May Day

May Day is an extra fun day here in the Midwest- it's the day we give and receive May Baskets!  

This delightful tradition used to be a more common part of American culture.   

Louisa May Alcott wrote about May Basket Day in her 1880 children's book Jack and Jill.  

"Such a twanging of bells and rapping of knockers; such a scampering of feet in the dark; such droll collisions as boys came racing round corners, or girls ran into one another's arms as they crept up and down steps on the sly; such laughing, whistling, flying about of flowers and friendly feeling—it was almost a pity that May-day did not come oftener."

And that's exactly how we feel about it!  (Even if it does mean spoiled appetites for dinner and a house covered in popcorn).  It's a day full of treats and surprises and love shared amongst neighbors and friends.  It's one more reason we love living in the Midwest.  

This little potted beauty was my favorite, and surely the longest-lasting of all our May Basket Day treats.

We've found a few other signs of spring in our yard this May- Leah took a picture of the contents of a nest that robins have diligently been tending to under our deck stairs.

We've become the happy owners of a dwarf lilac bush, two barberry bushes and several hostas and lillies-of-the-valleys, as well as 2 mature blueberry bushes and 5 small raspberry bushes.

 And this- surely spring is upon us when we see this.