May Day

Dear Diary,

May Day isn't celebrated as it was back in my youth, with May baskets and May poles. Today, it is just another day.  In the Celtic tradition it is the festival of Beltane and the first day of summer.  It is really going to feel like summer tomorrow with temperatures close to 80F!  I am look forward to the warmth but not to the dreaded black flies that usually appear around this time.

For me, May Day is the start of pansy season around here.  I got a beautiful container to put on the porch next to the door.  They were my grandmothers favorite flower.  The blues and purples also remind me of my mother and grandmother.  Purple was my grandmothers favorite color and blue was moms.  

I hope to do a bit more spring cleaning today, just a few more windows to go.  Emerson and I also plan to do some porch sitting later in the day.  It feels so good to be able to get out there.  I will be opening the studio this week too.  No more winter for us! 

Excerpt from May Day by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1867)

Wreaths for the May! for happy Spring,
Today shall all her dowry bring
The love of kind, the joy, the grace,
Hymn of element and race,
Knowing well to celebrate
With song and hue and star and state,
With tender light and youthful cheer,
The spousals of the new-born year.
Lo love’s inundation poured
Over space and race abroad.