The strange title of this entry is in reference to this entry which outlined my own personal winter calendar. I decided for no better reason that Nov. 22 was too damned cold to be considered autumn (and it just got colder after that) and that Feb 1 was mid-winter, which, based on frost dates, it is. (The Japanese choose Feb 3d as the first day of ( Read more... )

I was moved to go to Michael's Crafts to get a few shafts of silk honeysuckle(Lonicera Flava) for that ever empty Zen vase of mine, only to find that the spring silks were 66% off. Sooo. since it is early for honeysuckle, I got some faux pussywillow (Salix Discolor) and sakura (佐倉) as well, for the price I would have paid for just the yellow ( Read more... )

2006 JAPAN Cherry Blossom Flowering Forecast
(by JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY Report on March 15, 2006)

Japan Map

PlaceDatePlaceDate

SendaiApril 9 AomoriApril 24
AkitaApril 18 MoriokaApril 19

NiigataApril 9ToyamaApril 7
KanazawaApril 4FukuiApril 5
TokyoMarch 22MitoApril 3
YokohamaMarch 22 NaganoApril 13
KofuMarch 26 Nagoya March 26
( Read more... )

I don't mean to be gone. It just happens.

A very dark, dismal day today, but not overly cold. Each day of this month of mine seems to resemble the next Even as last 'month' was snowier, brighter, and very much colder, This one is darker, wetter and a bit milder. At least I can get out and exercise, which is something ( Read more... )

When I set up my little pseudo-calendar system to whine about bitch about bemoan the passing of winter 2005/2006, I scarecely realized how accurate it would become.

The days of November 22 through December 21, which I called the month of Shadow, were cold, wet, snowy, miserable. Of course they were miserable, don't you read this thing? Ahem. ( Read more... )

Although the day was technically colder than yesterday, it did not feel all that unpleasent, as the winds were calm, and the snowflakes fat and dancy in the air. However, an hour before sunset, the clouds moved in, but not a thick bank as is usual. It was lighter than clouds, thicker than haze, a translucent effect that is rare to see. ( Read more... )

Overnight last night, the temperature dipped to one degree. The temperature has not been significantly above the freezing point for a number of days now, and if I did not feel so lazy, I would check exactly how many. Fourteen inches of snow have fallen so far this cold season, thirteen more than last year at this time. Last year winter settled in ( Read more... )

There has been little to mention for the last week, for each day has been much like the one before. A layer of snow, some four inches, fell, and has remained. The days have stayed in the low twenties, the nights fall to the mid-teens. It is cold and gray, with the sun just coming out in mid afternoon yesterday and today, a glare without heat in an ( Read more... )

I have run into a stretch of poor sleep. I have been taking naps whenever I want, and I have been sleeping at night for no more than three hours at a time. A part of this is pushing myself to the point where I want to rest totally, then upsetting my sleep cycle so that my night's rest is poor, leading to increased periods of easy fatigue ( Read more... )