Cherry Blossoms About to Reach Peak Bloom in D.C.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in Washington, D.C., commemorating the gift of 3020 cherry trees from Tokyo, Japan to the city of Washington D.C.  First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted the first two trees on the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park on March 27, 1912. This weekend, the cherry blossoms are projected to hit peak bloom while the Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade and the 55th Annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival will attract a large crowd.

Earlier today, USPS and Japan Post jointly issued the Gifts of Friendship Forever stamps on April 10, 2015, featuring cherry blossom trees and flowering dogwood trees, celebrating the enduring bond between U.S. and Japan on the centennial of the thank-you gift of flowering dogwood trees from the United States to Japan in 1915.

Outgoing postcard US-3263842 to Japan shows the Washington Monument with cherry blossoms in the foreground. It has one of the Gifts of Friendship stamps in the front featuring the Lincoln Memorial with vibrant cherry trees.

South Carolina Low Country

Postcard US-3263845 from Pennsylvania shows live oak trees that form a canopy over the quiet back roads of the Low Country. Some branches are horizontal and can grow out 40 to 60 feet or 12 to 18 meters. The trees are called live oaks because they stay green all winter.

The sender have driven to all 48 continental states in the U.S. That reminds me an article on  How to Really Drive Across the U.S. Hitting Major Landmarks. I need to put that idea on my bucket list.

West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou

Postcard CN-1291364 from China shows West Lake (西湖), a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, eastern China, that has inspired famous poets, scholars and artists since the 9th century. There are numerous temples, pagodas, pavilions, gardens and ornamental trees, as well as causeways and artificial islands.

It was inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2011 as the West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, comprising the West Lake and the hills surrounding its three sides, described as having "influenced garden design in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the centuries" and reflecting "an idealized fusion between humans and nature."

Least Chipmunk

Postcard US-2205864 to Belarus was one of the several wildlife cards that I bought at the Mount Charleston Visitor Center. The description on the card says "the Least Chipmunk climbs swiftly and nimbly, often ascending tress to sun itself or build a summer nest. The winter nest is less sheltered and constructed of grass and other fibrous or downy material. It will use its large cheek pouches to carry food back to its nest. It feeds on seeds, fruit, insects and reptiles."

GreenPeace

A GreenPeace Postcard from China

I received a give away from China that included a GreenPeace Postcard. It reads "The more you staple, the more trees being cut. Please save your office paper." It is my pleasure to see GreenPeace's presence in East Asia including China.

Libel in het regenwoud van Indonesië

I had received another GreenPeace postcard twice (NL-1854296, and NL-1265197) from Netherlands. It features a dragonfly in the rainforest in Indonesia.