Kim Gaffett Category: Flowering cherry Photos by Kim Gaffett When I uncurled from sleep this morning and looked out my southwest facing window I saw the day’s sunrise reflected in the sky. For brief moments the baby blue backdrop was streaked with one wide band of peach and salmon, and several more thinner repeating bands drifting towards the horizon. In the time that it took to stretch, contemplate the upcoming day, and rest a few more moments before wresting myself from the comfort and warmth of my nightly haven, the bands of salmon melded together to form a fading, thin comforter of a low peach-gray layer of clouds, which hung below a sky that was taking on the intense hue of robin’s-egg blue. While I dressed, the stunning and intense colors produced by the rising sun reflecting at low angles off of everything from clouds above, to my neighbor’s billowing Sakura, faded and muted as I wondered where did the color go? By the time I sat down to write this, the sun had arched high enough to get above the low cloud layer, and once again the landscape was glowing with the intense colors: new green grass, bright blue sky seen through a thin cloud veil, the pond edged with deep red highbush blueberry buds, the hillside dotted with my neighbor’s peach tree blossoming pink, and again the giant cloud of cherry blossoms.