Going Hanami

This afternoon I went over to Ashikaga with my Japanese teacher and a fellow expat wife to do some "hanami" (flower-viewing).   As April started nearing both of us had started asking where were good local places to view the famous "sakura" (cherry blossoms) so our teacher loaded us up and took us to a good spot.

This area is a little canal that runs through Ashikaga and has cherry trees (mostly the pale pink/white variety) planted down both sides.  There are also a lot of wild flowers growing around the canal.  This is such a popular place to come that there are street vendors set up to sell food, (and for nighttime, lighted lanterns strung through the trees) although at the time of day we went the vendors were closed and no one was around.

I already put some of the photos on Facebook, but here I am going to put the edited versions of some of my favorites.  I am a pretty lazy photographer, but when I do get around to taking photos I looove to run them through my editing program for some fancy-schmancy effects......

This weekend we're going to spend a couple of days in Tokyo and I hope to go hanami there too.  Check back early next week to find out!  (And check out the new subscription options I added in the sidebar. :)