Faux cherry blossoms, NH

Years ago, when I was writing for the Boston Globe, I got a chance to visit an offshore island in Maine that was being managed to serve as a restoration site for the Atlantic Puffin. No sooner had I disembarked than I hoisted my telephoto lens and started to stalk one of these charismatic birds perched on the rocky headland. With the puffin crew looking on and barely concealing their laughter, I stalked and stalked and finally got close enough to discover that I was zeroing in on... a decoy. This embarrassing adventure, which resulted in a terrific picture, by the way, came back to me today, when I was in New Haven to take part in a holiday lunch with my wonderful Yale Alumni Magazine colleagues, who, blessedly for me, still consider me part of the journalistic family. When we were walking back to the office after a truly sumptuous feast at the elegant Atelier Florian restaurant, I noticed some tubs filled with blossoming cherry trees: cherry blossoms... in January! I quickly launched into a scientific explanation that involved freezing times and thaws when a friend gently tapped me on the arm and noted, "But you know these are fake, right?" There went any street cred I could muster. At least I wasn't taken in a bit later by a faux oak, still bearing an abundant crop of artificial leaves.