Three great reads worth pondering...

Jul 21, 2024

INSIDE: The seasons of the year, but not as you know them, what happens if they catch you in the act, and a fascinating interview told in chapters.…

👀 Last week’s top read: Fiona D Artisan is endlessly inspired by nature.

Now for this weekend’s recommended reads…

The seasons of the year, but not as you know them.

Have you ever heard of microseasons? As

Ann Collins

explains:

“The idea of microseasons comes from ancient Chinese farming culture dividing the year into 24 seasons, each with a poetic name according to the Sun’s position and its effect on the agriculture of that region.
Sometime later, this way of marking time was adopted in ancient Japan, where each season was subdivided into three parts, creating a total of 72 seasons lasting about five days each.”

Living throughout the year with those seasons as her guide is what her Substack of the same name is all about!

Follow along for beautiful nature photos and reflections.

What if they catch you in the act?

This delightful and thoughtful illustrated essay by

Kelcey Ervick

discusses the tension between other people’s judgements, and how we perceive the difference between work and leisure.

She tells the story about how she didn’t want the man she’d hired to clean her deck see her reading. As she writes:

“Something that has less to do with work and leisure, and more to do with the intimate and internal experience of reading.”

A fascinating interview told in chapters.

In this great series called Chapters,

Rachel Schwartzmann

interviews creative people using the following format:

“Every (life) chapter has at least one memorable moment, sentence, or story. What are yours? In Chapters, I ask creative people to reflect on the stories of their lives and respond to any of the below prompts (in whatever way they wish).”
Autum Story, Bedtime Story, Color Story, Funny Story, Inside Story, Long Story, Love Story, Old Story, Our Story, Scary Story, Slow Story, Sob Story, Spring Story, Summer Story Their Story, Travel Story, True Story, Winter Story, or Your Story.

In this lovely installment, she interviews the writer

Chelsea Bieker

, who discusses (among many things) being a mother, the struggle with perfection, self-discovery, and letting go of shoulds.