May Day Thoughts

Posted on May 1, 2023 by vanbraman

Today was May Day. The day is not an official holiday in the US, but it is celebrated by many as a spring festival.

May Day - Flowers in Baskets - Girl with flowers - Spring BloomsI remember as a kid we would sometime hang May Day baskets on the doorknobs of our neighbors.

Authors Card Game - Nathaniel Hawthorne - Whitman - Anne Wales Abbott - House of the Seven GablesMay Day also makes me think about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story The Maypole of Merry Mount. There is a lot to learn from the community that was founded in the Massachusetts Colony by Thomas Morton. Unfortunately it is a part of history overlooked and unheeded.

In Europe May Day is widely celebrated and is a public holiday. The way that it is celebrated varies widely by country. The celebrations are often based on local traditions, many of which have pagan origins.

However, they have one thing in common in that they celebrate the transition of the seasons.

Iris - May Flowers - Two Iris Blooms - Blue and White Iris - Flowers at Rest AreaIn many areas of the world May Day is also International Worker’s Day. Here in the US we have a separate Labor Day in the fall so International Worker’s Day is not celebrated here.

Purple Flowers - April Flowers - April Showers bring May Flowers - California - Colorful flowersI really like this time of year when the flowers are blooming and the heat of summer has not yet arrived.

Altamont, California, Windmills, Spring Rains, Winter Rains, Green HillsIt also marks the time when the beautiful green hills that we have here in California during the spring start to fade to a golden brown.

Altamont Hills Summer versus WinterSee Colorful Hills and The Changing Altamont to see more pictures of this area.

However, do not get May Day mixed up with mayday the international call of distress. The word mayday comes from the French phrase for ‘come and help me’. With the advent of radio, mayday mayday mayday replaced the morse code call SOS. The call is repeated three times to make sure that it is not lost in other radio noise.

I hope that you had time today to enjoy the May Flowers that were brought by April Showers.

Steven

Posted in Culture, Flowers, History, Nature, Seasons | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Windy Sunday

Posted on April 30, 2023 by vanbraman

Today I had planned on doing some tree trimming, but it was too windy.

However, I ended up doing some tree trimming anyway. Fortunately not my own tree under the circumstances.

Tree down, tree trimming, windy, tree blown over, windy dayI had just headed out to take a walk, and saw that a neighbor down the street had a tree damaged by the high wind.

Tree down, tree trimming, windy, tree blown over, windy dayFortunately the tree did not hit the house when the trunk snapped in half. If the tree had been only a little taller it would have caused some damage to the house.

Tree down, tree trimming, windy, tree blown over, windy dayAlong with another neighbor we helped cut branches off the downed tree so there was access to the house. The other neighbor also reported the downed tree and was told that the City would send someone out to take care of it.

I then went to the park to walk. After making several trips around the park I saw the tree crew drive by and headed home to watch them take care of the tree.

Tree down, tree trimming, windy, tree blown over, windy dayThey were soon feeding limbs of the tree into a wood chipper and cleaning up the mess caused by the downed tree.

Tree down, tree trimming, windy, tree blown over, windy dayIt did not take long and the tree was carted away.

I am hoping that my trees will withstand the winds. The crew said that there were multiple trees down across the city.

Steven

Posted in Local, Nature, Yard Work | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment