Join us for the East Coast book launch of Moments in Bloom at the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza in Albany, New York.
Join us for the NYC book launch of Moments in Bloom at the Fountain Bookstore in Washington Heights, New York City!
Join author and artist Alexis Agliano Sanborn to learn about the 24 small seasons of Japan: from their luni-solar calendar origins to their role as important phenological and cultural markers in Japanese culture. We then explore the concept of seasonal words in haiku culture and how we might view time through their appearance in our lives.
My garden feels the way I do about this season. It’s not striving anymore; it’s holding steady and seeing what it can do without much effort at all. Flowers bloom on the bush beans, even after the second flush has come and gone. Will these new flowers, too, ripen into fruit? Somehow, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. I’m thankful for what I get. I do not ask for much of anything.
Over these last two weeks, the change has been undeniable — the light is fading, the nights are closing in. At first, there was almost a sense of disbelief - is it getting dark so soon? And yet, each passing day brought acceptance as we slowly began to process that summer is bidding us farewell. Our days have shortened to April's length, and while April feels like it is comfortably stretching out, September feels like it is cozily tucking us in.
The season of Fading Heat, which straddles the end of August and the beginning of September, is a unique time in North America. It is, perhaps, the one time of year when there is an innate understanding of, simultaneously, “don’t bother me” coupled with an innate urge to get your house in order. After all, looming September is when many of us get back to business, with the first half of the month full of excitement as we return to structured activities after the relative freedom of summer... It is a time to simply “be.”
Autumn is in our thoughts, though summer remains in our hearts. August 7th marks the start of a journey through one of our four major seasons: the small season, the Beginning of Autumn. Despite the sun, despite the heat, autumn has arrived. If you look closely, the signs reveal themselves. Here are a few examples I have found that autumn has indeed arrived in my neck of the woods:
