May is a busy month in several ways. In May things have finally advanced enough season-wise that I always have things to do outdoors. I love that. Anytime it’s not raining (which has not been very often lately) I have lawns to mow, weeds to pull, things to plant, and on and on. The growing world never rests and neither do I and that keeps me busy and makes me happy.
May is also a busy time for our family. There are so many birthdays and anniversaries in May that the calendar has something written on it almost every day. Two nieces, one nephew, a sister-in-law, a brother-in-law, my brother, my father, my wife, and a granddaughter all have birthdays in May. One of my nephews, my parents, and my wife and I all celebrate wedding anniversaries in May. It is one of the busiest months for family events in the whole year. That also makes me happy.
We celebrated Stacey’s birthday on Friday. I’ve always heard that it isn’t polite to refer to a lady’s age so I’ll just say that she’s a few years younger than me. Our celebration was pretty low key. She received some gifts and cards in the mail during the week. Miriam made her a coconut cream pie, her favorite. And she had some phone calls and got to skype with children and other family members.
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| Stacey's birthday. |
Yesterday was a beautiful day. It started out cold (34°) and foggy, but then the sun came up, the fog burned away and it warmed to 70° – perfect May weather. I spent the whole day outdoors. I mowed our lawn. It is dandelion time and the lawn is filled with their pretty yellow flowers. I like dandelions in the lawn, but I have to mow them down before they turn to seed in order to keep them from taking over the world. I finally got the weed whacker to start and I spent an hour trimming around the trees in the orchard. I also spent a lot of time pulling weeds in the asparagus patch. We’ve eaten asparagus three times now and there’s a lot more coming up. The last thing I did was to plant lettuce and carrots seeds. The sun felt so good while I worked. At the end of the day I stood on the back porch stairs and gazed out over my work and it made me happy.
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| Dandelions. |
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| The orchard after mowing. |
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| Trimming in the orchard. |
With the increasingly warm weather, the flowers have moved into their next phase. Most of the tulips are done now. Their petals are tattered and fading. I will decapitate them this week. There are a few very late blooming tulips that still look good. When I plant more tulip bulbs this fall, I will be sure to get some from the whole spectrum, early to very late. I have some little yellow irises blooming right now. They are early for irises. My other irises won’t bloom until mid-June. These little yellow ones are lovely.
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| The last of the tulips. |
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| I especially love this one. |
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| Short yellow irises. |
Out in the orchard the apple trees have begun to bloom. Many of my apple trees bear alternating crops – one year heavy, the next year light. Last year was a heavy year for most of them, so this year the crop will be light. Apple blossoms against a bright blue sky is the perfect symbol for May.
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| Apple blossoms. |
My Aunt Joyce amaryllis is in bloom. When we moved here, my Aunt Joyce (my father’s older sister) sent me an amaryllis bulb as a Welcome Home to Pennsylvania gift. It bloomed for me that first year and has bloomed every year since then. It has beautiful, huge white flowers. Over the years the mother bulb has had babies and I’ve moved them into bigger an bigger pots. They are all blooming right now – ten flower stems. Aunt Joyce passed away in 2013 but her amaryllis keeps her in my thoughts.
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| My Aunt Joyce amaryllis. |
With the big maple trees leafing out, the woodland garden has become shadier. The spring flowers that bloom during the pre-shade days are gone now. The shade loving plants are thriving. The lily-of-the-valley is in bud and will bloom this week. I can hardly wait to smell it. The ferns are unfurling and filling the shade with lacy green. The tiny sweet woodruff flowers are open and the woodland azaleas are in bud. On the edge of the woodland garden I have one magnolia bush. It was given to me by my friend Kent Jacobsen when his family moved away years ago. It is a late blooming magnolia with big pink flowers that smell like sweet lemon blossoms. I think of Kent every year when it blooms. Most of my lilac bushes, which are in bud right now, also came to me from Kent. He and I are kindred gardening spirits.
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| The woodland garden. |
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| My Kent Jacobsen magnolia. |
Today marks the end of an era in my life. I am no longer a Sunday School teacher after serving as the Gospel Doctrine teacher for almost twenty years. I’m sad to leave that calling. I love the Gospel, I love the scriptures, and I love to teach, so it has been a very fulfilling twenty years for me. But maybe it was time. I’ve been given a new calling as Branch Clerk. This will be a challenging calling. I don’t’ like administrative callings. I’m not a tech and numbers person and this calling requires me to work with both. It also requires me to go to church early and stay late every week and that will mean we will have to take two cars to church every Sunday, which will be a burden. Oh well. Things change.
It is warm today. When we arrived home from church I looked at the thermometer – 80°! As soon as I send this, I want to go out and bask in the warmth. I’ll take a walk around the garden and out through the orchard. If I’m feeling ambitious I might walk up to the hollow and through the woods. I will stop to observe the beaver pond on my way back. There are so many birds around it. There are a pair of Canada geese with goslings. This weather isn’t going to last. The forecast says there are thunderstorms on the way that should get here around 3:00. I like thunderstorms, but when they come they bring cooler air with them and I want the warmth to stay longer.
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| If you look closely, the geese and goslings are in this photo. |
The week ahead looks promising – not too much rain, not chilly, just right. I need to get the garden ready for Planting Out Day, which will happen this weekend. So much to look forward to!
