Hi Everyone----
As you may have noticed (or maybe not), I've been more than a bit lax about getting weekly messages out in 2013. Blame it on an abundance of snow and a serious love of skiing. I logged 59 days this year. The first on November 9th and the last on April 28th. I really wanted to get 60 days in and be able to say I skied some portion of 7 months of the year, but a couple of things conspired against me. First...Sugarloaf decided not to run the lifts during the week anymore, so I couldn't just stick around and take a couple of runs last Monday and call it good. Second, the cold weather, tight ski boots and constant abuse of my feet cost me a big toenail (again). Not too comfy to put that in a sock, in a boot, etc etc etc. So I am done. Gives me something to shoot for next year, I guess.
Thus, here I am at home where Spring has sprung. Buds are popping on the trees. Forsythia, tulips, daffodils and crocuses are out everywhere. And the grass is greening up. Big time. I'll be mowing before I know it. Definitely before I want to. "Dear John (Deere)...Can't wait to resume our summer relationship. I just love, love, love those hours spent riding around (and around, and around) with you. X0. Me"
But before then--I thought I'd resume writing with a bit of trivia about May 1st, or "May Day".
May Day is an ancient spring festival in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s an astronomical holiday, one of the year’s four cross-quarter days, a day that falls more or less midway between an equinox and solstice – in this case the March equinox and June solstice. (The other cross-quarter days are Groundhog Day on February 2, Lammas on August 1 and Halloween on October 31.) Did you know this?
May Day also stems from the Celtic festival of Beltane, which was related to the waxing power of the sun as we move closer to summer. At Beltane, people lit fires through which livestock were driven and around which people danced, moving in the same direction that the sun crosses the sky
None of the above is to be confused with the term "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!", but it got me wondering why you say "Mayday" when you need a rescue at sea...so I Googled it and include it here for purely tangential and entertainment purposes... Confound and astound someone at your next cocktail party with these little tidbits.
"Mayday" is the internationally recognized voice radio signal for people and ships in serious distress. Coming from the French term "venez m'aider!", meaning "come help me!", it became the international standard rescue call in 1948.
To celebrate May Day, there is a new Piece of the Week featured on the website. Green for the Celts. Green for May. With a little bit of gold---in homage to John Deere and dandelions. Not distressing at all. Check it out. Link below my signature.
Until next week--
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