Tuesday Afternoon in Prospect Heights: Bluebell Wood at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

(Videos courtesy showla chaudry)

Friday Afternoon in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Cherry Blossoms at Cherry Esplanade and Cherry Walk on Earth Day

(Video courtesy CrystalBlueAmethyst)

Monday Afternoon on the Franklin Shuttle from Botanic Gardens to Prospect Park

(Video courtesy BwayLine Ent.)

Saturday Afternoon in Prospect Heights: Chile Pepper Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

(Video courtesy TED-TV Productions) (Videos courtesy Chinese Cultural Center) (Video courtesy Vladimir Efros)

Tuesday Morning in Prospect Heights: Breakfast at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

After more than three wonderful summer months living la vida loca on the vibrant Southside of Williamsburg - this was the view from our bedroom's front window on South 5th Street between Rodney and Keap -

on Sunday we moved for a month to another sublet, this time in wonderful Crown Heights. Here's the view of Nostrand Avenue store signs from our Crown Heights bedroom window:

Early this morning we got to the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza via a short two-stop trip from President Street and even before the library opened, we sat at a table on the library's own plaza and graded papers -- some terrific ones from our students -- for an hour. Then we got some breakfast from the Mambo Open Book Cafe inside and walked down Eastern Parkway to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where it was the first totally free off-season Tuesday.

After sitting at a bench and eating our cereal and drinking our juice,

Friday Morning in Prospect Heights: Fall at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

After ten days straight of work, we had one day off today before another six days in a row teaching, and on this chilly, overcast morning, we went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to experience autumn -- and, in the conservatory, the desert and the tropics.












We are always grateful for the quiet beauty of the place.

Tuesday Afternoon at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Hanami - Cherry Blossom Viewing Time

On this gloriously sunny and warm afternoon, we joined hundreds of people for Hanami, the monthlong cherry blossom viewing festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

A gorgeous day coincided with the last day of the Passover/Easter break for public school students, so the crowds were really big.

Everyone, including us (obviously), seemed to be snapping photos.

We heard a lot of Japanese, but also Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Bengali, Polish, and other languages.

Prepared to pay the admission fee, we were happily surprised to learn that admission was free to everyone today.

According to Wikipedia,

The Garden has more than 200 cherry trees of forty-two Asian species and cultivated varieties, making it one of the foremost cherry-viewing sites outside of Japan.

The first cherries were planted at the garden after World War I, a gift from the Japanese government.

Each spring at BBG, when the trees are in bloom, a month-long cherry blossom viewing festival called Hanami is held, culminating in a weekend celebration called Sakura Matsuri

which will take place this year on Saturday and Sunday, April 30 and May 1.

Cherry trees are found on the Cherry Esplanade and Cherry Walk,

in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden,

and in many other locations in the Garden. Depending on weather conditions, the Asian flowering cherries bloom from late March or early April to mid-May.

We've always loved coming to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. When we were teenagers and in our twenties, we especially loved the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.

Here's a photo we took of our brother Jonathan there back in the summer of 1970.

Here is our then nine-year-old bro in the conservatory among the tropical plants.

And here's a pic he took of us 41 years ago at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, standing next to our favorite beverage, tea.

We're grateful for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden being there for us all our lives.