Spring in DC… yes, everyone gets excited about the cherry blossoms, and yes, they are lovely. So lovely that when we went out to the Mall this past Sunday, we found ourselves fighting along with half of America to catch a glimpse of the few blossoms that had opened up, reminding me of the Issa haiku 又人の立ふさがるや初桜 (mata hito wo tachi-fusagaru ya hatsu sakura), or as translated by the Haiku Guy:
I found no blossoms that really compared to the rain covered ones I spotted near my last last week, see below, which I used as a model for a couple quick etegami watercolor cards I did this weekend. I tried to capture the rain drops in this etegami — but ended up with large blue globules instead. The words on the first etegami are from a Magnetic Fields song: “Washington DC, it’s the greatest place to be / It’s not the cherries everywhere in bloom / It’s just, that’s where my baby waits for me.”
The second etegami uses a haiku from Issa: Without you / Oh, the vastness of the / Cherry blossom grove (君なくて誠に多太の桜哉 kimi nakute makoto ni tadai no sakura kana). Again, thanks to the Haiku Guy for the haiku and translation, although I altered the translation a little.
etegamist 
I thought maybe I would go up to DC last weekend to see the cherry blossoms.
But it is 55 miles away and I figured there would be traffic. I am so tired of traffic.
So I decided to stay home and check out the pear trees in downtown Fredericksburg.
Spring competition–
beautiful pear trees rival
the cherry blossoms. 😉
It would not have been a good time! There were SO MANY PEOPLE! And not enough blossoms out yet. I may take an early lunch later this week to go out around 11 am to check them out again, I think there will be less people. Pear blossoms are quite lovely, I agree, a rival indeed! I’ll bet Issa wrote a haiku like yours!
A lovely etegami.
Our trees need a few weeks to bloom or get green. It has been very cold and spring is only now starting in the Netherlands.