A Season Of Bloom For Tabebuia Rosea

Late August to early September is the start of the dry season where I live. During this day, the wind blows quite strongly and the temperature starts to rise. It’s mostly a good day when you can explore and have some adventure all around the country. A lot of flowers also bloom at this time marking that it’s time for something new, a little hope before the rainy season starts again.

When I grew up, I didn’t recall we had Tabebuia rosea. It wasn’t the flower that grows and only these past 10 years, it is dubbed as the Indonesian’s cherry blossoms. But this flower is entirely different. It just has striking similarity to the ones that you see in Japan, the color and how it beautifully falls.

There will be a huge collection of this picture in this post. Honestly, it's hard for me to pick but I'll let you be the judge.

There are many spots in my city that have this tree growing tall and blooming. For a lot of us, we take this for granted, failing to see the beauty it offers. It sort of just there and even creates some annoyance to the residents who have to clean up the falling petals.

Hunting pictures of this blooming flower that only blooms once a year, I went through my entire city's main street to the public square.

That day, the public square was empty. People were expecting some type of protest to happen but instead, I only saw a couple of people lounging around the benches and a young family with their family taking pictures below the tabebuia rosea tree.

I eventually offered to help them capture the memories because I saw them taking turns in taking pictures. Now, they all could be in the same frame.

Somehow, at that same moment, I had a lot of thoughts about the state and current affairs of my country. This tree and the young family, looks like a symbol of hope. And one truth that stands out to me, everyone deserves a future that’s secure.

That simple encounter with them really made my day.

Having to walk around with my camera, sometimes I feel like my shyness disappeared. It’s like stepping out of my comfort zone and in a good way. More often than not, I get to meet nice people and had some nice conversation in between. Although in recent years, carrying a camera is a little frowned upon as people over here are a bit touchy on their personal image and even in public places.

Sometimes you have to pay to just take pictures of buildings or even establishments or you need a written permission. With such complication, I tend to take pictures of nature, just to be safe.

I walked home remembering that happiness can be quite simple.I just haven't had the time to go out with my camera that often anymore which made me forget these things. That through simple and small things in life, some of us can find that satisfaction and happiness.

I am glad that I picked up my camera again. Although unlike before that I tend to take pictures just for the sake of it, these days I am trying to be a lot more intentional about it.

So, what’s your small but definite happiness lately?