trumpet tree viewing

images by J

From our fifteenth floor flat, we can see the top of trees - their varied shades and flowered crowns.

In the month of September, or round about the seventh lunar month, the trumpet tree (I think that's what it is) blooms and rains down its flowers.

J: It's our cherry blossom!
Y: Yah, like cherry blossoms! Pretty ah.
Old woman: [in Hokkien] Super pretty.
Y: [in a semblance of Hokkien] Very pretty.
Old woman: Every year around this time, these trees are like this. Sometimes all the way until the eighth month.
Y: Is it?
Old woman: This morning, wah, the ground was all full of flowers. They sweep it away already, But this morning, wah. Super pretty.
Y: If you look down from the window, the whole tree top is flowers.
Old woman: I can't go to the window ah. [gestures at the wheelchair] My legs are no good, afraid I'll fall.
Y: Yah, better to be careful...
Old woman: [sits watching the flowers while we walk off] Super pretty.