Buildings and blossoms beauty

Today it reached 80 degrees in our nation's capitol, thanks to Mother Nature's continued largesse. It was perfectly timed as D.C.'s annual Cherry Blossom Festival was also in town.

Saucer Magnolia and Dept of Agriculture

I took my unofficial god-daughter and her bff to educate and expose them to new types of floral beauty and got an education myself. Thinking we'd escape the crowds, we went later in the afternoon and were slightly caught off-guard when we got tossed into the worst rush-hour traffic on record. That was my first lesson: Spring break-duh. The second one was that boys, any and most all boys, are cute, no..."hot" and evidently more interesting than flowers. So are cell phones and texting. Well, I get the boy part at least.


We ultimately benefited from our late arrival as the sun was setting, creating the most luminous and glowing backdrop imaginable. Because of the warm temperatures of late, the tress had peaked, which had its merits--white snow covered the ground and the crowds. How sensuous and surreal dying plants can be.


While my focus was on nature, I couldn't help but notice the government buildings that sat next to the trees. I normally disregard the buildings when I am in D.C., but it's only because I lived there for years and after a while, they all start to blend in with their height restrictions and monotonous Greek revival style.

Jefferson Memorial at sunset

But tonight, the gloaming and the early blooms made the bureaucratic facades stand out and look, well, kinda sexy. Or maybe it's just all that boy talk making me a little more alert.

Cherry Blossoms and Washington Monument, Washington, DC

All photos by Flower Spy

Trouble.