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Whitcomb cherry (Burnaby North)

whitcomb-blossom- broadway and cliff by-JT-March72013-IMG_9559

Today on Broadway street (corner of Cliff), I went to investigate a tree with dark pink blossoms and discovered with pleasure that it was a Whitcomb cherry tree!

whitcomb-blossom- broadway and cliff by-JT-March72013-IMG_9559

The tree is almost fully bloom.

whitcomb-blossom- broadway and cliff by-JT-March72013-IMG_9559

Photographer’s tips: There are no low branches on this tree so make sure you bring a camera with a good zoom. (Warning: presence of  poles and wires.)  Traffic is heavy on Broadway and  there’s no parking. You’ll have to park on the adjacent streets and walk from there.

whitcomb-blossom- broadway and cliff by-JT-March72013-IMG_9559

And don’t forget to look at your feet, too!

Also blooming now in Burnaby North: Two Accolade cherry trees on Halifax, corner of Kensington.

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Cherry Jam Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

A Ukulele Celebration – beginners workshop

Ukulele Celebration of cherry blossoms

The event “A Ukulele Celebration of Cherry Blossoms” is a partnership between the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival and Ruby’s Ukes.

On Saturday March 9, I rescued my ukulele from the back of my closet and headed out for a beginners workshop at Ruby’s Ukes. My objective: learn to play Sakura Sakura on the ukulele in just two hours!

At the Seymour Building, I was greeted by Ruby with a big smile.  She asked if I ever played the ukulele and I was too shy to admit I had bought it as a decoration piece many years ago.  Ruby tuned my ukulele and I was surprised (and relieved) to hear it sounded just like a real music instrument.

The beginners’ workshop was two hours. In the first hour, we learned how to play the ukulele. Our teacher Guido Heistek cracked a lot of jokes and made learning ukulele really fun and easy. We learned how to tune the ukulele by ear (a simple melody that goes “My dog has fleas”), how to hold the instrument, how to read the music sheet, play some chords and finally play some songs. In just an hour, we went from complete beginners to budding musicians!

Ukulele Celebration of cherry blossoms

After a snack (tea, cookies, fruits and almonds), we tackled the second part of the workshop: learningSakura Sakura (a traditional japanese song celebrating cherry blossoms). That went really smoothly now that we all knew how to play.

The melody Sakura Sakura sounds really good played on the ukulele. The sound is very similar to the koto, the string instrument traditionally used to play Sakura Sakura.

Cherry Ukuleles by Rubys Uke

Now, all we have to do is practice and rehearse for the Ukulele Celebration of Cherry Blossoms concerts which will take place at Cherry Jam (April 4th) and Sakura Days Japan Fair (April 6-7).  Don’t miss it, it’s going to be amazing!  The beginners will play the melody while intermediate and advanced students will play the chords. We’ll also have a singer!

If you know how to play the ukulele, sign up for the rehearsal on Saturday March 23. For only 5$, you will learn the song Sakura Sakura, get a copy of the music sheet, have lots of fun and get a chance to play on stage during Cherry Jam and Sakura Days Japan Fair.

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Haiku Photos World Umbrella Dance

Urban Tea Merchant

Urban Tea Merchant window display March 2013

Since there are no blossoms yet at the Burrard skytrain station, you can do your cherry blossom viewing at this beautiful window display at Urban Tea Merchant (1070 West Georgia Street), just a block behind the Burrard station.

 

UrbanTeaMerchantwindowIMG_9341

Urban Tea Merchant always have nice store displays but this one really won me over with its origami cherry blossoms.

And, since you’re there, you might as well go in!  Here are some things you can do at Urban Tea Merchant:

 

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1) You can buy (or pick up) your pop-art umbrella to participate in the World Umbrella Dance.  (If you paid online, bring your paypal receipt).

 

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2) you can buy or sample cherry blossom tea. White Spring is a white tea with a hint of a cherry blossoms, but my favorite is called Sakura! Sakura! It’s a green tea with cherry blossoms in it. It’s sweet and delicious.

 

Urban Tea Merchant postcard Sakura Sakura

3) pick up one of their beautiful color postcards featuring their Sakura! Sakura! tea.

On the back of the postcard, there’s a space where you can practice writing your haiku for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational:

Urban Tea Merchant postcard Sakura Sakura

Submit your haiku to the VCBF Haiku invitational before June 3rd.

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Arts & Crafts Photos

What’s up at Burrard Skytrain Station

The cherry trees at Burrard skytrain station

At the Burrard skytrain no cherry blossoms yet, but plenty of buds!

Knitted blossom hung on a cherry tree at the Burrard Skytrain

The only cherry blossom I found was this knitted blossom that someone had hung on a branch. (This reminded me of the yarn bombing of Joy Kogawa’s house in 2011!)

The cherry trees at Burrard skytrain station

The good news though is that the Akebono cherry trees are full of buds which means that cherry blossoms are only a few weeks away.

The cherry trees at Burrard skytrain station

The cherry buds give the trees a nice green glow.

The cherry trees at Burrard skytrain station

In a few weeks, there will be so many cherry blossoms on these branches you will barely be able to see the sky!

Don’t forget to reserve your SakuraB bento box to picnic under the blossom at the Burrard skytrain station during our popular Cherry jam concert (April 4th).

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Cherry Jam

A Ukulele Celebration of Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Ukuleles by Rubys Uke

Learn to play “Sakura Sakura” on the ukulele in this fantastic workshop brought to you by Ruby’s Ukes Ukulele School and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival:

  • March 9th 2013, 3-5pm: beginners workshop
  • March 23rd 2013, 3-5pm: rehearsal

Ukulele performances:

  • Cherry Jam (Burrard skytrain station), April 4th 12-1.30pm
  • Sakura Days Japan Fair, April 6th 3pm

Register online to be part of this Ukulele Celebration of Cherry Blossoms.

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Photos

Accolade on Halifax (Burnaby)

Accolade cherry blossoms

Have you seen the first signs of spring in your neighborhood yet?

Last week, during a bus ride onboard #136, I noticed a bit of pink in a tree on Halifax street (corner of Kensington) in Burnaby. Today was a sunny day so I decided to go investigate (first rule of cherry blossom viewing: if it’s sunny, you HAVE to go out and take pictures!).

At first, the tree didn’t look like much:

accolade-halifax-kensington-march-3-2013-by-JT-IMG_9232

But as I got closer, I noticed the pink blossoms here and there:

Accolade cherry blossoms -halifax-kensington-march-3-2013-by-jt-IMG_9266

There were lots of buds on this Accolade cherry tree and the blossoms were blooming earlier than usual:

Accolade cherry blossoms

I was there at around 12.30pm. The sun was high and it was perfect to take some close-ups.

Accolade cherry blossoms

All the pictures on this post were taken today at 12.30pm on Halifax street, corner Kensington, in Burnaby.

Check out the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival interactive map to find cherry blossoms in your area and see what’s blooming now.

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World Umbrella Dance

World Umbrella Dance rehearsal

world umbrella dance rehearsal at nikkei centre march 2 2013

It was a dark and rainy night for the Nikkei Centre rehearsal Friday March 1st.  It was the second day of a torrential rainstorm and huge amounts of rain was falling on the city.  Buses were late, cyclists were soaked, but fifteen of us made it to rehearsal.

When I arrived to the class, I had only learned the routine up to Part One of the video “Shabop” by Shiamak, so I was curious to see if I’d be able to learn the whole routine in under 1 hour. And yes, I did.

I actually found the routine for “Shabop” easier to learn than last year’s “Zoobie Doobie” (Shabop is still challenging, don’t get me wrong, but a bit easier). My favorite moves are: “the wave”, pulsating the umbrella (opening and closing quickly) and the big finale as we all bring our umbrellas back to the centre and “pose”.  A few more hours of practice with the video and I’ll be ready for the big performance of the World Umbrella Dance on April 13 at the Vancouver Art Gallery!

It’s not too late to join us. Order your umbrella now and book your rehearsal.

There will be a videotaped group rehearsal at SFU Woodward (111 West Hasting) on March 11 at 6.15pm for the TV Channel Omni.  Come and show us your moves!

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Cherry Jam Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Sakura bento

Pick up your sakura bento box at the Cherry Jam.

Doesn’t that look yummy? Pre-order your Sakura bento box now for pick-up during Cherry Jam Downtown on April 4 between 11:00am to 1:30pm inside the Burrard SkyTrain Station.  Holding a feast under cherry blossoms is one of the most popular activities during hanami (flower viewing).

There’s actually a funny proverb that says “dumplings rather than flowers” which means that people are more interested in the food and drinks during a hanami party than viewing the flowers themselves.  But, hey, with a bento box that looks that good, could you blame us, really?

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Photos

Crazy for cherry blossoms!

Accolade cherry blossom on Richards (corner Robson) in Vancouver.

After five years of cherry blossom viewing in Vancouver, I’ve learned two things:

  1. cherry blossoms don’t last
  2. sunny days are rare.

So if you’re lucky enough to have both sunshine AND cherry blossoms, you just have to pick up your camera and go because it’s a scientific fact that cherry blossoms won’t wait for you and the next day will (probably) be overcast.

Yesterday I picked up my camera to visit the Accolade cherry tree on Richards (corner Robson) for the third time.  This Accolade tree (which is blooming exceptionally early)  is doing well.

Accolade cherry tree on Richards (corner Robson) in Vancouver.

As some petals fall gently with the breeze, new blossoms are opening.  It is not fully bloomed yet.

Accolade cherry blossom on Richards (corner Robson) in Vancouver.

The cherry tree is surrounded by tall buildings in Downtown Vancouver so the tree will be in the shade for most of the day. The best time to go is between 3.00-4.00 when the sun shines directly on the tree from down the street. (All these pictures were taken between 3.15-3.30pm.)

Accolade cherry blossoms on Richards (corner Robson) in Vancouver.

As I was taking picture, a passerby shouted: “YEAH! SPRING!”

Accolade cherry tree on Richards (corner Robson) in Vancouver.

So get out there Vancouver and say hello to spring! (We’re lucky to have cherry blossom blooming so early this season!)

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World Umbrella Dance

Zoobie Doobie!

Last week, I rented a movie called “3 idiots”.  The title seemed really familiar, but it’s only in the middle of the movie (at 1 hour 14 minutes to be precise), when the characters started to sing and dance to the “Zoobie Doobie” song that I realized it was the famous movie soundtrack that we had danced to during the Cherry Blossom Umbrella Dance in April 2012 .

The “Zoobie Doobie” sequence in the movie is really fun.  The characters even use umbrellas at some point! This brought back good memories of my experience at the umbrella dance last year.

So, if you miss last year’s umbrella dance, you can do two things:

  • watch the movie and reminisce to the song of Zoobie Doobie (we had so much fun last year!)
  • and register for this year’s World Umbrella Dance. This year, we’ll be dancing to the song of Shabop, which means dance without worry to celebrate life.  Hurry up! The first rehearsal dates are coming soon!

3 idiots