The end of winter???

I'll call this picture "All Dressed Up And Nowhere to Grow." Many of the trees here get covered in straw to protect them from the cold. I've been told that the straw also attracts the parasites from the trees and then the straw is taken and burned (although I don't know if they really burn the straw anymore).

I think that this has been a really mild winter. My friends have been complaining about the cold. I've been told that Korea has had record cold this year, but I don't believe it. According to Billy C. Mossman in Ebb and Flow, an account of the Korean War, during the war, "The ice (on the Han River) was solid enough to support pedestrians but not vehicles." This allowed civilians to retreat to the south side of the river. When I lived here in 1983, there were people walking and skating on ice along the shore. I think that it would take much colder temperatures for longer periods of time than we have had this winter for the river to freeze. It may be possible that we have had one or two days of record cold, but it has seemed pretty mild to me. As further proof that I'm not getting senile or just remembering how bad it was in "the old days," there is this article by The Korea Times online - Winter Getting Shorter in Seoul.

Despite my belief that it has been warm this winter, I did come across this sight. A sight which would inspire most Canadians. This is in front of City Hall in Seoul. I didn't go for a skate, but I might go down next week and give it a try. It looked like fun.
















At any rate, spring will be here soon, and cherry, forsythia, and magnolia trees will be as beautiful as ever.