by Fraser Hibbitt for the Carl Kruse Blog The cherry tree blooms in early spring. There are three on a street close to me and I noticed the buds coming out just the other day. I cannot now remember this prelude as they quickly blossomed into a rich fullness. It was a surprise but so … [Read more…]
By Fraser Hibbitt for the Carl Kruse Blog A few years ago, when I was living in a different town, I used to get coffee from a girl who hated the summer. What it was she hated about it I couldn’t quite tell, probably the intensity of it. She was shy and her sentences often … [Read more…]
by Fraser Hibbitt for the Carl Kruse Blog The coming of Spring is the headlong fall into light and day. The day is everything for affirmation, though what is affirmed is figured first, darkly, in the night. In the spring, D.H. Lawrence wonders what he is in the midst of the ‘leaping combustion of spring’: … [Read more…]
by Fraser Hibbitt for the Carl Kruse Blog On Autumn ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round that thatch-eves run’ John Keats’ opening lines of ‘To Autumn’ picture a busy god culminating the over-brimmed ‘clammy cells’ … [Read more…]
by Fraser Hibbitt In 1894, two ordinary men set off on a three-day walk through the south downs in England. Their names were Thomas Oakley and Hans Eagerton, and both hailed from London. A short fragment of their journey was preserved by a certain anthologist, Richard Eseat, who compiled a work dedicated to the summer: … [Read more…]
by Hazel Anna Rogers Readers of the blog know that we love celebrating the change of seasons. Today being the first day of Spring, Hazel gives us a roundup of some Spring folklore. Take it Hazel! For other takes on Spring see here and here. (Chinese – Yin Dynasty) Chien Ti and her sister are … [Read more…]
A quick peek at the blog shows how much we like to celebrate the change of seasons as we honor them each time they come around – Summer, Fall, Spring, and Winter. And now Winter again. For this post Fraser Hibbitt takes over the reins to welcome Winter Solstice, once again. Carl Kruse The cycle … [Read more…]
Those who follow my blog know I love to celebrate the seasons, much as humanity has celebrated seasons since time immemorial. I always try to get an ode in to the season du jour, be it fall, winter, spring or summer, and revel in the ebb and flow of nature, perhaps more introspectively during fall, … [Read more…]
The advance of our science begets knowledge — and control — of our environment, so much so we often seem not of this world but above it. Grand masters. But there’s no escaping we are part of nature and sometimes it’s a microscopic thing like the corana virus that reminds us of how intimately we … [Read more…]
Living north of the equator it’s three short months between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. Summer comes and goes quickly and when mid-September comes, we know it’s all nearing a close. The heat of summer often lingers while the light declines and the withering leaves crackle underfoot as the trees begin their seasonal … [Read more…]
Happy Winter Solstice by Carl Kruse Since before anyone kept records people have celebrated Winter Solstice, the shortest day-longest night of the year, and that happens to be today. And every year around now I share a quick note to celebrate the solstice ( See https://carlkruse.org/happy-winter-solstice/ for a similar solstician greeting.) In prehistoric times people … [Read more…]
Here’s To A Great Summer Solstice By Carl Kruse The ebb and flow of the seasons is one of life’s constants and today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day, shortest night of the year, marking the beginning of summer. Some say it marks mid-summer, but no matter. Water flows, flowers bloom, trees sashay, the … [Read more…]
Spring Is Here by Carl Kruse The seasons are always turning but there are special moments and today we pass through one of them, the vernal equinox, or the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. The center of the sun today aligns with the equator, and day and night — light and dark … [Read more…]
By Carl Kruse Before anyone kept records we have been celebrating Winter Solstice, the shortest day ( longest night) of the year. In prehistoric times people were afraid the sun would not return and performed elaborate rituals to encourage it back. In Roman times Saturnalia took place around December 25th, the date of the solstice … [Read more…]