Cherry Blossoms....in the snow?

I awoke this morning, as full of love and light as usual, and was (not) surprised to see that it snowed. I was not surprised due to my omniscience, but I was surprised in the sense that it's freaking April and we are in the middle of Cherry Blossoms. So I prodded my acolyte out of bed and frog-marched her down to the Tidal Basin at an (un)godly hour of the morning to capture this once-in-her-lifetime photo op (being immortal, this has happened many times in my lifetime and will continue long after my acolyte is gone).

Here is the snow on a branch of blossoms.



This causes me to contemplate global warming.



Alas, as a household deity I have little control over the weather. I'm more of an indoor kind of goddess.

This photo shows the graceful curve of the Tidal Basin.



And here are two traditional views, the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. (Don't worry, they're building the Gretchen World Domination Statue; it's taking a while because it's so gigundus.)





This non-working cement Japanese lantern commemorates the Japanese gift of the trees the US. This was before we dropped the atom bomb on their country. After we killed their trees during the war, we gave some back. Aren't we generous. Seriously, I don't understand how they don't HATE us. Well, maybe they do but are too polite to say so.



The cherry blossoms do their best, but they cannot outshine my beauty.