It’s September –– equinox month and first of what I like to call the Ember Months: these closing months of the year that share mostly the same sounds as their names roll off the tongue: September, October, November, December. The seasonal shifts here in Lake Worth are subtle to be sure, but I can remember summers drifting into autumn in Maine and there is, in my experience, a distinct shift once September rolls in.
And no wonder. As the Wheel of the Year turns, we find ourselves today, on this First of September, just three short weeks away from the planet’s equinox, and once that moment passes, our Northern Hemisphere’s nighttime hours begin to overtake our daytime hours. It is our autumnal equinox. The nights will grow increasingly longer through the Midwinter solstice in December, at the tail end of those Ember Months. This is our time for gathering in. Our time for shifting attentions inward, to hearth and to home.
And so it is a new month and here is your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for September. It is a month for wine (Our Lady of the Grape Harvest, or the Nativity of Mary, on the 8th), a month for apples (Johnny Appleseed’s birthday on the 26th), and a month for angels (Michaelmas on the 29th… which then leads us to the Feast of the Guardian Angels on the 2nd of October).
In choosing a cover star for this month’s calendar, I’ve settled into the idea of apples. Our September painting, “Apple Tree with Red Fruit” by Paul Ranson, captures the apple aspect, plus the very golden hew of September. Oil on canvas, 1902, [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.
AUTUMN SHOP!
You won’t believe all the great new items for autumn and the spooky season we have in our online shop and our brick & mortar shop. We’re pretty excited about what we’ve gathered for you. Plus, you may use discount code PUMPKINHEAD to save $10 on your $85 purchase, and get free domestic shipping, too. That’s a total savings of $19.50. Spend less than $85 and our flat rate shipping fee of $9.50 applies. CLICK HERE to shop; you know we appreciate your support immensely. And yes, you may use that $10 discount when you visit us in the store, too!
Our new shop is open on Saturdays from 11 AM to 4 PM, and by appointment, too (we’ll be happy to open for you). We’re located at 1110 North G Street, Suite D, Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460. From I-95, exit 10th Avenue North eastbound; make a left at the first traffic signal onto North A Street, then at the first stop sign, turn right onto 13th Avenue North. Cross the railroad tracks and turn right again onto North G Street. We’re a couple blocks down on your left side in a blue-roofed building. Plenty of street parking on G Street and there are a parking spots in our little parking lot, too. If our OPEN TODAY sign is out, we are open.
NEW! IN-HOUSE WORKSHOPS!
One of our goals for our new Lake Worth shop is to create a space that is about community and a place where you can come learn new things. Our first summer workshops series was a big hit, and there is one more workshop in the series yet to come: Instructor Kim Spivey will be teaching Exploring Monoprints on Saturday September 14.
DATES TO SAVE
Once autumn rolls in, we start planning out our busy fall and winter pop-up market calendar… plus now we’ve got our own shop for events, too. Here’s what’s currently on our calendar for September and October: BOO BAZAAR is our official Hallowe’en Preview Event at Convivio Bookworks on Saturday & Sunday, September 28 & 29, with great spooky shopping and tarot card readings and fortunes told by Madame Marie-Claire. Then, we return to OKTOBERFEST MIAMI for the second and third weekends of October (October 11, 12, & 13 and October 18, 19, & 20). That’s at the German American Social Club in Miami. The American German Club west of Lantana in suburban Lake Worth holds their OKTOBERFEST the same two weekends, and we plan to have a small tent there, as well. It’s their 50th Oktoberfest!
I never thought I would look forward to the ember months (they carry a certain slant of light too poignant to even talk about for years and years) but here we are and, yes, today’s Book of Days is helping me look forward to them! September is my birthday month and I do not think I have ever seen an image that so perfectly captures its golden hours as the one you shared. It is a welcome replacement to an image stuck in my head from childhood. When the calendar page was turned to September back then, long ago, it revealed a corner of a sleeping bag resting on the floor of a forest, golden light slanting on the trees, and – of all things! – an alarm clock propped up against a pile of red and gold and brown leaves. I don’t know why that image stuck except to say that the sleeping bag looked invitingly cozy while the alarm clock appeared to be singularily creepy and so maybe that Contrast is why that September image remains. I definitely like the Ranson painting much, much better. The stark branches of the tree foretell October’s darkening hours while the sky kisses summer gold good-bye and the apples hold the promise of summer ransomed under their skin. We free that sweet summer light with each bite as we savor apples on autumn’s cooling hearth.
Idaho is a long way from Florida but thank you, John, brother of my heart, for walking me gently into the ember months. Let’s eat apples, friends, until we are as shrunken and wrinkled as the ones in the bottom of the barrel!
Oh, what a lovely comment to read, Sheri. Thank you for taking the time to write (it is appreciated) and for accepting my invitation to walk toward the Ember Months. I think you should stick with the Paul Ranson painting and forget all about that alarm clock.
Enjoy the apples!
J