the petal ceiling

tuesday is the first day of my week and the most painful. i have one class that screams everything ("MY NAME IS EITO!!" "I'M 8 YEARS OLD!!" "IT'S MY TURN!!" "YOU CHEATED!!" not to mention, "LAUREN FIRE!" coined to describe my angry face, heh heh) and another whose students' mouths i practically have to pry open with a crowbar like broken car doors. when they finally do manage to utter a feathery scrap of sound, they try to do so without moving their lips! i swear! they're either training to be ventriloquists or they just got back from having their faces numbed at the dentist. it's a menagerie of awkwardness and discomfort in varied forms. it's always a relief to get home.
in spite of that, after a day of flung-open door air, sun and flower smells finally permeating the sheet of gloom we've been wrapped in, the night is beginning to ripen. the flat winter air is filling up with dark green like the shadows under garden leaves and grass clippings swept in a heap. it's no wonder this is my favorite time of year: green is my favorite smell.
also, it's sakura season, the time when all japan goes heart-eyed over the faint pink petals of black-barked cherry trees. this year i enjoyed it with abandon! i stalked cherry trees like famous people, taking pictures out of my car window as i was driving by. they are really stunning, especially when they all hang out together.








more pretty flowers.