeous blooming trees downtown, there's not a whole lot to do at this festival. There's a few stands, maybe some music, a 15K, and, well, lots of trees that look really really pretty.

This year, we've been talking about becoming more involved with our community, as sitting around complaining about everything isn't exactly improving our moods any. Well, my mood. Husband-dear doesn't complain a whole lot. Or at all, actually. But I do. To you guys mainly. But anyway, I digress. In short, we've decided to find reasons to like the town we live in. So in that light, we've been attending the theater, we went to a film festival, and hence, the famous cherry blossom festival was placed back on our planner too. All under the guise of, we live here, let's try to make the most of it. But honestly, without pretty blooms to look at, I'm not sure if I'll make it.

So let's all pray/meditate/ask one's respective deities/shake your head and just tell me to look at the weatherforecast/light a candle for a cold spell. Otherwise I fear for a serious backslide in our our plans to become involved in our community. And we really can't have that.