{"id":585,"date":"2014-04-15T21:54:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T12:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/?p=585"},"modified":"2014-04-22T22:31:52","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T13:31:52","slug":"a-whole-lot-of-quarter-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/15\/a-whole-lot-of-quarter-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"The quarter notes rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"140413_baby_fern2_350_flipped\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You’ll be surprised by some of the funky new friends you’ll make . . .<\/p>\n

\"140413_mountain_cherry_600\"<\/a>. . . and you’ll come across a lot of mountain cherries in bloom . . .<\/p>\n

\"140413_fuji_cherries_400\"<\/a>. . . when you climb to the top of Mt. Hamaishi\u00a0in the middle of April. You might feel mildly disappointed\u00a0that the clear winter skies have gone hazy, that Mt. Fuji’s shimmering white crown is not as\u00a0shimmery as a few weeks before . . . but the flowers in bloom on the forest floor will more than compensate.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"140413_mikan_and_road_400\"<\/a>All you’ve got to do is get together a carload of energetic buddies, figure out which narrow road will get you across the river, which under the expressway,\u00a0and which\u00a0over to the parking lot\u00a0of the Satta Pass (about\u00a03k from Yui Station as the crow flies),\u00a0and start walking up along the road through the assorted citrus and biwa trees . . . and then straight through the cedar forest.<\/p>\n

10k up, and yes, you’ve got it, 10k down. There’s another\u00a0route, either\u00a0up or down . . . if you like walking along the road the whole way. From bottom to top, for us hearty hikers, it took\u00a0a little over three hours, but that was with me stopping seventy-three times to take pictures.<\/p>\n

\"140413_rotting_roof_400\"<\/a>Beneath rotting eaves<\/p>\n

\"140413_new_mikan_leaves_400\"<\/a>Slivers of young citrus leaves<\/p>\n

Quiver in the breeze.<\/p>\n

Up, up, up we went . . . and then we came\u00a0upon these dear fellows. Can you see the curling tip of the black strand\u00a0on\u00a0the fellow\u00a0to the left? You think it’s time for a barber?<\/p>\n

\"140413_black_flower3_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140413_black_flower_cropped_290\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

One of our happy\u00a0 hikers seemed fairly convinced that these guys\u00a0were zombie pods (can zombies, I mean, real <\/em>zombies, actually burst out from pods?), but I think she’d read one too many novel–and<\/em>\u00a0 the somewhat steep\u00a0ascent had\u00a0left her a bit lightheaded. It was pretty obvious (needless to say) that these cute little black fellows were newborn, elderly forest elves, sprite and humped shouldered all at once. Would a zombie have a single black strand of hair poking up from the top of its bald head. I think not. But I’ve seen babies like that, and old men, too, so<\/em> . . .\u00a0newborn, elderly forest elves it is.<\/p>\n

\"140413_black_flower2_290\"<\/a>\u00a0\"140413_vista_cherry-trees-on-mountain_290\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Come up and in!” they cheered, as clear as day, of course in\u00a0that welcoming, inviting, cheery\u00a0voice that is<\/em> the voice of newborn, elderly forest elves.\u00a0 “Have a look around. Take your time.”<\/p>\n

And so we did.<\/p>\n

(Okay, okay, the strand does not pop out, not exactly, from the “top” of\u00a0their heads. But you shouldn’t let such an insignificant detail spoil everything for you.)<\/p>\n

\"140413_fern_babies_375\"<\/a>About the time<\/p>\n

Fuji hides in the haze<\/p>\n

Quarter notes rise from clumps of ferns<\/p>\n

And take their places\u00a0upon the staff.<\/p>\n

\"140413_strawberry_flowers_roots_400\"<\/a>Among greying roots<\/p>\n

and silvery cherry limbs<\/p>\n

\"140413_strawberry_flowers_log2_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Strawberry flowers find the key.<\/p>\n

A hearty hiker holds\u00a0out her palms<\/p>\n

And feels the sound.<\/p>\n

\"140413_white_purple_flowers_400\"<\/a>“What about us! We’re pretty, too!”<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, of course you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You’ll be surprised by some of the funky new friends you’ll make . . . . . . and you’ll come across a lot of mountain cherries in bloom . . . . . . when you climb to the top of Mt. Hamaishi\u00a0in the middle of April. You might feel mildly disappointed\u00a0that the clear … Continue reading The quarter notes rise<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}