It’s May and the world around us is bursting forth, bursting into new bloom, new green, new life. It is the story that never grows old. Here in Lake Worth, where we have constant green, the green is a new shade of bright, and the flowering trees begin their annual blooming, most abundantly with the Tabebuia Argenta, or Yellow Tabs. This one is blooming right outside our front door right now, even as I type this. Fittingly enough, our Yellow Tab is the cover star of your Convivio Book of Days Calendar for May. Our monthly gift to you is a printable PDF, so you can print it and pin it to your bulletin board and keep it as a fine companion to the Book of Days blog.
May Day has come and gone, and next up is Cinco de Mayo this Sunday, and come sunset that same day, it’s the start of Ramadan. We were inspired this year by our friend Manal Aman of Hello Holy Days! to add some new items to our Convivio Book of Days Catalog: Manal’s lovely cards for Ramadan and Eid al Fitr, which she designs herself and sends to us from her home in Canada. Manal came to Canada from Pakistan as a baby, just like my Aunt Anne came to the United States from Italy as a baby. Pakistan, the same homeland as Tara and Sami, the folks who run The Pelican in downtown Lake Worth on Lake Avenue. During some of my lowest days, it was Tara who would welcome me to her restaurant for breakfast and send me on my way afterward with dinner for later on, as well. For sure, Seth and I are sending Tara and Sami one of Manal’s Ramadan cards this year, to thank them for their kindness.
Manal’s idea is simple: to bring Ramadan and Eid to the mainstream through companies like Crate+Barrel and Martha Stewart Living. As she says, “We live in a time and place where there’s a lot of misunderstandings about Muslims.” Her goal is to help build understanding between communities. Which sounds an awful lot like ours. And sometimes the simplest thing––like sending someone a card––can go a long way toward building that understanding, building those bridges. And bridges are so much better than walls. In this home, anyway, we feel this is true and this is right and good.
Two of Manal Aman’s beautiful cards for Ramadan and Eid al Fitr, new to the Convivio Book of Days Catalog. You’ll find many to choose from, and free domestic shipping when you spend $50 across the catalog. Image above: The yellow spring blooms of the Tabebuia Argenta.