Blue Skies and Cherry Blossoms

I've decided to continue my blog beyond my class as a way to engage with the world around me, share some thoughts (i.e. get out of my own head) and write something that will occasionally make people smile or laugh.  I want to share a little inner piece of Ballard (and beyond).  Photos, video and other ways of incorporating art (painlessly, I promise) will accompany this stream of consciousness.  There will not be hand drawn pieces or painting because trust me when I tell you I'm in the stick figure school of design.  So take a deep breath, get your afternoon Starbucks fix and let the world know that you mean business...

I talked a lot about ephemeral use of space previously in the blog and it continues to fascinate me.  There is a particular time at UW when this theme becomes especially relevant.  It is a time when the masses invade the quad with cameras, kids squeal with delight and adults clear their calendars for mother nature...yes, I'm talking about cherry blossoms.  I grew up near the other Washington (DC) and we have a little cherry blossom festival once a year there too.  Although less grander in scale, the UW quad cherry blossoms inspire no less adulation.  Pink blossoms appear like an opulent corps de ballet amongst the branches.  They shimmer like a mirage from a distance and subsume the rainy skies.  The magnitude and magnificence are intoxicating drawing crowds who seek to capture their magic and hold it close through digital memories, one click at a time.  Then they disappear.  Perhaps it's the very fleeting nature of their existence that makes them so irresistible.  My favorite picture is the last one, yes, the sky can be that blue in Seattle.