A May Day Bouquet

This morning the fairies left a May Day bouquet on our door step. It's hard to see in the photograph but it was filled with violets, strawberry blossoms and wildflowers. My daughter was delighted. It's pouring rain and cold here in Maine, so it was a little bit of cheer on a dreary May Day.

When I was a girl, we learned the Maypole dance at school on May Day. The teachers attached streamers to a flag pole and taught us how to dance around the Maypole, weaving the streamers into a pretty pattern. I also remember weaving baskets of construction paper and filling our baskets with wildflowers.

I found this lovely youtube video and song to mark the occasion this year. It may be raining outside but in our hearts, it's a beautiful spring day. Enjoy this day!

Maine Woods

This time of year things are starting to sprout in the Maine woods. Little ferns are uncurling and a green mist is developing on the forest floor replacing the brown carpet of dead leaves. This forest is mostly white pine and eastern hemlock with a few oaks.

 This little plant is wintergreen. When the colonists boycotted British tea long ago, they drank wintergreen tea instead. This plant has many medicinal uses. It is also called teaberry or checkerberry. Soon it will have white flowers that eventually turn into bright red berries.

 And here is a view looking up into the forest canopy. Gray squirrels often make nests almost at the very top of the white pines. Once the babies are born and out of the nest, we often are treated to the young squirrels chasing each other through the tree tops.

 I have three cats- two calico cats and our striped cat. They all like to take walks with me. If I'm gardening, they follow me around. If I walk the dog they come with me. One day my daughter and I took a long walk beyond our neighborhood and this kitty you see below, Miss Natalie, followed us until she felt we were going to far. She stopped and let out the most piteous cry over and over, so we turned around and put her in the house so she wouldn't worry about us, then resumed our walk. On this day, she followed me into the woods and we had a lovely walk together.

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."
-  from John of the Mountains by John Muir

A Change in the Weather

 It's spring!

Here in Maine, we got an early spring this year. Well, truth be told, I don't think winter ever really came in the first place, other than that little joke back on Halloween when trick or treat was canceled due to snow. But, things are popping up early around here so ready or not, it's time to garden. My son and I headed to the garden center the other day but the seedlings were still looking small. I reminded myself it's only April. For the past month I've been telling the kids maybe we shouldn't plant this or that just because it feels like June. But, it seemed spring was here to stay so they did plant seeds and transplanted a few sad looking seedlings we'd started indoors.

 We've already harvested some asparagus and the radishes are starting to sprout. We've got tall, budding chives and the Egyptian onions are two feet tall already.

 The strawberries are blooming.....

 I planted my Easter lily in the perennial border. Last year, I had an Easter lily bloom in July and it was gorgeous so I'm hoping this one will take too.

 A carpet of ground phlox is in bloom

 Down at the garden center these folks look like they are mourners at a funeral. Perhaps they knew what I didn't....

No sooner had I accepted spring was here to stay, mother nature sent some cold, chilling rains. We needed the rain.

You know how the old saying goes around these parts, "If you don't like the weather wait a minute and it will change." That it did.