Book of Days

A cold front came through yesterday afternoon, just before the Hallowe’en festivities began, and today it is autumnal perfection outside, Florida style. It’s cool, clear, breezy: a wonderful way to welcome November. We are expecting record lows tonight in Lake Worth, down into the 40s. For the Celts, this time of year was known as Samhain and it marked the beginning of winter and of a new year. Our cold front, it would seem, knows a thing or two about good timing.

People love to hate November. British poet Thomas Hood had this much to say about November:

No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon ––
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member ––
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds ––
November!

Of course it was 1844 and our poet was writing in a smoggy, cold London. Here in Lake Worth, November brings sunlight in a very particular slant that streams through the windows onto the oak floor and into the print shop and makes Haden, our shop cat, positively drunk on the stuff. She basks in that sunlight, sprawled out to soak in as much of it as she can, and if you go up to her and speak her name or snuzzle your nose into her ears, she looks back at you in a stupor. Haden will tell you: November here is pretty amazing.

To celebrate this wonderful month, we deliver to you today a gift: the November Book of Days calendar from Convivio Bookworks. It’s a printable PDF document so you can print it out and pin it to a bulletin board, should you wish.

You’ll find today is All Saints Day, All Hallows… the day that gives last night’s Halloween celebration its name, and tomorrow brings All Souls Day, or Dia de Muertos, Day of the Dead. What with all the traditional handmade Day of the Dead items we sell at our website, you know it’s a day we love. We’ll be celebrating with family tomorrow, eating pan de muertos and perhaps drinking bone punch, and I’ll include you in that festivity, too. So.. see you here at the Book of Days Blog tomorrow? Good.

September is flown and now it is October, height of fall. It’s rare for me to want to be anywhere but where I am right now, but in October, a strong sense of wanderlust creeps up on me. Autumn is just not as spectacular here in Lake Worth as it is in New England or Appalachia or any of the other places I’ve experienced it. Sometimes people from those places come to Lake Worth in October and this is something I do not understand. Why would you leave all that red and orange foliage and blue sky? Why would you say goodbye to all those apples and pumpkins and cornstalks and chilly nights? Just to see more green? Please.

Anyway, if you have all those things this month, know that I am intensely jealous and that in my heart, I am right there. If someone’s telling ghost stories tonight by the fire, pull up a chair for me, if you don’t mind, and pour me a glass of cider. Thank you. That would be a wonderful gift.

My gift to you, meanwhile, is the October Book of Days calendar from Convivio Bookworks. It’s a printable PDF document for those of you who wish to pin it on a bulletin board. Here’s the link again:

http://www.conviviobookworks.com/Images/October2014.pdf

Speaking of ghost stories, I hope to have one for you toward the end of the month, around Halloween, as is only right. Generally, I don’t publish the stories here in the Book of Days Blog; the stories I write about Lake Worth are called Convivio Dispatches and they come to you as an email, and if you don’t get them but would like them, you can sign up for them here:

http://www.conviviobookworks.com/pages/contactus.php

A new dispatch went out last night, in fact. It was called “We are Content.” It has to do with the lingering effects of our town’s original motto, Satis Habemus, and touches upon some local history, too, namely Boutwell Dairy, and though you may have never heard of Boutwell Dairy, if you enjoy half and half in your coffee, you probably owe a huge debt of gratitude to this place. Intrigued? Sign up. I love sharing these stories with you. Why else would I write them?

New month, new Convivio Book of Days calendar. It’s September, the month that brings autumn by the almanac to the Northern Hemisphere. And I’ll let you in on a secret: Autumn is our favorite time of year here at Convivio Bookworks. Which is a little strange considering autumn is such a subtle thing in Lake Worth. But when we have the chance, we like to steal away to more northern climes and get a glimpse of golden foliage and apple orchards. Seth and I have been known to drive north with an empty pick up truck and come home with that same truck laden with apples and pumpkins, especially if they are heritage varieties like Rouge vif d’Etampes, the red Cinderella pumpkin from France, or Jarrahdale, the green pumpkin from Australia, or beige Long Island Cheese pumpkins. (If you know anyone locally selling these types of pumpkins this year, let me know. I’ll be their best customer.)

Pumpkin patches speak to me of possibilities. I can remember weeding the big pumpkin patch at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community when I was interning there, sitting there in the dirt amongst bold green leaves and yellow flowers and ripening pumpkins, and sensing there was a story to tell that emanated from that pumpkin patch. In a way, it was that idea that evolved into the Convivio Book of Days. The first calendar appeared in October 2003; naturally, it featured pumpkins. And the first Book of Days Blog chapter appeared ten years later, just last October. It, too, featured pumpkins. That first chapter was probably seen by a half dozen people, all, no doubt, related to Seth or me.

So here is September and I know the pumpkins are ripening on the vine. My vision for September was a local one this year: sea oats on the Lake Worth dunes, the plants closest to the edge of this vast continent, and at this time of year, they remind me of grain ripening in the fields. And so here is your September Book of Days calendar, a printable PDF document:

http://www.conviviobookworks.com/Images/September2014.pdf

September is a time of growing introspection: as we begin to gather in the harvest, so we begin to gather in our thoughts, our perspectives, returning focus once more to home and hearth. If you see those pumpkins I like so much, do let me know. I’ve been called “Pumpkinhead” plenty of times in my life, and I don’t mind at all. Happy September.

Image: Sea Oats at Lake Worth Beach.