is a charming new book that helps us explore these small seasons.
image courtesy Rock Point, an imprint of The Quarto Group
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Moments in Bloom: Japanese Seasonal Living for a Mindful Life
Saturday, 31 October 2026
There are so many ways to divide up a year's worth of time. Astronomical, where the earth is in its journey around the sun. Meteorological, based on the seasonal variations in temperature. And solar, how much light reaches the earth within a period of time. Our days are run by clocks. Perhaps it is the clocks that run our lives; having just reset an assortment of clocks in my house as the biannual on / off of daylight savings time. The ancient Romans had a different system. Every day had 12 hours between sunrise and sunset. An hour in summer was longer than an hour in winter. Fifty-two weeks. Twelve months. Four seasons. The natural world has no clocks. Its changes have seasonal cycles of awakening, growing, flowering, fruiting, and decline. Nowhere is more attention given to this year long cycle than in Japan, where time reckoning in a twenty-four seasons calendar, each season about two weeks long, was used for hundreds of years. Seasonal living. Mindfulness.
Here in temperate regions these smaller seasonal transitions all too often slip by us with scant recognition. Some regions of the earth have not the pleasure of our frequent, modest changes. Live on the equator where day and night have equal, unchanging sway. At the North Pole night consumes the day with true darkness, and sun does not rise between early November until early February. How fortunate we are to have these modest changes that bring us mindful connections to the natural world.
Seasonal living. It's that time of year again. I rake the lawn, collect the leaves and dump them in the woods. Go to bed at day's end with a feeling of accomplishment. And then wake up in the morning to a leaf covered lawn, ready for me to rake it clear all over again. As I stare at this to-do chore, a few leaves lazily circle down from the trees. And many, many more waiting to fall. It is, after all, the name given to this season. Fall.
"Moments in Bloom, Japanese Seasonal Living for a Mindful Life"
is a charming new book that helps us explore these small seasons.
image courtesy Rock Point, an imprint of The Quarto Group
Four seasons, each with six chapters. Each one has an overview, with prompts, to help readers discover, explore each one:
five day microseasons, pentads, within each 2 week solar season (I think these add up as ko, the 72 Japanese microseasons.)
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image courtesy Rock Point, an imprint of The Quarto Group
Chapter 17, October 8-22, Cold Dew. Its colors are October sky, evening chill, pomegranate and wild apple. It is suggested our experiences might include swapping out clothes for winter, go leaf hunting, attend an autumn harvest festival.
At days end in autumn, the pentad of October 8 - 12, the wild geese return. Their skein arrows across the sky.
A sign of the season, for in spring the geese would have paired off, to nest and brood and raise their goslings.
It is rewarding, memorable, when an occurrence in the natural world invites us to pause, to reflect, and to share.
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images courtesy Rock Point, an imprint of The Quarto Group
Explore the season
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Persimmons are one of autumn's fruits, perhaps unfamiliar to many of us. One year I found a tree,
a native American persimmon tree. In November. Heavily in fruit. I foraged, and went home with
fruit, this special fruit, this special season's fruit. And the pudding I made was a special experience.
Experience this season with its pentads. Visit a pumpkin patch.
Go for an autumn walk before the season reaches its end. Observe. Enjoy.
Moments in Bloom offers gentle ways to bring connection with the seasonal changes of the turning year.
It offers suggestions, options and pleasant possibilities that will enrich your life.
Moments in Bloom, Japanese Seasonal Living for a Mindful Life
Alexis Agliano Sanborn and Kit Lanthier
published by Rock Point, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA
Hardcover, trim size 5.71 in x 7.68 in /, $19.95
ISBN: 978-1-57715-825-7
release date October 6, 2026
A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher
If you have any comments or questions, you can e-mail me: jgglatt@gmail.com
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