In the garden. Värmland, Sweden (May 11, 2019).
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Chaenomeles japonica (Japanese quince)
It wouldn’t be spring without the Japanese quince in our back garden putting on a show. Seven days ago, the weather department predicted a week of heavy rain but it’s actually been quite sunny. I’d love to work in the weather department. It would seem that you can get the long-range forecast wrong fifty percent of the time and still never have to worry about losing your job.
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Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica)
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Chaenomeles japonica — Japanese quince
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Prophecy
“When beauty perches on a blossom throne, warmth will creep into the world.”
There weren’t many prophecies that baffled me like this one. And not just me; other students of the prophecies didn’t manage to agree on its meaning either.
Some took it to convey that the world would come to an end when a particularly beautiful flame sparked, and whenever the latest disaster was averted, oracles who strongly believed in this interpretation would nudge each other meaningfully and boast they’d always been confident that this flame, metaphorical or not, had been too average or even ugly—no matter how loudly their terrified sobs had rung through the temple mere minutes ago.
Others, predictably, saw something about “blossoms” and “warmth”, and firmly stuck their minds to the gutter, never to release them again.
More historically interesting, people in our regions had held out hopes of prosperity throughout the centuries, every time someone halfway good-looking ascended the throne. Whether the tradition of dressing those budding royals in flowers or blossom patterns had already existed before the registration of this prophecy was unknown.
But I know the actual truth now. I stepped into the garden in late March with no other purpose than to admire the quince blossoms, and I spotted a small spider on a candy-red petal. This was no prophecy at all; this was a statement, an observation recurring every year: spring would come and warm our hearts.
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[Image description: Close-up of a cluster of red blossoms of a Japanese quince shrub. A small, light brown spider perches on one of the petals. In the bottom right corner of the photo, closest to the viewer, there are shiny green leaves, and the rest of the shrub makes up the background.]
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桜の開花宣言🌸はあったものの、近所の桜は蕾が膨らんでもおらずで、木瓜の花を撮ってフィルターで遊んでみました。
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Chaenomeles japonica — Japanese quince
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