Ume.... and lamenting an aging cat

was walking back from library today and saw on the side of the road... a ume(aka plum blossom)tree blossomed.... was staring at it for a while almost transfixed...
its rare to see such a sight in australia... still remember the years i had in China when ppl are all obsessed and overboard with the "personified" quality of ume... of being unique, battling the adverse surroundings and offering beautiful flowers to ppl in cold winter days, that ume almost became a tool of lecture and propaganda and most of us i believe were turned off from ume since young...
when we write abt our fav flower we would never say ume...thinking its just so uncool...
but today when i am standing in front of that solitary tree.... see some budding... some blossoming... I just realised... how heavenly beautiful is ume... in the clean wintry air... just beyond words to describe!
walking along closer to home... i realised that was a fluffy ball stationary on a neighbour's fence... and realised its the abandoned old black cat well known in our neighbouhood.. now reali old... fur all puffed up, just lying there still not even bothering to move at the sound of footsteps...
remembering myself in yr 10 very obsessed with slamdunk... and doing my utmost to impersonate Rukawa...(who in one scene beckons a black cat) it was with such delight that i met face to face with that black cat one day... and practised my beckoning gesture on him... and for many days afterwards, not realising that the cat was abandoned by the owner thats why it was looming around in the streets.
5 yrs ago the cat was still young... just abandoned... still energetic, seeking love and attention....
5 yrs later he hardly cares. His eyes are cold and apathetic, with no self-pity nor sadness.