The transience of beauty

A couple of buildings over from my department at the University of Otago is a building that was once, in about the 1940s, a block of flats. The expansion of the university has overtaken many homes in the area; they generally spend a while as student accommodation, then get used as offices, and eventually get bulldozed and replaced with a purpose-built building for some department or other. This one is at the stage of being used as offices; it houses the Science Divisional Office, and part of the Department of Human Nutrition.

It is built around a courtyard, and in the centre of the courtyard are two flowering cherry trees. This is what they looked like on Friday, firstly as you walk through the entrance arch:


And then from one corner of the courtyard:


I was spitting that I hadn't brought my camera with the wide-angle lens to work, because I couldn't capture enough of the blossom to really convey the fairy-like atmosphere of this tiny courtyard totally roofed in blossom. It was just beginning to fall, and it was like walking through very light pink snow.

Today (Monday) I did remember to bring the wide-angle:


Most of the blossom is on the ground (they put up with a lot of blocked drains so they can enjoy a few days of wonderland every year) and the trees are sprouting green.

Oh well.

Today I'm wearing, for the first time, this pair of black and white espadrilles:


I bought them in a sale a couple of years ago, and they will be comfortable once I've softened up the little bits of lumpy seams on the heels.

They'd better be anyway - I just bought another pair in red and white!