Edited by Gary Schmidt and Susan M. Felch
I spotted an intriguing title on the used book shelf at my favorite new Pasadena store, Remainders, a thrift store for arts and crafts supplies. It was called The Knitting Way: A Guide to Spiritual Discovery, by Linda Skolnick. I haven’t fully explored it yet, but in leafing through the end pages I ran across this series on the spirituality of the seasons by the same publisher, Skylight Paths Publishing. The editor’s name caught my eye; Gary Schmidt is an English professor and a children’s author who visited my school years ago for my first season of “One School One Story,” when we all read his novel Okay for Now. (If you go to the link to look at the cover image, you will see my school Halloween costume from that year, which I considered a promotional technique for the book!) (And by the way, read it, it’s a great book!)
So, needless to say, I was sold. Part of my attraction is just a general practice of trying different ways of living seasonally (see my post called Time is Warped). First I tried the library but couldn’t find the whole series so I just bought it at Better World Books (a good source for used books, especially if you are trying to avoid Amazon), plus an extra copy of Winter to give to my sister Laura for her birthday, which is December 21.
Every volume is an anthology of poetry, short stories, and essays about its seasonal theme. It’s a little odd to be living in Los Angeles while reading Winter, with its tales of death, loss, and despair in the depths of an endless season of snow (sorry, Laura!). But the lineup of authors is varied and impressive: Bashō, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Jane Kenyon, Jamaica Kincaid, Henry David Thoreau, John Updike, E. B. White, and more. I read an entry after my morning journaling time, and on March 21 I will put Winter away until next year and start reading Spring.