And now, for something completely different…

I'm re-reading I Wait for the Moon:  100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, ©2014 by Abigail Friedman.  It does a wonderful job of placing the haiku in context and providing supporting details not generally known in the West.  The commentary really makes the haiku come alive, making it much more rich and colorful.

These two little passages were in reference to several haiku about cherry blossoms:

Each year as the cherry blossom season nears, the Japanese media provide daily updates on the evolving state of the cherry tree buds, reporting on the estimated time and date for the full bloom to occur in each prefecture and region of Japan.

•

As part of her effort to recommit to haiku, Momoku began a pilgrimage to Japan's one hundred most famous cherry trees.

I am envious.  I would love to live in a place that covered the blossoms blooming as a news story, and kept track of the 100 most wonderful cherry trees.

Wouldn't you rather hear about flowers blooming than about Donald Trump's latest tweet?