Ah, the storied cherry blossoms of UW!

Our favorite local non-blog once claimed that these are direct relatives of the famous trees in Washington D.C.. You see, a few mysteriously disappeared on their way from Japan to D.C. via Seattle's port when they were gifted to our great nation, the story goes. Ever since the Reagan administration cut funding and summarily fired our fact-checking department, we have been relying on old Foggy, whom we trust without question on matters of local history, politics, culture, and the machinations of the Catholic Church. So it is with this same sense of intrigue that we turn our eye on the cherry trees. We don't trust them. Like all of our plant kingdom overlords, they are up to something. They remind us of that one Ren and Stimpy episode in which host Marlin Hoek said of the Frilled Ren,

Watch it as it extends and inflates it's neck sack. It does this to attract... nature show hosts!

Upon visiting the University of Washington campus in 1927, Winston F. Pratt quipped, "so many photographing the cherry blossoms but nary a soul photographing the photographers!". As if in direct response to Mr. Pratt., alert photographer RJL20 captured this series of cherry blossom photographers, thus preserving a visual memory of the brave individuals who have mysteriously disappeared after shooting pictures of our chlorophyllous masters.

Should the trees have their way and the weather hold beautiful anytime soon, they are in gorgeous full bloom, with inflatted neck sacks, begging to be admired. Please be careful to not get eaten, though.

Image DSC01567 courtesy of RJL20, in the Seattlest Flickr Pool. Thanks, RJL20, for giving us this sweet, sweet moment of meta-.