The Beginning of Winter
November 7 - 21. In this brisk episode of Season by Season, Alexis and Kit savor the last moments of autumn. Join them as they kick through the fallen leaves under persimmon trees, prepare their appetites for heartier fare, and learn about the festival of lights Diwali. Hiro's Corner features an interlude with a uniquely autumnal kind of rain.
November 7 - 21
In this brisk episode of Season by Season, Alexis and Kit savor the last moments of autumn. Join them as they kick through the fallen leaves under persimmon trees, prepare their appetites for heartier fare, and learn about the festival of lights Diwali. Hiro's Corner features an interlude with a uniquely autumnal kind of rain.
Poems featured in this episode:
"November" by Elizabeth Stoddard
Much have I spoken of the faded leaf;
Long have I listened to the wailing wind,
And watched it ploughing through the heavy clouds,
For autumn charms my melancholy mind.
When autumn comes, the poets sing a dirge:
The year must perish; all the flowers are dead;
The sheaves are gathered; and the mottled quail
Runs in the stubble, but the lark has fled!
Still, autumn ushers in the Christmas cheer,
The holly-berries and the ivy-tree:
They weave a chaplet for the Old Year’s bier,
These waiting mourners do not sing for me!
I find sweet peace in depths of autumn woods,
Where grow the ragged ferns and roughened moss;
The naked, silent trees have taught me this,—
The loss of beauty is not always loss!
***
a shooting star...
unable to use up the length of
the vast sky
— Shugyo Takaha
***
Slurping ramen
In Kitakata
The north wind blows - hyuuuu!
—Takasawa Yoichi
***
After a climb
To the mountain top
A ramen shop
—Takasawa Yoichi
***
A jumbo serving of clams
For my ramen
The cold rain pelts
—Akabane Toshiko
***
A cold, gray day, a lowering sky,
A lonesome pigeon wheeling by;
The soft, blue smoke that hangs and fades,
The shivering crane that flaps and wades;
Dead leaves that, whispering, quit their tree,
The peace the river sings to me;
The chill aloofness of the Fall—
I love it all!
—Unknown
***
today too, today too
autumn rain...
mountainside house
—Issa
***
Cold Winter shower!
See all the people running
Across the Seta Bridge
-Josa
***
The scarlet leaves
Serve as armor for the mountain
Against the rain
—Chobane
***
November Night by Adelaide Crapsey
Listen ...
With faint, dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break free from the trees
And fall.
***
fallen leaves--
not a single crow
is irksome
— Issa
***
the wind has brought
enough to build a fire...
fallen leaves
— Issa
***
The gods are absent
everything is desolate
among the fallen leaves
— Basho
***
In the Godless Month
I wake at night and listen
to what gives voice
to a storm on this hillside . . .
the sound of falling leaves
- Monk Noin (988-1050)
***
The Consent by Howard Nemerov
Late in November, on a single night
Not even near to freezing, the ginkgo trees
That stand along the walk drop all their leaves
In one consent, and neither to rain nor to wind
But as though to time alone: the golden and green
Leaves litter the lawn today, that yesterday
Had spread aloft their fluttering fans of light.
What signal from the stars? What senses took it in?
What in those wooden motives so decided
To strike their leaves, to down their leaves,
Rebellion or surrender? and if this
Can happen thus, what race shall be exempt?
What use to learn the lessons taught by time,
If a star at any time may tell us: Now.
***
three shadows
from persimmons on a stick
on the paper door
— Hayu
***
one persimmon
droops listlessly...
winter rain
— Issa
***
on the high branch
one astringent persimmon...
like old times
— Issa
***
Write me down
As the one who loved
Persimmons
— Shiki
***
Migrating down through northern seas
Says the report
Time to buy sanma
— Toyama no Kanto
***
A gift from the north
Grilled sanma
— Chris Mathlos
***
snow crabs ...
together to Fukui
on a winter trip
— Rikei
***
Light by Rabindranath Tagore
Light, my light, the world-filling light,
the eye-kissing light,
heart-sweetening light!
Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the center of my life;
the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love;
the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.
The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light.
Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light.
The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling,
and it scatters gems in profusion.
Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling,
and gladness without measure.
The heaven's river has drowned its banks
and the flood of joy is abroad.
Music Heard on this Episode
Organ Concerto Op. 7 No. 1 by Handel
Quintet for Piano and Winds No. 1. Largo Allegro Moderato by Mozart
Pour les agrements by Debussy"
Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie, Arrangement for alto saxophone and piano by Hernando Vitores
Piano quartet in G minor 2. Allegro ma non troppo by Brahms
Berceuse by Chopin
Quintet for piano and winds No. 1 largo allegro moderato by Mozart
Wind Quintet No. 1 Allegro ben moderato by Carl Nielsen
Diabeli Variations by Beethoven
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
Cold Dew
October 8 - 22. Alexis and Kit take an autumn walk in this episode, "Cold Dew." What autumnal surprises await as they wander through the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch? Will they make it back to the kitchen before October mist sets in? In Hiro's Corner, we take a delightful look at an unusual seasonal transformation.
October 8 - 22
Alexis and Kit take an autumn walk in this episode, "Cold Dew." What autumnal surprises await as they wander through the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch? Will they make it back to the kitchen before October mist sets in? In Hiro's Corner, we take a delightful look at an unusual seasonal transformation.
Poems featured in this episode:
Pleasant Sounds, by John Clare
The rustling of leaves under the feet in woods and under hedges;
The crumpling of cat-ice and snow down wood-rides,
narrow lanes and every street causeway;
Rustling through a wood or rather rushing, while the wind
halloos in the oak-toop like thunder;
The rustle of birds' wings startled from their nests or flying
unseen into the bushes;
The whizzing of larger birds overhead in a wood, such as
crows, puddocks, buzzards;
The trample of robins and woodlarks on the brown leaves.
and the patter of squirrels on the green moss;
The fall of an acorn on the ground, the pattering of nuts on
the hazel branches as they fall from ripeness;
The flirt of the groundlark's wing from the stubbles –
how sweet such pictures on dewy mornings, when the
dew flashes from its brown feathers.
***
vast sky
vast earth
autumn passes too
— Issa
***
wind is blowing
and so the geese
are honking
— Issa
***
traveling geese--
the human heart, too
wanders
— Issa
***
honking geese--
I picture skies
over inns
— Issa
***
An early morning
Yes, and a single goose
Up in the white clouds, nothing more
— Basho
***
Ah, the pine cricket began to chirp,
Chin-chiro chin-chiro chin-chiro-rin
Ah, a bell-ring cricket also began to sing,
Rin-in rini-rin riin-rin
They chirp throughout the long fall night
Oh, the voices of these funny insects!
— "Mushi No Koe," Traditional
***
“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is filled with leaves, we have had our summer evenings: now for October eves!” - Humbert Wolfe
***
The leaves are falling
In a house one cannot tell,
As they go drop, drop,
Whether rain is falling,
Or whether rain is not falling
— Minamoto no Yorizan
***
The leaves had a wonderful frolic.
They danced to the wind's loud song.
They whirled, and they floated, and scampered.
They circled and flew along.
The North Wind is calling, is calling,
And we must whirl round and round,
And then, when our dancing is ended,
We'll make a warm quilt for the ground.
— Anonymous
***
Fall, Leaves, Fall, by Emily Brontë
Fall, leaves, fall;
die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow;
I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
***
Old oak! old oak! the chosen one,
Round which my poet's mesh I twine,
When rosy wakes the joyous sun,
Or, wearied, sinks at day's decline,
I see the frost-king here and there,
Claim some brown leaflet for his own,
Or point in cold derision where
He soon shall rear the usurper's throne.
— Lydia Huntley Sigourney
***
My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
— Robert Frost
***
Purple the narrowing alleys stretched between
The spectral shocks, a purple harsh and cold,
But spotted, where the gadding pumpkins run,
With bursts of blaze that startle the serene
Like sudden voices,—globes of orange bold,
Elate to mimic the unrisen sun.
— Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
***
Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
— From “The Pumpkin,” by John Greenleaf Whittier
***
No pulse seems to throb, no voice dares to sob
Beneath the grey calm of the cloud.
No murmur. No sound. Only white on the ground
There creeps the thin silence along—
Creeps near and more near,—oh, so dim! oh, so drear!
Till I shiver, as one who has stood by a bier,
And the words die away in my song.
— From "The Fog," by Grace Denio Litchfield
***
If you buy a pomegranate,
buy one whose ripeness
has caused it to be cleft open
with a seed-revealing smile.
Its laughter is a blessing,
for through its wide-open mouth
it shows its heart,
like a pearl in the jewel box of spirit.
The red anemone laughs, too,
but through its mouth you glimpse a blackness.
A laughing pomegranate
brings the whole garden to life.
— Rumi
***
the garden's chrysanthemum
blooms at great pains…
fallen leaves
— Issa
***
neck and neck
with the mighty lord…
chrysanthemum
— Issa
***
This is the feast-time of the year,
When plenty pours her wine of cheer,
And even humble boards may spare
To poorer poor a kindly share.
While bursting barns and granaries know
A richer, fuller overflow.
And they who dwell in golden ease
Blest without toil, yet toil to please.
— Dora Reade Goodale
***
FROM HIRO'S CORNER
Sparrows having transmogrified into clams just eaten
— Kai Michiko
Mourning for not becoming a clam: dew on the chrysanthemum
— Natsume Sōseki
Not seeming even afraid to become clams, oh! sparrows
— Kobayashi Issa
The clam has sparrow’s freckles: how piteous
— Murakami Kijō
Method for Roasting Pumpkin Seeds
First, wash the seeds. Remove most of the pumpkin strings and pat the seeds dry with paper towels. Coat the inside of a bowl with butter or egg white then toss the seeds with ½ teaspoon of salt for each cup of seeds. Spread the seeds over a cookie sheet and roast them in a 250 F oven, stirring frequently until brown (approximately 15 to 30 minutes). Let them cool before eating.
Music Featured in this Episode
Romanian Folk Dances by Bartok
The Marriage of Figaro Overture by Wolfgang van Mozart
Prelude 1 Pythagorean tuning
Pour les agrements by Claude Debussy
Preludes, Book 2, Brouilards by Claude Debussy
Dear Happy New Year by Lobo Loco
G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald by Johann Strauss
Tocata pour le Piano by Claude Debussy
Fantasie by Faure
Octetet No. 2 by Franz Shubert
A Tale of Distant Lands by Robert Schumann
Unheard Music Concepts by Dakota
Op. 1 Vaterlands Bluthen Andante Maestoso
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
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.
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.
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple, and Spotify.
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
The Beginning of Autumn
August 7 - 22. Alexis and Kit bid farewell to summer and welcome in the harvest season in this episode, "the Beginning of Autumn," featuring nostalgic summer fruits, a soundscape of the Dog Days of summer, and an awe-inspiring meteor shower. In "Hiro's Corner," we take a look at a special seasonal fish.
August 7 - 22
Alexis and Kit bid farewell to summer and welcome in the harvest season in this episode, "the Beginning of Autumn," featuring nostalgic summer fruits, a soundscape of the Dog Days of summer, and an awe-inspiring meteor shower. In "Hiro's Corner," we take a look at a special seasonal fish.
Poems Featured in this Episode
An August Wood Road by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
When the partridge coveys fly
In the birch-tops cool and high;When the dry cicadas twang
Where the purpling fir-cones hang;
When the bunch-berries emboss—Scarlet beads—the roadside moss;
Brown with shadows, bright with sun,
All day long till day is done
Sleeps in murmuring solitude
The worn old road that threads the wood.
In its deep cup—grassy, cool—Sleeps the little roadside pool;
Sleeps the butterfly on the weed,
Sleeps the drifted thistle-seed.
Like a great and blazing gem,
Basks the beetle on the stem.
Up and down the shining rays
Dancing midges weave their maze.
High among the moveless boughs,
Drunk with day, the night-hawks drowse.
Far up, unfathomably blue,
August's heaven vibrates through.
The old road leads to all things good;
The year's at full, and time's at flood.
*
August’s Crown by Michelle L. Thieme
Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn.
*
Excerpt from the Illiad by Homer
Priam saw him first, with his old man's eyes,
A single point of light on Troy's dusty plain.
Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky
On summer nights, star of stars,
Orion's Dog they call it, brightest
Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat
And fevers to suffering humanity.
Achilles' bronze gleamed like this as he ran.
*
August by John Updike
The sprinkler twirls
The summer wanes
The pavement wears
Popsicle stains
The playground grass
Is worn to dust
The weary swings
Creak, creak with rust
The trees are bored
With being green
Some people leave the local scene
And go to seaside bungalows
And nearly take off all theirs clothes
*
Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
*
autumn fog--
the river beach's pinks
barely visible
— Issa
*
Color of the wind
Sparsely planted
Autumn garden
— Matsuo Basho
*
Autumn wind -
More transparent than water
Fins of a fish
— Mitsuhashi Takajo
*
Ode to the Onion, by Pablo Neruda
Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.
You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone
and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.
*
Canning Time, by Edward Albert Guest
There's a wondrous smell of spices
In the kitchen,
Most bewitchin';
There are fruits cut into slices
That just set the palate itchin';
There's the sound of spoon on platter
And the rattle and the clatter;
And a bunch of kids are hastin'
To the splendid joy of tastin':
It's the fragrant time of year
When fruit-cannin' days are here.
*
The Cardinal Flower by John Burroughs
Like peal of a bugle
Upon the still night,
So flames her deep scarlet
In dim forest light.
A heart-throb of color
Lit up the dim nook,
A dash of deep scarlet
The dark shadows shook.
Thou darling of August,
Thou flame of her flame,
‘Tis only bold autumn
Thy ardor can tame.
*
Purple so deep as to make them black: grapes!
—Masaoka Shiki
*
Just delivered
From my hometown
Tasseled grapes
芝宮須磨子
*
a cricket rides
unsteadily...
horse-shaped eggplant
— Issa
*
Horse-shaped melons
and ancestors
worshiped together
— Issa
*
Horse-shaped melon --
"Gimme! Gimme!" cries
the crying child
— Issa
*
Tanko Bushi Song
The moon, has come out,
Oh, the moon is out, heave ho
Over Miike Coal Mine has the moon come out.
The chimney is so high,
I wonder if the moon chokes on the smoke...
Heave Ho!
*
one dies out
two die out
lanterns for the dead
— Issa
*
From "Summer Haibun" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
There are not enough jam jars to can this summer sky at night.
I want to spread those little meteors on a hunk of still-warm bread this winter.
*
Now my loneliness
following
the fireworks . . .
Look! A falling star!
— Masaoka Shiki
Beginning of Autumn Recipe
See original recipe here.
“Ripening Summer Crisp”
TOPPING
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup uncooked old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cold stick of butter cut into pieces
FILLING
3 medium (4 cups) tart cooking apples, peeled, sliced 1/8-inch
1 (6-ounce) package (1 1/4 cups) fresh blackberries
8 dried Mission figs, stems removed, chopped
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
Instructions:
Heat oven to 350°F.
Combine flour, oats and brown sugar in bowl; mix well. Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside.
Combine apples, blackberries, figs, orange juice and orange zest in bowl; toss to coat. Place into ungreased 8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit mixture. Bake 40-45 minutes or until apples are fork tender and top is golden brown.
Serve warm.
Music Featured in this Episode in Order of Appearance
Beau Soir by Claude Debussy
Oak by Ben McElroy
Toscanini - Scherzo by Berlioz
I Recall by Blue Dot Sessions
Pour les Agrements by Claude Debussy
I, Livre, Preludes by Claude Debussy
Organisms by Chad Crouch
Within the Fog by Hudson
Winds Howl by Ketsa
Romance by Anonimo
Disappearing Memory by Ketsa
Japanese Communities: Night Toad’s Path to the Home of the Dead
Sea Stars (Instrumental) by Monk Parker
Hymn by Scott Buckley
Works Cited
Esporao: Galileo's Grapes and the Solar Path
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
The Beginning of Midsummer
July 7 - 21. Summer heats up in this episode of Season by Season, "the Beginning of Midsummer / Minor Heat." Join Alexis and Kit as they appreciate cumulonimbus clouds, get ready to celebrate a star festival, and bask in the resplendence of some very special flowers.
July 7 - 21
Summer heats up in this episode of Season by Season, "the Beginning of Midsummer / Minor Heat." Join Alexis and Kit as they appreciate cumulonimbus clouds, get ready to celebrate a star festival and bask in the resplendence of some very special flowers.
Poems Featured in this Episode
A Boy’s Song by James Hogg
Where the pools are bright and deep,
Where the gray trout lies asleep,
Up the river and o'er the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the blackbird sings the latest,
Where the hawthorn blooms the sweetest,
Where the nestlings chirp and flee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the mowers mow the cleanest,
Where the hay lies thick and greenest,
There to trace the homeward bee,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Where the hazel bank is steepest,
Where the shadow falls the deepest,
Where the clustering nuts fall free,
That's the way for Billy and me.
Why the boys should drive away,
Little sweet maidens from the play,
Or love to banter and fight so well,
That's the thing I never could tell.
But this I know, I love to play,
Through the meadow, among the hay;
Up the water and o'er the lea,
That's the way for Billy and me.
*
the well bucket
taken by morning glories:
water borrowed
— Chiyojo (Tr. Hiroaki Sato)
*
morning glories --
in the evening, they let us
admire their buds
— Tagami Kikusha
*
from the morning glory’s
blossom
midsummer begins
— Issa
*
Somewhere where the lotus blooms,
the breeze wafts its fragrance,
clarifying the water of the pond of my heart.
— Fujiwara no Teika (tr. Hiroaki Sato)
*
The Lotus by Ryokan
English version by John Stevens
First blooming in the Western Paradise,
The lotus has delighted us for ages.
Its white petals are covered with dew,
its jade green leaves spread out over the pond,
And its pure fragrance perfumes the wind.
Cool and majestic, it raises from the murky water.
The sun sets behind the mountains
But I remain in the darkness, too captivated to leave.
*
The Parasol by Emily Dickinson
The parasol is the umbrella's daughter,
And associates with a fan
While her father abuts the tempest
And abridges the rain.
The former assists a siren
In her serene display;
But her father is borne and honored,
And borrowed to this day.
*
in the cloudburst
an enormous morning-glory
has bloomed!
— Issa
*
mountain water
shows off
a sudden downpour
— Issa (Tr. Chris Drake)
*
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!You sulphurous and thought-executing fires
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And though, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o’ the world!
Crack nature’s moulds, all germens spill at once
That make ungrateful man!
William Shakespeare
*
The Hawk by Paul Hamilton Hayne
Ambushed in yonder cloud of white,
Far-glittering from its azure height,
He shrouds his swiftness and his might!
But oft across the echoing sky,
Long-drawn, though uttered suddenly,
We hear his strange, shrill, bodeful cry.
Winged robber! in his vaporous tower
Secure in craft, as strong in power,
Coolly he bides the fated hour,
When thro' cloud-rifts of shadowy rise,
Earthward are bent his ruthless eyes,
Where, blind to doom, the quarry lies!
And from dense cloud to noontide glow,
(His fiery gaze still fixed below),
He sails on pinions proud and slow!
Till, like a fierce, embodied ray,
He hurtles down the dazzling day,—
A death-flash on his startled prey;
And where but now a nest was found,
Voiceful, beside its grassy mound.
A few brown feathers strew the ground!
*
The Butterfly's Day by Emily Dickinson
From cocoon forth a butterfly
As lady from her door
Emerged — a summer afternoon —
Repairing everywhere,
Without design, that I could trace,
Except to stray abroad
On miscellaneous enterprise
The clovers understood.
Her pretty parasol was seen
Contracting in a field
Where men made hay, then struggling hard
With an opposing cloud,
Where parties, phantom as herself,
To Nowhere seemed to go
In purposeless circumference,
As 't were a tropic show.
And notwithstanding bee that worked,
And flower that zealous blew,
This audience of idleness
Disdained them, from the sky,
Till sundown crept, a steady tide,
And men that made the hay,
And afternoon, and butterfly,
Extinguished in its sea.
*
drinking tea alone
every day the butterfly
stops by
— Issa
*
morning-glories
softly floating...
in the teacup
— Issa
*
All night the crickets chirp,
Like little stars of twinkling sound
In the dark silence.
They sparkle through the summer stillness
With a crisp rhythm:
They lift the shadows on their tiny voices.
But at the shining note of birds that wake,
Flashing from tree to tree till all the wood is lit —
O golden coloratura of dawn!—
The cricket-stars fade slowly,
One by one.
*
The cool breeze
Crooked and meandering
It comes to me
— Issa
*
Huge trees are many,
Their names unknown
The voices of cicadas
— Shiki
*
Big rain
big moon
cicada in the pine
— Issa
*
Birds were few
And waters distant
The sound of the cicada
— Buson
*
The bamboo leaves rustle,
And sway under the eaves.
The stars twinkle
Like gold and silver grains of sand.
The five-color paper strips
I have written them.
The stars twinkle,
Watching from above.
*
At Tanabata,
Worshipful hearts
Are all as one;
The threads of prayers
Are all our own, each and every one!
— Minamoto Yorimasa
*
The melons are so hot
They have rolled
Out of their leafy hiding
— Kyorai
*
The melons look cool
Flecked with mud
From the morning dew
— Basho
*
Oblivious
Of the gaze of the thief
Melons in cool
— Issa
Tanabata Recipes!
Make your very own Tanabata-themed meal!
Recipes include:
“Cow herder rice”
“Galactic Soup”
Yogurt Summer Salad
“Ox-cart Wheel” Lotus root chicken
Music Featured in this Episode
Stuart Breczinski - Fantasie for bassoon and electronics
Mi Favorita Mazurka No. 2 by Cat Livingston
No People in this Song by Charlie Lewis
Never Going Home by Charlie Lewis
Cloudbank by Podington Bear
Clichy Waltz by Dana Boul
Over the Clouds by Lobo Loco
Sentimental by Sro
All Night Long by Lobo Loco
Portland Cello Project Denmark Live
Symphony No. 6 in F Major “Pastoral” by Ludwig Van Beethoven
Childhoodtime by Lobo Loco
O Frondens performed by Makemi
Chominciamento de Gioia by performed by Makemi
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
The Time of Planting Grains
June 6 - 19. Hydrangeas are blooming, fireflies are flitting, and rice fields are bustling with activity in this season, "The Time for Planting Grains." Joining Alexis and Kit in a new segment is Hiroaki Sato, sharing haiku about a special kigo for this rainy mini-season.
June 6 - 19
Hydrangeas are blooming, fireflies are flitting, and rice fields are bustling with activity in this season, "The Time for Planting Grains." Joining Alexis and Kit in a new segment is Hiroaki Sato, sharing haiku about a special kigo for this rainy mini-season.
Poems Featured in this Episode
June (from The Poet’s Calendar), by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine
The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights
And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,
The foliage of the valleys and the heights.
Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights;
The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;
I am the mother of all dear delights;
I am the fairest daughter of the year.
*
In the evening dusk
A single butterfly
Hovers above the water mirror
— Karahara
***
Amid the summer grasses
A single flower
Mirrored in the water
— Onitsura
***
Cool, cool,
Running into the rice paddies
Clear water
— Socho
***
flute practice
the rice fields one and all
so green!
— Issa
***
The mosquito smudge
Is also a consolation,
Being alone.
— Issa
***
A matter for congratulation:
I have been bit
By this year’s mosquito’s too
— Issa
***
smoking out mosquitoes--
soon the fireflies
are gone too
— Issa
***
Fireflies, by Eugene Lee-Hamilton
Now one by one the live winged sparks of night,
Like souls allowed to wander as they please
Through old loved haunts, go by between the trees
In silent zigzags of alternate light;
And grow in number, bodiless and bright,
So that the eye, too slow to count them, sees
Nothing but fire all round; till by degrees
Quenched in the dawn, they vanish from the sight.
And those more subtle sparks, which they recall,
The countless souls with which regret and love
Once peopled Death's great night, are they quenched too ?
Has Thought's strong dawn, which searches into all,
Reached even them, unpeopling Heaven above,
To leave us nothing but the empty blue?
***
sparkling fireflies--
even the frog's mouth
gapes
— Issa
***
The river alone
Darkness is slowing
The fire-flies
— Chiyo-ni
***
three raindrops
and three or four
Fireflies
— Issa
***
with my umbrella
I part the branches
of the willow trees . . .
— Basho
***
Early summer rain
the five thousand five hundredth
rented umbrella
— Issa
***
Hydrangea
in the season of unlined robes
pale blue
— Basho
***
hydrangeas
pale blue in the rain
blue in the moonlight
— Shiki
***
watching the glow
of flickering fireflies
at twilight
love lingers all the more
in a garden colored by hydrangeas
— Fujiwara Ieyoshi
***
A Rose, by Emily Dickinson
A sepal, petal, and a thorn
Upon a common summer's morn,
A flash of dew, a bee or two,
A breeze
A caper in the trees, —
And I'm a rose!
***
two feet tall,
the crimson-budded roses,
their young thorns
tender in
the soft falling rain
— Shiki
***
Wild Strawberries, by Robert Graves
Strawberries that in gardens grow
Are plump and juicy fine,
But sweeter far as wise men know
Spring from the woodland vine.
No need for bowl or silver spoon,
Sugar or spice or cream,
Has the wild berry plucked in June
Beside the trickling stream.
***
Summer’s Promise, by Alexis
On walks through my quiet neighborhood
I would spy you
Hanging out on the corner
Or over a wall
Dark, tall, mysterious
With glints of gold I did not know what you were at first
But one day, spied you on display
Nestled between the grapes
Gentle loquat, to me you are
The vision of early summer
And the taste of all the promise that awaits
***
Poems Featured in Hiro’s Corner
Husband home from work
haiku for dinner
again
— Alexis Rotella
***
剥製の鷲の眼光のみ黴びず
hakusei no washi no gankō nomi kabizu
The mounted eagle: only his glare never molds
— Takaha Shugyō
***
黴の香もおろそかならず資料室
kabi no ka mo orosokonarazu shiryō-shitsu
The scent of the mold, too, can’t be neglected: the library
— Yamada Hiroko
Music Featured in this Podcast
Fireflies by Stuart Diamond
Boshu Haiku micro-suits by Paul Laraia
Fae by Meydan
Dream Softly Baby by Lobo Loco
Rain Stops Play by Ketsa
Breeze by Yakov Golman
Sky by Chad Crouch
Visual Examples of Kigo
The Beginning of Summer
May 5 - 19. In this episode, Alexis and Kit explore the warm beginnings of summer through an array of early summer delights including irises, clouds, and festivals.
Poems Featured in this Episode
May by Thomas Hood (1799-1845)
Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume:
There's crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turned to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.
*
Young Lambs by John Clare
The spring is coming by a many signs;
The trays are up, the hedges broken down,
That fenced the haystack, and the remnant shines
Like some old antique fragment weathered brown.
And where suns peep, in every sheltered place,
The little early buttercups unfold
A glittering star or two--till many trace
The edges of the blackthorn clumps in gold.
And then a little lamb bolts up behind
The hill and wags his tail to meet the yoe,
And then another, sheltered from the wind,
Lies all his length as dead--and lets me go
Close bye and never stirs but baking lies,
With legs stretched out as though he could not rise
*
The Hen by Lord Alfred Douglas
The hen is a ferocious fowl,
She pecks you till she makes you howl.
And all the time she flaps her wings,
And says the most insulting things.
And when you try to take her eggs,
She bites large pieces from your legs.
The only safe way to get these,
Is to creep on your hands and knees.
In the meanwhile a friend must hide,
And jump out on the other side.
And then you snatch the eggs and run,
While she pursues the other one.
The difficulty is, to find
A trusty friend who will not mind.
*
The Month of May by Thomas Dekker
I saw a hundred of shades of green today
And everything that man made was outclassed
The month of May, the merry month of May
Now hello pink and white and farewell grey
My spirits are no longer overcast
The winter is over and its time to play.
*
Rabbit-ear iris
it gives me an idea
for a poem
— Basho
*
Irises
where the rainbow
starts from
— Basho
*
The cuckoo
singing about five feet
of iris leaves
— Issa
*
Mountains are
yellow green, pale yellow-
a cuckoo cries
— Shiki
*
It seems to me as if
A little cuckoo could have come flying
To aim at deutzia flowers
— Shiki
*
Dawn--
from atop the wheat
"cuckoo!"
— Issa
*
The cuckoo
singing, flying, singing,
ever busy
— Basho
*
Night Clouds by Amy Lowell
The white mares of the moon rush along the sky
Beating their golden hoofs upon the glass Heavens;
The white mares of the moon are all standing on their hind legs
Pawing at the green porcelain doors of the remote Heavens.
Fly, Mares!Strain your utmost,Scatter the milky dust of stars,
Or the tiger sun will leap upon you and destroy you
With one lick of his vermilion tongue.
*
Kites by Alice Thorn Frost
Up and Up, then down and down,
On a breezy day,
Jolly kites in colors fine
Proudly sail away.
Each is held, how wonderful!
By a slender string.
Children’s laughter, darting kites,
Make a day of spring.
*
Carp streamers are higher than the roof
The biggest carp is the father
The small carp are children
Enjoying swimming in the sky
Japanese folk song “Koinobori”
*
Both sword and satchel
display them in May -
paper streamers
— Basho
*
Best friends forever mom and me
Picking flowers and climbing trees.
A shoulder to cry on secrets to share
Warm hearts and hands that really care.
— Anonymous
*
Rhubarb Pie — Anonymous
If rhubarb pie
You've never eaten
Give it a try
It can't be beaten
I know what you're thinking
Oh how can this be
Rhubarb's reminiscent
Of red celery
How can something
This stringy
Become a great pie
There's a sweet little secret
Of that I won't lie
It takes lots of sugar
A half plus a cup
And a third cup of flour
To thicken things up
An eighth teaspoon of salt
And the Rhubarb you add
Four cups peeled and chopped
Won't turn out too bad
Mix it all up
And pour in a pie pan
Lined with a crust
You mixed up by hand
Dot it with butter
Or margarine is ok
Two tablespoons should do
At least that's what they say
Put on a top crust
Flute the edges up high
And cut in some vents
So the top doesn't fly
Sprinkle with sugar
And put in to bake
At 425 Three-fourths hour
Should take
When it is done
Place on rack for to cool
Don't eat it too soon
Or you'll get burned you fool
When it's just warm
Then open the fridge
With vanilla ice cream
You'll want more than a smidge
With milk in a glass
Or coffee in cup
You might soon discover
That you've eaten it up
Then go tell your friends
That you've found a new gem
And maybe next time
You'll save some for them!
Music Featured in this Podcast
“Venit tempus“ Words by A.A. Sanborn, Performed by Ruth Cunningham
Venit tempus vernum plena flores, et caritas Dei, et mirantibus tactu frigus.
Springtime comes, full of flowers and God's love, with a touch of cold wonder.
“Longing for Spring / Komm, Lieber Mai“ W.A. Mozart, Performed by Madelyn Wanner Salazar
Koinobori, Performed by Chris Whittaker
Symphony no. 6 in f major 'pastoral', op. 68 - i. allegro non troppo by Ludwig Van Beethoven, via MusOpen
Kites are Fun by the Free Design (with permission from artist)
Waking up to the Sun by Pictures of the Floating World
Softest Fabric by Pictures of the Floating World
Quintet No. 1 in B major, movement 3 by Giovanni Giuseppe Cambini
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
Clear and Bright
April 4 - 18. In this episode, Alexis and Kit celebrate the season known as "Clear and Bright," discuss seasonal keywords known as kigo, and share the joys of the beginning of spring around the world.
April 4 - 18
In this episode, Alexis and Kit celebrate the season known as "Clear and Bright," discuss seasonal keywords known as kigo, and share the joys of the beginning of spring around the world.
Poems & Prose Featured in this Episode
“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
***
I come, I come! Ye have called me long,
I come o’er the mountains with light and song!
Ye may trace my step o’er wakening earth
By the winds that tell of violets’ birth
By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass
By the leaves opening as I pass
Ms. Hemans, from a The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady
***
Spring has come
In all its simplicity
A bright yellow sky
— Issa
***
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are
softly caressed by the breezes.
Antonio Vivaldi
***
All the day long
Yet not enough for the skylark
Singing, singing
— Basho
***
Voices
Above the white clouds
Skylarks
— Kyoroku
***
The skylark
Hides itself
In the expanse of blue sky
— Rokuto
***
Spring Song
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Hark, I hear a robin calling!
List, the wind is from the south!
And the orchard-bloom is falling
Sweet as kisses on the mouth.
In the dreamy vale of beeches
Fair and faint is woven mist,
And the river's orient reaches
Are the palest amethyst.
Every limpid brook is singing
Of the lure of April days;
Every piney glen is ringing
With the maddest roundelays.
Come and let us seek together
Springtime lore of daffodils,
Giving to the golden weather
Greeting on the sun-warm hills.
Ours shall be the moonrise stealing
Through the birches ivory-white;
Ours shall be the mystic healing
Of the velvet-footed night.
Ours shall be the gypsy winding
Of the path with violets blue,
Ours at last the wizard finding
Of the land where dreams come true.
***
Hazy moon --
The pine passing through
Passing through
— Issa
***
Afflictions of the mind
Resembling moonlit haze;
It’s one of those nights.
— Natsume Soseki
***
The bell from far away
How it moves along in its coming
Through the spring haze!
— Onitsura
***
To pluck is a pity
To leave is a pity
Ah, this violet!
— Naojo
***
How many, many things
they call to mind
These cherry blossoms!
— Basho
***
In the city fields
Contemplating cherry trees. . .
Strangers are like friends.
— Issa
***
The cherry blossoms
Put the whole world
Under a tree
— Watsujin
***
The wind falls,
The mountains are clear!
Now the frogs
— Oemaru
***
Under the hazy moon,
Water and sky are obscured
By the frog
— Buson
***
The Frog
by William Henry Dawson
Have you ever wished when fretting
'Bout the chilly air of spring,
When the days are longer getting
And the frogs begin to sing,
Have you ever wished that you could
Just change places with the frog—
Let him shoulder all your trouble
And then leave you on the log,
In the middle of the mill-pond,
Nothing in the world to do?
Have you wished you could change places,
You be frog and frog be you?
He don't fret 'bout rainy weather;
If the sun shines he don't cry;
He just takes it all together;
Happy wet and happy dry.
***
Pear petals fall in a slight wind on Qingming Day,
Men and women, old and young, take a trip to look for spring.
When the wonderful music and songs ended at sunset,
Golden orioles fly through thousands of willows freely.
— Wu Weixin
***
Visiting the graves
The old dog
Leads the way
— Issa
***
The Great Buddha
Dozing, dozing
All the spring day
— Shiki
***
A swallow flew out of
The nose
Of the great Buddha
— Issa
***
By when the thaw comes
The first sun is mine The first kiss of April is mine! Rose buds in a vase Leaf and leaf I watch it!
La Boheme, Puccini
Music Featured in this Episode
The Four Seasons by Vivaldi
La Dance Nostalgique by The Owl
Tsolak Jan by Zulal
Convergence by Pictures of the Floating World
Nature Shuffle by Ketsa
Main Square by Jazzar
First Day of Spring by David Hilowitz
Explore by Madoka
Visual Examples of Seasonal Words
