A Bad Springtime Omen?
On Pandabonium's Pacific Islander site, he recently talked about the people enjoying hanami (lit. "flower-viewing") parties at Kashima's Shiroyama (lit. "Castle Mountain") Park as the famous cherry trees there are in bloom.
Meanwhile, only a couple hundred meters away, the equally well-known cherry blossom display along the road into the campus of Ye Olde AcademyTM...
...DIDN'T HAPPEN.
It's really rather bizarre, too.
We were all worried that the unusual winter weather might cause the trees to bloom too early, thus missing the beginning of the new school year in April. It turns out that that was the least of our problems. The blooms appeared only a little bit early, still close enough to be there when the kids started arriving, but there were scant few of them. There were lots of buds, though, so we figured there would be more blossoms coming. No dice. Instead, we got green leaves coming out way too soon. In simple terms, the usual explosion of pale pink that greets the new year didn't appear.
None of the teachers I know at the Academy have ever seen a phenomenon like this before, and they're all scratching their heads. Inevitably, some are worried that this might be a bad omen...that we're headed for a real problem year. Judging from the unbelievably obnoxious first-day behavior of some of our new 7th graders, not to mention the fact that both our 9th and 12th grade classes are notoriously problem-filled ones, I wouldn't be surprised.
Oh, well. There are plenty of other flowers to be found on our campus. Almost everywhere you look you can see daffodils, lilies, crocus, tulips, pansies, petunias, azaleas, and a whole bunch of others I can't name at the moment. Maybe the famous cherry blossoms have hidden their heads in the bark, but there is plenty of life and plenty of color to be seen at Ye Olde Academy.
I have my first classes for the new year tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Meanwhile, only a couple hundred meters away, the equally well-known cherry blossom display along the road into the campus of Ye Olde AcademyTM...
...DIDN'T HAPPEN.
It's really rather bizarre, too.
We were all worried that the unusual winter weather might cause the trees to bloom too early, thus missing the beginning of the new school year in April. It turns out that that was the least of our problems. The blooms appeared only a little bit early, still close enough to be there when the kids started arriving, but there were scant few of them. There were lots of buds, though, so we figured there would be more blossoms coming. No dice. Instead, we got green leaves coming out way too soon. In simple terms, the usual explosion of pale pink that greets the new year didn't appear.
None of the teachers I know at the Academy have ever seen a phenomenon like this before, and they're all scratching their heads. Inevitably, some are worried that this might be a bad omen...that we're headed for a real problem year. Judging from the unbelievably obnoxious first-day behavior of some of our new 7th graders, not to mention the fact that both our 9th and 12th grade classes are notoriously problem-filled ones, I wouldn't be surprised.
Oh, well. There are plenty of other flowers to be found on our campus. Almost everywhere you look you can see daffodils, lilies, crocus, tulips, pansies, petunias, azaleas, and a whole bunch of others I can't name at the moment. Maybe the famous cherry blossoms have hidden their heads in the bark, but there is plenty of life and plenty of color to be seen at Ye Olde Academy.
I have my first classes for the new year tomorrow. Wish me luck.
posted by The Moody Minstrel at
11:04 PM
11 Comments:
Hey, now you've got a story about when you knew global warming was happening for sure.
"Well, one day the cherry blossoms didn’t bloom and then eventually soylent green is people!”
By
Swinebread, at 12:06 AM
We've had a year or two where our rhododendrons didn't bloom. I guess they were "growing years" or it might have been that we skipped pruning for a couple years in a row.
Perhaps the same thing is happening here. Blossoms are so pretty it is hard to miss them for even one year.
By
Don Snabulus, at 12:31 AM
Its global warming.
No, I mean global cooling.
No no, I mean, hmmm, I don't know what I mean...
By
Anonymous, at 1:44 AM
Could there have been a freeze just as the buds were forming? We didn't get any blossoms on our dogwood last year, and that's one possible reason.
We also didn't water consistantly last year and this year I added some fertilizer a month or so ago too.
But I dunno, maybe they're just takin' a break.
By
ladybug, at 1:50 AM
That's very strange. They were so beautiful last year. We did have warmer winter. Maybe it wasn't cold enough/long enough for them at that location. Or maybe Mr O unionized them and called a strike.
Good luck with your new crop of students.
By
Pandabonium, at 9:45 PM
Wishing you... "GOOD LUCK"
:)
By
Selba, at 10:13 PM
Good luck with the new school term, but I don't think luck has much to do with it.
Not many blossoms. Strange.
Some trees here desperately flowered as a last hoorah - someone said they want to continue the species despite the drought.
w.
By
Peceli and Wendy's Blog, at 5:27 AM
I do not understand how a tree can bypass the blossom stage. Blink and you missed it?
By
Olivia, at 8:30 AM
How was yr first class of the year? =)
By
Anonymous, at 3:11 AM
just when I thought London's snow in spring was strange enough, here comes this non-blooming-flowers phenomenom... Spooooky!
Either blame it on global warming, or start worrying that the Pig Year forecast of lots of world troubles lying ahead might have some sense...
hehe, so how's your class? ^_^ I'm expecting the new post about it soon.
By
YD, at 4:49 AM
Blame it on global warming or the dawning of the end. Nah, just kidding.
We had a strange Chinese New Year climate change too. It used to be the norm about a month or so before the Chinese New Year that the weather would be hot and dry and the winds howling but this year, it was totally a different climate altogether. Weather was not too hot but absolutely no howling winds and flower pots did not fall from the upper floors (though this is a good thing).
Hope your new school year started well.
By
HappySurfer, at 3:04 PM
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