Happy Beltaine

The first of may.  Beltaine.  May Day.  A day of celebration of life renewing, the flowers of spring.
I noticed today that the birch trees and also the lilac by my mother's front door were starting to bud, beginning new leaves for the coming season.  Also?  It snowed.
Snowed.  As in cold air and light flakes and an overcast sky.  Last week, it was so warm I left doors and windows open- deciding I would rather the fresh air and scents of warming earth than the safety from the mosquitoes.
On the bright side, hopefully the late frost and snow will have killed off a generation or two mosquitoes and we'll have a bit of a reprieve at the beginning of the bug season.  On the less bright side, I left my tray of calendula starts out on the porch too long (ok, I forgot about them and they were out all night) the other day, and so now most of my very vigorously promising starts are no longer.  Fortunately, this was about a day before the echinacea seeds started sprouting, so they're okay.

Happy May Day!  May you grow into the year ahead with much creativity and joy!

Imbolc

Last fall, my darlin' man burnt down the pile of rubbish the former owners had piled up on a spot the previous owners had done so.  It had some plastics and treated wood, and metal scraps and bits of who knows what piled up.  So, definately not a spot that I would think of growing veggies on, no idea what's leached into that spot of soil.

At the bottom of the pile, once it was burnt down, he found a bunch of feildstones.  So he made a ring around the fire pit.  Then he added found - railroad ties for benches.  So now I have the large ritual fire pit I've always wanted, and he has a spot in which he can safely build the ginormous bonfires we so enjoy. 

So, for Imbloc -coincidentally, also his cousin's birthday - we ate salmon and spinach salad and german chocolate cake.  Friends drove out to the homestead, and the darlin' man built a pyre.  He layered downed birchlogs with pallets, log cabin style, and then stuck the christmas tree on the top.  The initial flames were at least 30 feet high.  The moon was out, though the rest of the sky was cloudy, framed by the two tall spruce.  As the evening moved towards morning, the stars came out.  And much wine was drunk, and stories told.

*disclaimer: these photos are actually from the solstice bonfire, which I never got around to posting.  But my camera was dead, and we were out of batteries this weekend.  So, in reality, the snow was about 2 feet higher.