One story I remember well is the tale of a 'Snow Mountain'. After an unusually heavy snowfall in old Kyo (now Kyoto), the ladies and children made a snow mountain. The women then bet how long it would take for the mountain to melt. Shonagon decided a date quite far into the future and the other ladies laughed saying it would surely be gone by then. It seems the ladies checked the slowing dwindling mountain every day, and day by day the other ladies lost the bet. Finally the day that Shonagan guessed drew near and she was excited to win the game. The night before there was still quite a lot of snow left, however on the date she guessed, she went outside to find the mountain gone. The other ladies laughed and said she lost the game, too.
In the end Shonagon found the truth that the other ladies decided to play a trick on her and asked some men to trample on the mountain and remove it! Whether out of spite or just in fun, it seemed the other ladies couldn't stand that Shonagon would win the game.
Remember more than two weeks ago I wrote about my snow bear and my husband's snow man? If you go back in this blog you can see pictures. Well, like Shongon's mountain, my creation has refused to disappear! We have had warm days and even two days of rain, but a small mound remains. It is a pity, but there is nothing left of the snowman. I am betting that some of my bear will still be there on Saturday (the day after tomorrow) which will make it 3 weeks since the snow fall. In the picture you can see what remained this morning. It was really windy today so now about half has melted. And tomorrow will be warmer. Hmmm.
Lastly, look at this wonderful ice crystal I found in the ground. I never saw these in Australia. They can grow to a few centimeters around here and it is fun to stamp on them and listen to them crunch! I am not sure, but maybe they are called 'koori bashira' in Japanese. (ice pillars)
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