Japanese cherry blossoms

Spring in the Japanese Garden

Yesterday morning, we took a walk around the Missouri Botanical Garden. It does’t matter how many times we visit the Japanese Garden in the spring…I’m always stunned by its beauty!

Cherry Blossom Season

I really love the cherry blossom event in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I still don’t like how they handle obtaining the recipes for the special furniture (I’m tired of hunting down balloons!), but I love the pink trees, floating blossoms, and of course the elusive special furniture items. While I didn’t get every recipe for every item, between everyone in the house that plays the game and myself I was able to get all of the items I wanted for my cherry blossom viewing area, including the pond stone, lantern, bonsai, and branches:

This has been one of my favorite events in the game, and I felt less pressure the second time around because I knew what to expect (and what not to get my hopes up about!), which made it even more fun!

The Top Five–Photos of 2019

Time to take a look back at my five favorite photos from 2019! Notable this year is that a lot of my pictures were taken (or cropped) in “square” mode, since I’m using Instagram more than ever.

First, a picture from early in the year, when we enjoyed a snowy day in the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden:

Another winter picture, this time of two snow leopards at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago:

A spring photo featuring cherry blossoms in the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Japanese Garden:

The Red Arrows in flight!

Fall at Forest Park’s Pagoda Circle:

And an honorable mention…a photo taken at the holiday flower and train show at the Missouri Botanical Garden just a few days ago!

Obviously, I have my favorite places to take pictures, but I like that I’m constantly finding new ways to highlight them!

Another Look at Spring in the Japanese Garden

I know I already shared some pictures of our evening stroll through the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden earlier in the week, but it was such a lovely experience, I just had to share a few more!


Springtime Stroll

Last night, the Missouri Botanical Garden offered a somewhat rare opportunity…they had special evening hours to allow the community a chance to see some of their beautiful spring blooms, particularly the cherry blossoms in the Japanese Garden. Outside of special events, we don’t really get a chance to visit the Garden as the sun is going down, so it was a real treat to be there at that time of day, and the flowers were beautiful!

It was nice to see such a big crowd in attendance…I felt like I was getting a good idea of what it might be like for cherry blossom viewing in Japan, or at the very least, in Washington D.C.!