I ran into a coworker I had not seen for while; I retired about a year ago. He was standing behind a table of canned and non-perishable goods in front of the grocery store. There were a few empty chairs and two full grocery carts. Because of the empty chairs, I asked, “Where are the kids? “He replied, “I’m covering the table for them while they are out getting lunch.’’ He proceeded to explain that they were collecting food to share with people in need.
“It is not that when spring draws to a close it becomes summer, or that when summer ends the autumn comes: spring itself, urges the summer to show itself; and even while the summer is still with us, the autumn is already intruding; and the chill of autumn becomes winter cold. In the tenth month, there is a spell of springlike weather. The grass turns green, the plum trees bud. With the falling of the leaves, too, it is not that the first leaves fall and then young shoots form; the leaves fall because the budding from underneath is too powerful to resist.”
–Excerpt from Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko, #155 pages 137, 138.
