This is opportune! I literally just received my copy of Liza Dalby's LITTLE SONGS OF THE GEISHA: Traditional Japanese Ko-Uta. I have a long explanation for why I was hunting it down but I won't get into that here; just that I also really think she did (does?) interesting work. I have her THE TALE OF MURASAKI and her GEISHA book, too.
I have a thought about the moles turning into quail. Does the "turning into" ("naru") have to be a literal metamorphosis? Because here on our farm, I feel the "turning into" in terms of something like, one moment we hear peepers (last week) and the next moment there are daffodils (yesterday). As in, phases that seem to suddenly pop up? I wonder if one might see the molehills during one particular week and then there are quail fluttering in the brush the next week. If so, that actually feels right to me!
Those look like Californian quails. They belong to the Odontophoridae, a totally different family from the true quails (Phasianidae) or button quails (Turnicidae).
Omg! I'm swooning! Just last night I thought, "Oh I have to read Liza Dalby" . . . and fell asleep! lol! You include the best details with your work here -- Issa, the Chinese and the Japanese terms for this period -- and now a quail quiffering! (my word, sorry, I couldn't resist). Swooning, Leanne, swooning! Thank you!
This is opportune! I literally just received my copy of Liza Dalby's LITTLE SONGS OF THE GEISHA: Traditional Japanese Ko-Uta. I have a long explanation for why I was hunting it down but I won't get into that here; just that I also really think she did (does?) interesting work. I have her THE TALE OF MURASAKI and her GEISHA book, too.
I have a thought about the moles turning into quail. Does the "turning into" ("naru") have to be a literal metamorphosis? Because here on our farm, I feel the "turning into" in terms of something like, one moment we hear peepers (last week) and the next moment there are daffodils (yesterday). As in, phases that seem to suddenly pop up? I wonder if one might see the molehills during one particular week and then there are quail fluttering in the brush the next week. If so, that actually feels right to me!
Those look like Californian quails. They belong to the Odontophoridae, a totally different family from the true quails (Phasianidae) or button quails (Turnicidae).
Omg! I'm swooning! Just last night I thought, "Oh I have to read Liza Dalby" . . . and fell asleep! lol! You include the best details with your work here -- Issa, the Chinese and the Japanese terms for this period -- and now a quail quiffering! (my word, sorry, I couldn't resist). Swooning, Leanne, swooning! Thank you!