Ooh its that time of the year again!

Remember this from last year?

Yup, I did it again. I have come to accept this wet, cold weather at this time of the year, because I believe that is what makes these blossoms the absolute wonders they are. As always, the weather forecast for the next few weeks in our region talks of rains like no tomorrow. Throughout the week, as I was plotting to head towards the Tidal Basin over the weekend for some blossom viewing, a tiny voice kept piping in with doubts on whether it was a wise idea. Another part of me kept chiming to not give in. And guess who won? :)

As I was teetering on the brink of this decision, a particular voice provided the much needed push to turn an idea into reality. And that was none other than Sujatha. 'Are you still going tomorrow?' she asked. And just like that, it was a go. We planned to meet at 7, since the rational side of us declared rain was only predicted for the afternoon. And we should have been done well before that. Seemed perfect.

I went to bed with the alarm set for 6am. I woke up a few times through the night to hear heavy rains and the window in my bedroom looked soaked. When I finally woke up at 6, the weather definitely didn't look encouraging. I pinged Suj again and thank God it was still a go. 'Its been raining all night, but its stopped now. See you at 7 she said' :). And thus I was on the road after a quick wash and layers of warm clothing and sufficient rain gear.

All along the drive, it was wet, cold and dreary. 'How am I going to walk around and take pics?', 'Perhaps there aren't any blossoms', 'Is this going to be a wasted trip?' and so on and so forth the mind was playing its usual tricks. But right as I entered Independence Avenue, I was treated to glimpses of some beautiful blossoms that showed a lot of promise.

As I parked and started walking around my favorite place in all of DC, I had checked all regrets and doubts and misgivings out of my mind. My camera was getting wet, it was drizzling quite a bit but nothing was going to stop us. We walked around the tidal basin, avoiding puddles and stopping to take pictures and to smell the fresh scent of the blossoms. An occasional soothing breeze would make us halt and soak in on this wonderful communion with nature. As always, the trail was near empty.

What? You want me to cut out the poetry and just show you the pictures? Alright :), will do. But there is one little thing I have to share with y'all. It turned out that Sujatha and I were both in red jackets. Initially Sujatha's son C (who delighted us with his august company this morning) said we looked like twins. And then just as 2 more 'red jackets' were sighted, he went 'So you guys are quadruplets now?' and so on it went. It appeared the rest of the population out for a walk in the rains had orchestrated a 'red jacket' outing. So people, if you plan on being in this area for Cherry blossoms this year, red is the color! Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

That said, lets go!