Category Archives: Autumn

Oct 15 2024
Apple Tuesday, Autumn, Book of Days Calendar, Halloween

Brilliant October, or Your October Book of Days

You had probably given up, by now, on any hopes of me delivering news of the Convivio Book of Days Calendar for the month, and yet, here it is. To be honest, it’s been there for quite a while; I’ve just not had a moment to sit down to write and let you know. Be that as it may, I am doing so now. Our cover star this month: “Autumn Woods” and the radiancy that only October brings. Since the month’s beginning we’ve already celebrated Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of the Guardian Angels and the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, with its accompanying blessings of animals (my favorite example this year involved Isabella Rossellini driving two sheep to church in the back of her car), not to mention Yom Kippur and St. Denis’ Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and when you finally get word of this month’s calendar, it will be smack dab in the middle of the month, the 15th of October, which, this year, happens to be Apple Tuesday: a fine day, I think, to enjoy one of those lovelier fruits of the season.

There is much of October still to come, but my favorite of it, of course, is Hallowe’en, which closes the month, and begins our annual season of remembrance. And I know Hallowe’en can be problematic –– not all of you love it as we do here in this house –– but I would like to emphasize that there are two approaches to Hallowe’en and if you are not a fan of this wonderful night, might I suggest that perhaps you’ve been too immersed in the approach that has somehow evolved “spooky” and “spirited” and “mysterious” into axe-wielding murderers and gore and horror. I’m not a fan of that stuff, either. But I choose to exclude it from my Hallowe’en celebration, because it is not quite what the season is all about, is it?

Hallowe’en –– and I do think that apostrophe is gravely important –– is All Hallows Eve. It is remembrance: the first night of a season of remembrance that continues on to St. Martin’s Day on the Eleventh of November. Bring on the mystery and bring on the connexions across time and space and yes, to me, a bit of spookiness is most certainly welcome. Our Hallowe’en, in the odd house that is my memory, is fiddles and barn dancing and perhaps a quilting frolic with a table groaning with autumnal bounty and then, after dinner, ghost stories by the fire. It is trick-or-treating, a journey through the night with fellow trick-or-treaters, a night filled with mysterious sights and sounds. There are sweets –– and plenty of them –– but there are also concord grapes and sputtering baked apples and roasted nuts. In my family tradition, it is the time of year when we make a sacred, penitential dessert that our grandparents made, as did their parents and grandparents before them, since time immemorial. We eat this dessert only this time of year, especially on All Souls Night, and it is made from cooked wheat grains, pomegranate, chopped toasted almonds, and chopped chocolate, all mixed in a bowl and then covered in a syrup that was traditionally made from the last pressings of the grapes from winemaking. The syrup is called Mosto Cotto in proper Italian, though in Lucera, the small city in Puglia from where this strange dish for All Souls Night originates, we call the syrup U Cutto, and the dessert itself we call Cicci Cutto. But that is the Lucerine dialect, just as mysterious as this dessert we eat once a year. The pomegranates surely come from the story of Persephone, who must return to the underground world each autumn, the same underground where our beloved dead reside, and the spices that warm the dessert –– cinnamon and cloves –– warm our hearts and place us firmly in autumn, too.

This, to me, is Hallowe’en. This is the mystery of this time of year, and one of our great joys of autumn.

 

COME SEE US!
We’ve got lots going on this time of year! Maybe one or more of these festive occasions will convince you to come on by and say hello. We love when you do.

BOO BAZAAR
Our Boo Bazaar at the end of September was such a joy, we’ve decided to do it one more time. Come on over to our Lake Worth Beach shop on Wednesday evening, October 16, from 5 to 9 PM for one last Hallowe’en shopping event this month. This BOO BAZAAR will feature great spooky shopping, mysterious music, and my sister’s homemade amazing Baked Apple Cider Doughnut Holes, plus tarot card readings and fortunes told by Madame Marie-Claire. The shop address is 1110 North G Street in Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460. Also take note: our shop, which is usually open on Saturdays from 11 to 4, will only be open for the Boo Bazaar this Wednesday evening, and then won’t reopen again until Saturday, November 9. We’ll be at the following festivals (rather than at the shop):

We return to OKTOBERFEST MIAMI for the event’s second weekend: this Friday, October 18 through Sunday, October 20. That’s at the German American Social Club in Miami. It’s their 67th Oktoberfest: the oldest Oktoberfest in Florida. We were there all last weekend. So much fun! I’ve still got “The Chicken Dance” in my head.

Soon after Oktoberfest, it’ll be time for FLORIDA DAY of the DEAD at Esplanade Park in Downtown Fort Lauderdale. Please note that for that festival, our pop-up shop will be located in a double tent at Esplanade Park where the festival begins, before it processes over to Revolution Live. As such, we are there earlier than other craft tents that will be at the second half of the event. Find our double tent at Esplanade Park from 3 to 8 PM.

AUTUMN SALE ONLINE
At our online store we’re offering $10 off your purchase of $85 or more, plus get free domestic shipping. Just use discount code PUMPKINHEAD at checkout. We’re still adding new items this time of year almost daily… in fact, our fall shipment of specialty foods, candies, and cookies has just arrived! You’ll find new items from Germany for Hallowe’en and Christmas, plus new Advent calendars and candles, too. We’ll be adding those specialty foods from Europe to the online shop very soon. Lots to see! CLICK HERE to shop.

HALLOWE’EN REAL MAIL FRIDAY
Finally, won’t you join me on Zoom for a special Real Mail Fridays letter writing social from the Jaffe Center for Book Arts? It happens to be on Thursday this week, not Friday (since I’ll be at Oktoberfest Miami on Friday), and the music will be a very special soundtrack comprised of the kind of mysterious Hallowe’en and autumnal music I like best. Perhaps you’l like it, as well. We begin at 2 Eastern and end at 5 Eastern and you are free to come and go as you please, but the music will be playing all three hours, save for the occasional break we take for a little chat amongst friends. Folks have been joining in lately from all over the US and Canada, plus Scotland, Romania, and the Philippines (our friend there comes to us from the future, since it is already the next day in her part of the world — how mysterious is that?). CLICK HERE to join us.

 

 

 

Sep 22 2024
Autumn, Equinox

Fall (into Winter)

Back when July became August, we talked about a subtle shift, an acknowledgement of summer’s waning. Some seven and a half weeks later, here we are at complete acknowledgment: we have reached the equinox. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, this day brings the autumnal equinox, and, by the almanac, the first day of fall. All is balanced. All is more or less equal, no matter where we find ourselves at this moment on our planet: Day and night, roughly in balance with each other, pole to pole and around the equator, and if you look west at sunset down a street that travels a clean line in that direction, the sun will most certainly be shining in your eyes, making everything awash in white, until our star sinks below the horizon, leaving behind a glorious sunset. This balance will last for a few days, but check back in a week and already you’ll see the sun has shifted further to the south. As the Earth seems to rock back and forth in its seat, we, here in the Northern Hemisphere, are now falling into winter, while the Southern Hemisphere in springing into summer. This is the Constant Rearrange that makes every day somewhat different from the one before and the one that follows. It is the way of our world, the way of our days, the way of the wheel of the year.

Equinox, from the Latin: equal night. The moment of equinox this time around, when the sun passes over the equator, is at 8:43 AM here in Lake Worth, which is currently in Eastern Daylight Time. And then darkness begins to overtake light as we enter the darker half of the year.

We’re entering our busiest time of year here at Convivio Bookworks. Here’s a sampling of where you can find us in the coming weeks, as well as an invitation to join us in our Lake Worth Beach shop, and a special for everyone else who’s not in our immediate vicinity. (Lucky you if you’re in a place where it’s apple harvest time!)

AUTUMN 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 Premiere Event at Convivio Bookworks on Saturday September 28 (11 AM to 8 PM) & Sunday September 29 (11 AM to 5 PM), with yummy homemade treats, great spooky shopping, and tarot card readings and fortunes told by the mysterious Madame Marie-Claire. The shop address is 1110 North G Street in Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460.

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 PALM BEACH the same two weekends, and we plan to have a small tent there, as well. It’s their 50th Oktoberfest! Soon after Oktoberfest, it’ll be time for FLORIDA DAY of the DEAD at Esplanade Park in Downtown Fort Lauderdale. Please note that for that festival, our tent will be located at Esplanade Park where the festival begins, before it processes over to Revolution Live. As such, we are there earlier than other craft tents that will be at the second half of the event. Find our tent at Esplanade Park from 3 to 8 PM.

AUTUMN SALE ONLINE
At our online store we’re offering $10 off your purchase of $85 or more, plus get free domestic shipping. Just use discount code PUMPKINHEAD at checkout. We’re adding new items this time of year almost daily! You’ll find new items from Germany for Hallowe’en and Christmas, plus new Advent calendars and candles are coming this week, and we’re getting ready for Dia de Los Muertos, too, and our next shipment of specialty foods and candies from Germany and Sweden should be here by the first week of October. Lots to see! CLICK HERE to shop!

Our image for this first day of fall is a photograph of Gingko biloba leaves in autumn sunlight. The photo was taken by Franz van Duns in October, 2021 [Creative Commons, via Wikimedia Commons].

 

Sep 01 2024
2 Comments
Autumn, Book of Days Calendar

First of the Ember Months, or Your September Book of Days

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!

 

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