Indulge me yet again in another dreamy seasonal post, if you will. I took these photos in a friend's yard a little while back, admiring the change of light and color as the sun was setting. I love that when autumn arrives, you feel it in the air.

Fall is most certainly in the air. I've been enjoying the dramatic sunsets and most recently, an autumn-blessed drive through Washington, revealing the fall hues decorating the mountains. The poet Robert Frost has been on my mind, mostly due to his being mentioned several times over a weekend of Trivia Pursuit cards being read over some Oktoberfest beers. Who says alcohol and intellectualism can't mix? I took it to be a sign, that his wise words need to be rekindled and mulled over, as they rightfully should. 

I choose to highlight one his more well-known poems, The Road Not Taken, which isn't so much about seasons, but a sense of reflection over choices made and chances missed. Autumn can be a reflective time, we're realizing the year is at an end, and it's a season that's all about change. And change is most certainly in the air. So sit back with dramatic sunset, think about his words, and consider what lesser-traveled roads you have dared to venture upon in life, and perhaps consider more lesser-traveled roads ahead. 

The Road Not Taken -  by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Jaunty Fine Print: photography by Denise Sakaki, poem by Robert Frost

It's Spring! It's Spring! Get your allergy medication prescriptions filled! Of course that's not the only reason spring is worthy of such J'adore and extra tissues. It's a time of rebirth, renewal, when the winter-swept branches, bare and spindly, suddenly come to life with little buds that unfurl into leaves. Flowers start to bloom. There's color in the world.

I know this is supposedly a blog about style and fashion, but it's not only about what we wear, we need to fully engage our environment and absorb inspiration whenever we can. Style can be about the way we perceive the world, a lens we gaze through to take in the concepts that feel most relevant. On a rare sunny day in mid-spring, I took a walk through our own backyard, just to take stock of what was in bloom and see how the plants were doing. For all the world's aches, pains and itches it just can't scratch, Nature doesn't let it get to her. Maybe it's harder to grow life anew, with more pollutants in the air, more asphalt to hide the soil, but it finds a way, however celebrated or anonymous. One of my favorite poets, Emily Dickenson describes spring best:  

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

Jaunty Fine Print: Photos of the Le Jardin de Jaunty by Denise Sakaki

Winter's official first day was December 21st, but after the holidays, when the Christmas trees start disappearing and the holiday lights start coming down (unless you're one of those who leave 'em up till March -- you know who you are!), the gloomy days of Winter seem more apparent. Over the holidays, the Birdy had this talk with friends, right on Christmas Day, funny enough, and we all agreed that even the most dreary of days don't seem as bad when you're surrounded by the glow of holiday lights and sparkle all around. But once it's all put away, it's hard to keep a cheery spirit, especially when the sun disappears by five and it's dark as pitch out there. At least, that's how it is up here in the Pacific Northwest.

So I turn to the holiday gifts from friends and family to add some brightness to the gloomy days -- there were some particularly sparkly items that pair so nicely with an icy chill. While they can't warm my feet like a pair of wooly socks, they do warm my spirit and soul, when the days are short and the nights are long. You need a little sparkle to shine through the dreary days, no?

To pair with some winter sparkle, here's an exerpt from a poem by Thomas Campion, reminding us of the cozy comforts of winter, which is something not to be forgotten:

Now winter nights enlarge
This number of their hours;
And clouds their storms discharge
Upon the airy towers.
Let now the chimneys blaze
And cups o'erflow with wine,
Let well-tuned words amaze
With harmony divine.
Now yellow waxen lights
Shall wait on honey love
While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights
Sleep's leaden spells remove.

Jaunty Fine Print: photos by Denise Sakaki, gifts by wonderful sweet friends and family - thank you! xoxo

A something in a summer’s Day
As slow her flambeaux burn away
Which solemnizes me.

A something in a summer’s noon —
A depth — an Azure — a perfume —
Transcending ecstasy.

And still within a summer’s night
A something so transporting bright
I clap my hands to see —

Then veil my too inspecting face
Lets such a subtle — shimmering grace
Flutter too far for me —

The wizard fingers never rest —
The purple brook within the breast
Still chafes it narrow bed —

Still rears the East her amber Flag —
Guides still the sun along the Crag
His Caravan of Red —

So looking on — the night — the morn
Conclude the wonder gay —
And I meet, coming thro’ the dews
Another summer’s Day!


Jaunty Fine Print:  photo by Denise Sakaki, poem by Emily Dickenson

 

On a recent visit to Orcas Island and taking oh... about a gazillion photos, this Bird was struck at how fortunate we are to live in an area that truly embraces each season. Maybe it was because I lived in places like California and Arizona, where the temperatures change, but you don't get dramatic transformation in your surroundings quite like you do in the Pacific Northwest. Spring was most certainly in the air on Orcas, walking through the charming town of Eastsound, and driving through the picturesque valleys of the inland countryside. Even though the bright green of life returning to the land was starting to bloom, I couldn't help but think of how this beautiful place will transform with every season, becoming just as unique and beautiful as it is now. I hope you J'adore this beautiful set of haiku by Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho. They celebrate the divine details hidden in each season, making you stop and take a moment to savor every breath of the day.

Spring:
A hill without a name
Veiled in morning mist.


The beginning of autumn:
Sea and emerald paddy
Both the same green.


The winds of autumn
Blow: yet still green
The chestnut husks.


A flash of lightning:
Into the gloom
Goes the heron’s cry.

Jaunty Fine Print:  photos by Denise Sakaki

 

If we find ourselves buried in a late winter snowstorm, in the middle of March or April, blame the Magpie. Seeing our garden bulbs starting to sprout up and the early blooms being sold at the florist shops, it put this Birdie in a Mood of, yippee -- Spring is in the air! And again, apologies in advance when the wicked snowstorm shows up and totally ices-out this whole Mood.

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!

- Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"


Jaunty Fine Print:  photograph by Denise Sakaki