Time keeps on slipping, slipping.

Thinking of evenings, 夕べ yuube and 夕方 yuugata and 晩 ban. I wonder whether 夕べ is related to 浜辺 hamabe, with べ meaning the edge of the thing. But 夕べ seems to mean specifically last night.

Among my building projects in Second Life is a traditional Japanese clock, but I still can't figure how time worked. I suspect they weren't super sure, either. What I've learned is based on seasonal words (季語 kigo) from Japan, but I'm in Philadelphia. Does Dec 18 in Philadelphia count as early winter? Midwinter? At least we share the cherry blossom 桜花 front, though maybe at different times. If I were writing in Australia, it would be summer, I think—an entirely different vocabulary of plants and insects. Sure, I can practice with the usual great poets, and the Moon is the Moon everywhere, but sometimes I might like to write about our own fireflies.