It's been a little while ~

A note on the 26th of May.

Dear friend,

It’s taken me a little while to arrive here, I know.

I needed a small break.

A reorientation.

I’m still not sure how these notes to you will look… but: I wanted to start somewhere and to say that I’ve been thinking of you.

❉

Over the past few months, a lot of my extra attention has been going towards the radio show that I co-host with my dear friend, Suzanne Belle Stone.

Season’s Greetings officially found a permanent home back in February. It's released every six weeks via Radio Kapitał—an independent radio platform streaming out of Poland.

Our show is a two hour long, sonorous tonic for curious ears: celebrating the influences and energies of each season of the year. Every episode is a sonic capsule dedicated to a different seasonal marker: blending original compositions, field recordings, music from the contemporary underground, poetics, spoken word, and botanical musings.

❉

We just aired our end of May episode on Monday. You can tune into it, along with all of the previous episodes, via the Radio Kapitał archive.

Find that here ~

.

Your hosts of Season’s Greetings Radio: Bells from the Deep + Chanelle Allesandre.

❉

Spring has been bustling as ever.

The lilacs are all gone but the dogwoods are absolutely extravagant.

The birds sing all morning and the cats sit on the windowsills listening.

I’ve been drinking lots of elderflower lately and taking long walks to sauna, and reading in bed at night with the red light on.

Lately it’s been Great Expectations by Charles Dickens—if you’ve been receivingmy newsletters for even a short while, you know how I love a Victorian-era novel. Plus, I’ve been thinking, a lot, about my own relationship to ambition and striving and desire: central themes in this story. There is a delicate balance between willpower (energetic determination) and trust—between force and grace—which I’m still learning.

Oh, and: I secretly planted some lemon balm in the backyard, by the fence, between the hostas. It’s the first thing I’ve planted in New Haven since moving here a little over two years ago. My hands were covered in wet dirt on Monday after planting the Melissa—it was a sensation I’ve not had in years, one I’ve missed.

.

On that note / I’ll leave you here. Just a hello, just to say: I know it’s been quite a long while since the last time I said hello.

I’ll pop back in sometime soon.

In the meantime, feel free, as always, to be in touch. I love hearing from you, even I’m slow to respond, even if I forget to reply.


Warmest, warmest,
Chanelle
❉

Cornus kousa I plucked on one of my neighborhood walks. The large white structures are -not- actually petals but are called “bracts.” The flowers of all Dogwoods are those tiny clusters of green in the center, which will subtly bloom in time.

PS: I’ve almost forgotten to mention that I’ve been working a few days a week at Perennial in Manchester, CT. Come visit, if you’re around, and I’ll put a tisane together for you or point you in the direction of one of my favorite items in the shop: Papier d’Arménie ;)

Perennial has also invited me to write guests posts for their newsletter, so find me (and more of my botanical musings) over there, too.
xx

---