Plum blossoms

[aimeekitty]

so monday I was actually seriously sad about it being rainy. I wanted to go to a garden. and the forecast said it would be raining all week. Then suddenly it was not rainy on tuesday!
... but then my check-engine-light came on *_* so I had to take my car into the shop. and they said that they'd keep it most of the day. sadness... no garden... So I left my car there and got a shuttle to my house.

.... ...... and then I realized I'd locked myself out of the house! AGH!!! HAHA!
(I've done this before... but I used to be able to sneak into my house. but we'd had burglars in the area so now we have it so I can't break into my house. lol.)

my husband was super sweet and came all the way home to let me in. (without even the slightest grumble!) So he decided to work at home for a few hours. And gave me his car so I could go to a garden.
HURRAY!

so I went to:
SCHABARUM REGIONAL PARK
17250 E. Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

it is a sister park to Kairaku-en Park in Japan.

because I heard from my sensei that there were plum trees blooming there. When I first got there I was like "huh. lots of green and no plums" but I kept driving... and eventually I came to a whole enclave of blooming plum trees of all kinds! Bright pink, light pink, double blossom, white... so pretty! The sky and sunlight was totally magical today too. I just sat for a while after taking photos. and then took more photos. and then sat.

I love plum blossoms. they look like little teacups.

the general area is this:










there were random groups of people that would come and stare at the trees for a few minutes and leave. lots of cute old ladies:


tons of random plum photos:

Comments

[umiyuko.livejournal.com]

I love plum blossoms! We have this huge one by my house that blossoms with our lilacs and makes the loveliest smell. I'm gonna miss it while I'm here in Savannah! But a tree's flowering outside my dorm, and I'm really curious to see what it is!

And on the Anime Industry... I think it's floundering for two reasons:
A.) There's simply too much product- I know when I go to the WALL of Anime DVDS at most video stores, I'm really intimidated and have no idea where to start. (I'm a bit more comfortable with manga in bookstores, but eh.) A lot of reviews on series are scattered and possibly biased. And, it's hard to find good series; there are so many duds being licensed now, that it might just seem exhausting to push the piles of slush away, to find one gem. (I personally think that's the fun part.)

and B.), as everyone has mentioned, those awful kids who don't buy the DVDs and swipe episodes from BitTorrent. These are usually the same kids who sit on the floor at Barnes and Noble and read entire volumes of manga and then put them back on the shelves. There's a place for that. It's called the Library. Call me bitter, but as the daughter of an author, that makes me irritated.

Another factor that might be rather small, is that some anime clubs refuse to screen series that have been licensed. SCAD's Anime Club, Kamekaze Sushi, doesn't play anything that's been licensed. Only Fansubs. Now, on the one hand, it's finding neat, cutting-edge series fresh from Japan. On the other hand, the practice is drowning its own industry by doing that. Now, they try to encourage that if you like the series, to buy it when it does get licensed and the DVD comes out... But most kids don't. Which irks me.

What's interesting is, some kids are willing to shell out $50 or so for a Naruto headband or another good like a wallscroll or figure, but if asked to buy a DVD, they freak out and say it's too expensive. Hmmm.

Wow, long entry is long. Sorry.