20 x 16" oil on 1.5" pink cherry blossoms original oil painting on deep cradled wood panel.
 
When I was a kid we had a cherry blossom tree in our yard and every spring it filled with these blossoms. To me it looked like pink popcorn waving in the sky. Soon all the petals would flutter to the ground and where each of the flowers had been a small cherry would start to grow.
 
This was a source of wonder for me, a source of food for the birds and a never ending source of aggravation for my mom. She wanted the cherries for baking and the birds weren't planning on sharing. Every year my mom fought with the birds but the birds always won. She'd wave rakes around the tree and yell at them sometimes. That would cause some of the lower birds to get annoyed and hop to higher branches.
 
My mom was a kindergarten teacher and every morning at 7:00 she'd have to leave for school and they seemed to know that if they just patiently waited she'd be gone and they could just eat in peace. She really never stood a chance. Birds aren't stupid.