The Mrs. Diaries: Cherry Blossom Walk

Apparently I am an old Japanese lady who likes to view the sakura.

But heck, what’s wrong with that?

Enjoying the natural beauty of our world. Simple pleasures. Trees that are pink.

Let’s face it: it’s the pink that wins me over every time.

Coming from Vancouver, I am incredibly spoiled with a long and colourful spring. Often the blossoms start appearing in late-February and can last almost until the end of May. (Simply google Vancouver 'cherry blossoms' and you will find it is the season of engagement photos)

During that time, the city is a wonderland of cotton-candy trees, magnolia blossoms, and pink petals drifting in the air. It’s pretty awesome.

http://www.newjetsetters.com/cherry-blossom-festival-springs-into-bloom/

It’s no wonder then, that this spring I was saddened to have missed it.

Toronto is not as sakura-plentiful as I had hoped. Granted, they get kick ass weather much earlier than Vancouver. But it’s brown kick-ass weather.

Therefore, imagine how excited I was when a friend said that High Park would be full of blossoms in May. Imagine how much more excited I was when it was on CBC that the cherry blossoms of High Park were in full bloom.

I need you to go one step further in your imagination: please envision the immense excitement and pleasure my husband, the Engineer, displayed when I told him we were going for a walk.

I’ve seen him excited twice in our relationship. Once was for the Stampede and the other the night he arrived in Italy for our wedding. Other than that, I can never tell if he likes/loves/hates/loathes anything. I hope to someday get used to his nonchalance when it comes to things but it’s still a work in progress.

Look honey, the Eiffel tower.

Shrug.

Babe – a flying pig!

Nod.

Snooky-snoo, Mr. Mop just performed a soliloquy from Hamlet.

Nod & shrug.

That is the level of his excitement.

So basically taking him to look at cherry blossoms was the height of his social calendar.

I was sooooooooooooo excited. I missed my Vancouver spring and was so excited to see what CBC had touted as “Cherry Blossom Walk” and what I assumed to be hundreds of trees in shocking pink.

Urm, no.

The Engineer, Mr. Mop and Brooklyn and I proceeded down “Cherry Blossom Walk”. It started as three trees. The Engineer immediately made fun of me. And the cherry blossoms.

Okay, three trees.

But they were very pretty.

Then we continued.

And we found about 15 more trees. And HUNDREDS of people.

We were both confused.

The Engineer’s early ‘excitement’ at being dragged to see the blossoms was suddenly real as he began to be heavily entertained by what was unfolding before us.

I’m going to quote the Engineer here because he is of Chinese ethnicity and he can say this without being racist “It’s full of Asians.”

He was not wrong.

The place was full of Asians. I wondered which ones were from Japan and if they were terribly disappointed in our fifteen, albeit pretty, cherry blossom trees.

There were families, old people, teens, a couple in wedding garb, and what appeared to be a generation of girls who believed they should only view cherry blossom trees in costume.

Again, we were confused. Were we missing something? Is there a ‘thing’ around that says you should wear Sailor Moon costumes while looking at blossoms? Or electric Hello Kitty scooters?

Then we crested a small hill that happened upon a much bigger hill bursting with people. I mean bursting.

We couldn’t quite figure it out.

Is there some non-written rule among Torontonians that this one hill is the place to be on a Friday night?

Families and friends were sitting on blankets very close to the next set of family or friends – drinking wine, eating picnics, and taking photos of themselves and the hill. We thought maybe there was some sort of concert thing as there was a DJ and speakers set up in the middle.

But the only people who were dancing were some hippies and their hula-hoops.

My first thought (due to the dislike of overcrowding) was: why would you sit here when you could sit somewhere much quieter on the other side?

My second, and the Engineer’s, was: who the hell are these people?

It was the most bizarre mix. Bay street men and their young families sitting next to hipsters who sat next to hippies. It was like Occupy Bay Street meeting, well, Bay Street.

It was weird.

And then don’t forget the Asians making their way down Cherry Blossom Walk.

The Engineer said, (and again it’s okay because he is Chinese) “The universe is colliding. Math and hula hoops.”

We sauntered back to our car, past the 20 or so cherry blossom trees.

Glad that we had explored a new part of the city. Sad that these trees were not quite comparable to Vancouver. And confused at the non-written rules we were still not quite understanding.

The best thing the Engineer got out of it was that I probably wouldn’t drag him next year.