A new newsletter is out

I’m having fun with my newsletter and sent out the most recent update today, inspired as I was by the cherry blossoms at Chanticleer yesterday.

cherry blossom

Now is only once...


The Chanticleer Pleasure Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania opened for its 2021 season on March 31st. I’ve already gone four times in the last two weeks to experience the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms. Between 1993 and 1996, I lived for three years in Japan teaching English in middle and high schools through a special program organized and funded by the Ministry of Education, and I have fond memories of the Japanese cultural traditions surrounding the blooming of the sakura trees.

Because they blossom only for a few days each year, families, friends, and colleagues carefully plan special Hanami celebrations to mark the coming of spring. In late March or early April (depending where you live in the archipelago) millions of people share picnic blankets under the riotous explosions of pink, drinking sake or specially brewed cherry blossom season beer while reveling each other’s company. Even the gentlest of breezes produce flurries of petals that drift listlessly through the air and catch in your hair life fairy dust. Parks and public spaces burble with joyous voices.

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