jkid wrote:
I'll have to check out the Liza Dalby book you mentioned. Is it new or have I just not heard about it?
East Wind Melts the Ice
It’s a diary of sorts some of which Liza Dalby originally wrote in Japanese (for a newspaper?) based around the 72 seasonal units in a Chinese almanac written in 2003-2004 in the form of a saijiki. There's a lot about gardening in it!
My copy is a hardback printed in the UK by Chatto and Windus an imprint of Random House in 2007. The American publisher is University of Californian Press.
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10774.php
(who are much cheaper than Amazon at the moment)
There's also quite a lot on her site
http://www.lizadalby.com/east%20wind%20info.html
It's an interesting book. Very easy to dip into. It's interesting to have a calendar so attuned to nature and seasons. Nowadays the passage of time is more usually marked by man made events and festivals. And all produce is available year-round at the supermarket.
ps. I missed your comment ahead of mine about the lawsuit. gomen.