May Day Medley

H A P P Y

D A Y !!

 I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I've posted anything.

Do y'all ever just get like that...unmotivated to blog?

I had last week's medley questions answered and started to get my post together

and then had nothing else to offer so I just decided not to finish it and bow out again.

But I'm back and can hardly believe that May is already here...and it seems summer may be too.

It's to be in the mid-80s here all week...I am not quite ready for that yet!

 So here's what Teri, has for us today on the...

  

MAY DAY

May Day is observed annually on May 1.  In many ancient calendars, May 1 was the first day of summer.  This was a cause for celebration.  One of the more popular rituals was harvesting flowers and giving them to neighbors and strangers in cone-shaped baskets. These “May Baskets” become more commonly known as “May Day Baskets”.  The current tradition is observed by hanging a cone-shaped basket full of flowers or other gifts on the outside doorknob, then knocking or ringing the doorbell and run away.

May Day has been a traditional day of celebration for centuries, with some of the earliest appearings in pre-Christian times.  In English tradition, May Day is celebrated by crowning a May Queen and dancing around a maypole.  The Finnish tradition is a carnival-type celebration in the streets that includes a special type of lemonade that is made with lemons, brown sugar and yeast.  In France, it is correct to give people either dogwood or lily of the valley to celebrate May Day.  In Italy, a seasonal feast is held to celebrate the arrival of spring.While different countries have different ways to celebrate May Day, it is truly a celebration of spring.

So hop on over and join in the fun...

...just copy the questions from her blog and paste them onto yours!

1.  Ahhh... May Day!!  Happy May!  Did you celebrate this when you were a child by dancing around a Maypole or leaving flowers on someone's porch? Will you be celebrating a special occasion in May?

I remember this like it was yesterday...my sister (next to me in age) had freckles that she hated and for a few years (at least) I remember her being told by someone in the family that one way to get rid of them was to get up on May Day without saying a word to anyone,  go outside and wash her face in the morning dew...and that would take care of them...lol! Has anyone else ever heard of that? I found this image online... I guess it came from a nursery rhyme of long ago.

2. National Mother Goose Day was founded in 1987.  Can you name a nursery rhyme that would fit your life as it was in 1987?  If you are a youngster and not yet born in 1987, you may pass, of course, but do you have a favorite nursery rhyme? HERE is a list of nursery rhymes.

Oh my...you are going w-a-a-a-y back, aren't you? It took me a while to even wrap my head around what I was doing back then! Let's see...in 1987, I was a young mother of two rambunctious little boys ...Aaron was 8, Adam was 5 and we were living in Kentucky. I was a stay-at-home mom and Jim was working 2nd shift at the time. It was not always fun...I was pretty much doing the parenting thing on my own since Jim needed to sleep late in the mornings and by mid-afternoon he was off to work again into the late night hours. Yeah...those were not the best days of my motherhood journey. "I'm a Little Teapot" seems like it might be quite fitting during that time since I've always been short and stout and I could certainly get pretty steamed up. The neighbors may have even heard me shout a time or two.....or three.

3.  National Chocolate Parfait Day is also honored on this day. Parfait means perfect in French. Tell us about a perfect day, in your mind, and would/could it end with a chocolate parfait?

My perfect day would find me out all by myself (well, just me and the Lord) ...driving to the perfect country setting, a picnic for one possibly, walking a country road lined on both side with fields of wildflowers...camera in tow, of course. There is a cool breeze blowing but the sun is warm on my face. Yes...that would be absolute perfection. Does that sound selfish? Now on the other hand, a gathering of the family...my hubby, my boys, their wives and children...that's also an almost perfect day...almost. But when we all get together, someone's got to get it together and that person is usually ME. "Perfect" and "work" don't really belong in the same sentence, do you think?? I highly doubt if chocolate parfait would be involved in any way though. Now, if you would have said lemon meringue pie....well, that would be a different story entirely.🍋

4.  National School Principal's Day was founded to celebrate these school administrators who support and guide quality teachers and staff to provide productive learning environments for our children.  Did you have a good Principal when you were in school? Do you remember his/her name?

I do remember a certain principal when I was in junior high. I thought he was a nice, fair man and since I behaved myself (most of the time) I never had any fear of having to go see him. He was a soft spoken older gentleman who was tall and balding. The main thing I remember about him was he had hairy ears. The mean kids always made fun of him for having quite a lot of hair growing out of his ears. His name was Wilbur Bolen. I will also remember that my brother Doug who was quite a bit older than me, was sweet on his daughter, Paula. And to make this story complete, I also need to add that this certain Paula married a man (who was not my brother) and they were unable to have children of their own. Well, it just so happened that my sister Ruby and her husband were foster parents for two years to a little guy and Paula and her hubby ended up adopting him. Soooo....Wilbur Bolen became the grandpa to their former foster child! Pretty cool, huh?

5. And perhaps the most important one is Silver Star Service Banner Day which honors the sacrifices of the combat wounded, ill, and dying service members from all branches of the military.  Do you have family members who have served this country in uniform? Tell us about them, if you will.

My oldest brother Bob who passed away in 2017 had already enlisted in the Air Force before I was born and made it his career. He spent most of his years at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumpter, SC  where he met his lovely wife and raised his three daughters. And my brother Doug who I mentioned in the previous comment, also served in the Air Force for four years. He spent a year in Thailand and fell in love with a lovely young woman there who he almost married....almost. I don't know the whole story but I do know he was heartbroken for a while. 😞

6.  It's Hump Day! How is your week going so far?

It's going pretty good, I think. I haven't given an update since I had some tests and saw my doctor last month. The CT scan showed that the "tumor" is still there and although it hasn't really decreased in size, the inflammation surrounding it looked better and it had NOT increased...Praise the Lord for that. We were all hoping to see it getting smaller but the doc said sometimes it takes more than one month of steroids before results. So.....no decrease in the dosage just yet. He was very pleased at how well I am doing and that I am feeling good, eating and not losing weight anymore. And I'm not gaining either so Praise the Lord for that as well. I was so afraid the steroids were going to blow me up like a balloon but so far, so good!

So yesterday I was doing a little experimenting with my air fryer and I posted what I had cooked on Facebook. A few of you saw it and was interested in learning more about air fryer cooking and asked me to write a post. This is what I made...a stir-fry sort of dish with chicken breast and fresh veggies all cooked together in the air fryer basket. It was quite tasty, quick and easy!

 

So I am working on the post it and will have it up later on this week or weekend. 

 

So that's it for now...enjoy the rest of your week!

HUGS!