Pink Snow

The city of Brussels has been putting in a new tram track between our house and school for about a year now. I think the new tram track is a great idea. I think closing three lanes is a bad one. Consequently, I have been exploring the back streets. Brussels is not designed like a Roman city with strait, orderly streets. It more closely resembles a wad of string that has spent too much time in the back of drawer and has collected an impressive quantity of lint, dust, dirt, twisty-ties, and stray hairs. Brigham Young would not approve. So, exploring the back streets as a time saving measure is a risky proposition. It does, however, have it's definite charms as we discovered on our way to school last week. There is a tiny neighborhood hidden away that must at one time have been factory housing. Hundreds of identical brown cottages with identical green shutters line the narrow streets in a convergence of quaint that is sometimes hidden in biggish cities like Brussels. The best part of this neighborhood is the profusion of cherry trees in full bloom. We happened to drive by on a blustery morning and it literally looked like we were in a snowstorm--a pink snowstorm. I don't know if you can see the petals falling in these pictures, but the air was full of swirling, floating pink and there were drifts in the yards. It looked like someone had gotten happy with a giant container of pink frosting. Plus, we missed the traffic and got to school three minutes early. Nice.