April 30 2020 - The Merry Month

Tomorrow is May Day.  There is maypole dancing and crowning the Queen of May.  This is a festival focused on children now, and is celebrated in Europe. This holiday is also associated with International Workers' Day. There's the expectation that workers will strike amid all the Pandemic interruptions. Protests have been organized at companies like Amazon, Instagram, Whole Foods and Target. There's no relationship between May Day the holiday and Mayday the distress signal.  It got its start from the French word m'aider, which means "help me". May Day now contains a childhood sense of innocence and fun, and the jokes about May reflect this. Q: What did the spring say when it was in trouble? A: May Day!! Q: Which state loves spring the most? A: May-ne Q: Which cute mouse loves the spring? A: Maysy Q: Which crime fighter likes May the most? A: Robin Q: What season is it when you are on a trampoline in May? A: Spring-time. Q: What May flowers grow on faces? A: Tulips (Two-lips). We have a picture of tulips from the garden today - all the daffodils are blooming in the garden along with forsythia with its bright yellow.  The Magnolias are all showing their pretty pink colours, so we can expect to have a nice blossom show by the weekend.

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Photo Spritzing

I have wondered how it is that some public holidays never made it to North America. May Day is a northern hemisphere celebration of Spring.  It is such a great tradition, there is even the verb "Maying".  In France,  lily of the valley are blooming, so a sprig is the traditional gift.   In the U.S. May Day was loathed by the Puritans who came over.  It was considered a 'fleshy indulgence'.  There is some activity today, although nothing like the big celebrations in Europe. Wikipedia says that on the morning of May 1st, various Morris Dancing troops from Toronto and Hamilton gather in High Park to dance.   I travelled to Barrie yesterday for a water droplet workshop.  This was with Don Komarechka.  His site is Donkom - and you can see his superlative water droplet images there.  He is extremely well known for snowflakes. His Snowflake print shows 400 unique snowflakes.  Every image takes many shots (about 50) to create everything clear.  His site says it took 2500 hours over the span of 5 years.   We had a great time spritzing water onto little dandelion seed heads set against gerbera daisies in the background.  This makes the gerbera show in the water bubbles and gets these wonderful colours in the drops.

Mayday and May Day!

How is it that May Day is a springtime festival and a call for urgent help? As a spring festival it includes dances, singing and cake.  As an emergency procedure it is used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications.  It is used three times in a row to distinguish it as a Mayday call rather than about a message about a Mayday call.  Isn't that the best! Our news headlines today in Quebec also let us know that this is International Workers Day.  There are workers' rights demonstrations planned for Montreal and streets will be closed for the route.  In past years, in Montreal, some May Day demonstrations have ended in violence and mass arrests. Our second picture today is a close-up of a weeping Katsura tree on the grounds where the weeping cherry is located.  What is special about a Katsura in the fall?