Hmm couldn't get the hiragana or roman for the Japanese to show.

果敢ない・儚い               はかない               ha ka na i

I'm sure there are tons of much better photos of cherry blossoms. I wanted to post one I took myself though, two days ago.
We Japanese love our cherry trees so. They're in bloom for such a brief period every year, the end always makes us all sad and wistful. These pangs only seem to intensify as one gets older.

Thanks all.  This was an enjoyable Sunday excursion.  We also have beautiful but short lived 短暂cherry blossoms in Washington DC.

Sorry I completely forgot! What do I have to do to get it to show again?

This is a very classy post, thanks Zhenlijiang. I won't even ask how you did those stroke order 汉字 - I battle with getting my photos from camera to Flickr. My SD card reader has 'broken' for the third time and I am now 6 months out of warranty.  Actually that is not a big issue in China - our daughter took her laptop to XXXX (the eponymous owner is said to be worth US$13 billion) to be fixed, way out of warranty, and they just did it no questions asked.      

You would love where I live - 'spring city' - the cherries are in bloom for ages it seems. would that be because of the temperatures?  

Bodawei thanks! But it's Calkins' template. He links to the step-by-step instructions in the Group Intro (to the link below). I won't say how long it took me to compose this one post. The stroke order animation is from MDBG.

Mmm cherry blossoms wouldn't be so sublime, wouldn't get us all intense and emotional and poetic and drunk if they lasted long though ...

And there are many varieties of 樱花, but the one special to us is the somei yoshino. The petals are barely pink, close to white. The contrast with the black of the bark is so pleasing (to us).

But I do envy you, living among such lush and varied flora. I would die I think, if I had to live anywhere I couldn't be close to trees and soil (even if it means stepping around the toads all summer).

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3545

Yeah,I agree,classy post and beautiful pic.I love those cherry blossoms.Thanks zhen for sharing. :)

《何日君再来》 邓丽君 (Teresa Teng)

好花不常开
好景不常在
愁堆解笑眉
泪洒相思带

今宵离别后
何日君再来
喝完了这杯
请进点小菜
人生能得几回醉
不欢更何待

来, 喝完这杯再说吧!

今宵离别后
何日君再来

http://6.cn/watch/3219662.html

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4Y6zRHB6IEc/

The photos in Flickrs are blocked here in the PRC. 中国言论自由很短暂。

Changye I'm glad you can now see the images I'm posting (Bodawei can see Flickr images though he's also in China, strange how these things work, or don't ...). Sadly 土豆网 always tell me 我所在的地区不能观看这个视频. 6.cn I have no trouble with, will watch the clip now, 谢谢!

邓丽君真是这样，她的一生是短暂而光辉的一生。

Hi zhenlijiang

Below is a link to the article "樱花是否开过了头" in one of my favorite blogs “阿毛博客”. The blogger is a well known Chinese writer who lives in Kobe, Japan. His observations about Japanese society is just worth reading. Furthermore, the author always writes in plain Chinese, so reading his articles would help you improve writing ability.

http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4747bc070100hho5.html

Speaking of flowers, does anyone know what 苦制花 is in English?  I have bought some 苦制花蜂蜜 (honey.)  

No 苦制花 to be found, but 苦刺花蜂蜜 is Sophora davidii honey.

e.g. http://netshop.iy-cd.com/commodity.jsp?id=2922

frognotinawell

Thank you very much - I did make a mistake with the characters. (We have another pair to add to Barb's 'characters that are commonly confused' thread. I read 苦刺 as 苦制. )

That on-line product is interesting. It is a Yunnan product sold apparently in Chengdu - 49 RMB for 450 g. I just bought about 650 g for 35 RMB at a specialist honey shop Yunnan. (I am always being told that everything is far more expensive in Chengdu - here's some evidence!)

Curiously the product on-line is 'light amber' in colour; my honey is white. But the name on the label is identical.

Honey is not cheap in China - relative to other food - and like a lot of things I guess it is sold as a kind of health product.

A wonderful post. Thanks zhen, and thanks changye for the links you posted.

Now I can enjoy seeing your photos, thanks!