White Dew
September 7 - 22
The season "White Dew" reflects a changing of the light and the beginning of autumnal journeys for Alexis and Kit; a moon-viewing party brings together famous voices in haiku; and "Hiro's Corner" is particularly fruitful in an exploration of grapes.
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White Dew
Spotify Companion Playlist
Poems Featured in this Episode
September" by George Arnold
Sweet is the voice that calls
From babbling waterfalls
In meadows where the downy seeds are flying;
And soft the breezes blow
And eddying come and go
In faded gardens where the rose is dying.
Among the stubbled corn
The blithe quail pipes at morn,
The merry partridge drums in hidden places,
And glittering insects gleam
Above the reedy stream
Where busy spiders spin their filmy laces.
At eve, cool shadows fall
Across the garden wall,
And on the clustered grapes to purple turning,
And pearly vapors lie
Along the eastern sky
Where the broad harvest-moon is redly burning.
Ah, soon on field and hill
The winds shall whistle chill,
And patriarch swallows call their flocks together
To fly from frost and snow,
And seek for lands where blow
The fairer blossoms of a balmier weather.
The pollen-dusted bees
Search for the honey-lees
That linger in the last flowers of September,
While plaintive mourning doves
Coo sadly to their loves
Of the dead summer they so well remember.
The cricket chirps all day,
'O, fairest summer, stay!'
The squirrel eyes askance the chestnuts browning;
The wild-fowl fly afar
Above the foamy bar
And hasten southward ere the skies are frowning.
Now comes a fragrant breeze
Through the dark cedar-trees
And round about my temples fondly lingers,
In gentle playfulness
Like to the soft caress
Bestowed in happier days by loving fingers.
Yet, though a sense of grief
Comes with the falling leaf,
And memory makes the summer doubly pleasant,
In all my autumn dreams
A future summer gleams
Passing the fairest glories of the present!
***
Flowers blossoming in autumn fields
When I count them on my fingers
then they number seven
- Yamanoue-no-Okura, Manyoshu Imperial Anthology
***
the silence between us
a quail finds its way
through the underbrush
— Michael Dylan Welch (permission received)
***
By a paulownia tree
A quail is crying
Inside the garden
— Basho
***
Bush Clover
My heart is withered,
even dew on the branches of bush clover is futile
in the autumn evening.
— Fujiwara Kinmori
***
Dewdrops on a blade of grass,
Having so little time
Before the sun rises
Let not the autumn wind
Blow so quickly on the field
— Dogen Zenji
***
travelers set out
in familiar grass...
autumn dew
— Issa
***
Blowing from the west
Fallen leaves gather
In the east
— Buson
***
I go,
Though stayest;
Two autumns
— Buson
***
On a bare branch
crows have settled --
autumn sunset.
— Basho
***
They end their flight
one by one--
crows at dusk
— Yosa Buson
***
Pines shed their needles--
come mushroom-hunting time
who'll be here?
— Issa
***
pine mushrooms
live a thousand years
in one autumn
— Den Sutejo
***
mushroom hunting--keep to the path within the mountain
— Chiyo-Jo
***
Viewing the moon
No one at the party
has such a beautiful face.
— Basho
***
Even more so
because of being alone
the moon is a friend
— Buson
***
straight out of a full moon
painting...
the geese depart
— Issa
***
whatever you wear becomes beautiful--moon-viewing
— Chiyo-jo
***
Around the lone moon
Countless stars
the sky now green
— Shiki
***
The moon looks cozier
in the sky when you see it
through the bamboo blind
— Den Sutejo
***
Occasional clouds
one gets a rest
from moon-viewing.
— Basho
***
the harvest moon
hangs over it...
rice cake gift
— Issa
***
under the harvest moon
awestruck crows
curb their voices
— Kawai Chigetsu
***
What a huge one, how splendid it was -The chestnut.
I couldn’t get at it
— Issa
***
horse chestnut--
how many days till you roll
down the mountain?
— Issa
***
Though autumn winds blow
It is still green
Bur of chestnut
— Basho
***
WE are the roadside flowers,
Straying from garden grounds,
—Lovers of idle hours,
Breakers of ordered bounds.
If only the earth will feed us,
If only the wind be kind,
We blossom for those who need us,
The stragglers left behind.
And lo, the Lord of the Garden,
He makes his sun to rise,
And his rain to fall like pardon
On our dusty paradise.
— Bliss William Carman
***
"September," by Helen Hunt Jackson
O golden month! How high thy gold is heaped!
The yellow birch-leaves shine like bright coins strung
On wands; the chestnut's yellow pennons tongue
To every wind its harvest challenge. Steeped
In yellow, still lie fields where wheat was reaped;
And yellow still the corn sheaves, stacked among
The yellow gourds, which from the earth have wrung
Her utmost gold. To highest boughs have leaped
The purple grape,—last thing to ripen, late
By very reason of its precious cost.
O Heart, remember, vintages are los
tIf grapes do not for freezing night-dews wait.
Think, while thou sunnest thyself in Joy's estate,May
hap thou canst not ripen without frost!
***
The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
- J.R.R. Tolkien
Beginning of Autumn Recipe
FARMER MAGGOT’S MUSHROOM TOAST
From Feast of Starlight
INGREDIENTS
2 thick slices of crusty bread
2 clove garlic, crushed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz lion's mane mushrooms, sliced
6 oz king trumpets, sliced
¼ cup white wine
½ cup chicken stock
3 tbsp creme fraiche
chives, finely chopped for garnish
truffle oil
salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Brush both sides of the bread with oil and toast or grill on both sides until golden and crispy. Set aside.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the rest of the oil and 2 tbsp of butter. Once hot, add the garlic and thyme. Cook for 1 minute while making sure the garlic does not get too brown.
Turn the heat to high and add the sliced mushrooms. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until the mushrooms are golden brown and deglaze the pan with the white wine.
Turn the heat to medium and cook for 1-2 minutes until the most of the wine has evaporated. Add the stock and cook until the liquids have reduced to half. Add the creme fraiche and 1 tbsp of butter.
Mix until incorporated and season with salt and pepper.
Take out the stems from the thyme and top each toast with the mushrooms and finally drizzle with truffle oil and garnish with chives.
Music Featured in this Episode in Order of Appearance
Band of Shearers performed by Shelley Otis
Season by Season Opening Theme composed and performed by Chris Whittaker
Philippa by Dowding and Allister Thompson (FMA)
Bird in Hand by John Shaw (FMA)
Autumn Sunset by John Shaw (FMA)
September by Kai Engle (FMA)
Yuyake Koyake by Ukou Nakamura. Performed by Chris Whittaker
Grand Duo Concertant by Carl Maria von Weber (Wikimedia Commons)
Pour les agréments by Claude Debussy (Wikimedia Commons)
Tsuki (Moon) performed by Chris Whittaker
Piano Sonata No. 4, 1st movement by Ludwig von Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 3, 2nd movement by Ludwig von Beethoven
Clear Stream performed by Shelley Otis
Season by Season Closing Theme composed and performed by Chris Whittaker
About the Musician Shelley Otis
Shelley Otis is a harpist, pianist, arranger, composer; seven-time winner of the annual Couple’s Choice Award, multi-year winner of the Knot’s Best of Weddings. Alexis first met Shelley when they were seated next to each other in Grenoble, France. When it came time to create this episode, Alexis thought that Shelley’s beautiful harp would be absolutely perfect. Learn more about Shelley and her services on her website.
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
