Ten Days of Little Celebrations - May 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for May 2014.

Daughter’s visit. What’s not to like about having a daughter around! It was a very short visit - every part was a celebration of family.

Jack-in-the-Pulpits. This was the first year I found them blooming at the forest’s edge in our yard. These plants always seem special to me because I saw them only in pictures until I moved to the east coast.

Getting seedlings planted. I got all the seedlings planted and celebrated they were all thriving (until the hail battered a couple to oblivion last week. Still - enough are growing rapidly in there pots on the deck that I am pleased with the results of my efforts to get them started early.

Wall of green. Every my I celebrate the return of the wall of green view from my office window. The tulip poplar and maple trees are through the spring greens and looking as lush always get in summer. The sycamore that I see from my kitchen window is a little later unfurling; it’s leaves will continue getting larger and larger all during the summer.

Blueberries and yogurt. It is my favorite mini-meal in May and June….a way to celebration almost every day.

Driving neighbors. I thoroughly enjoy volunteering to drive senior citizens to their appointments in my community. What a joy it is to have them stay in the community where they have lived for years!

Hiking in the forest. Spring is one of my favorite times to hike: wildflowers, not a lot of biting insects, water gurgling. It was wonderful to be outdoors after the cold and wet!

Phone conversations. I find myself celebrating the normal ebb and flow of conversation with people far away. Sometimes it is the ordinary that turns out to be a treasure.

Birdbath and iris. Every time I go by the front door of my house (either outside or inside) I glance and the view and celebrate!

Chives. Here’s to celebrating plants that just come up every year on their own….and taste wonderful in salads!

Seasonal Foods - May

I am celebrating having the first things from my Chaos Garden to add to salads: chives and lemon balm. These two are so well established that they come up and grow abundantly every year. They are best early in the year when they are at their most tender. I like the added color of the purple chives flowers in salads.

I photographed the first blooming of dandelion flowers but didn’t cut any for salads for some reason; I’ll make an effort for the second blooms since the yellow petals are also nice additions. I’ve never built up any enthusiasm for the leaves (too bitter for me) but maybe that is because I don’t catch them earlier enough.

A nearby farm advertised pick-your-own strawberries this weekend but I missed the action; there were a huge number of cars parked along the roadside near the farm when I went out for other errands. Everybody likes strawberries and this is their season in Maryland!

Blueberries are becoming plentiful too. I buy them at the Farmer’s Market or the grocery store. I like them with yogurt on top. If it’s a hot day, I freeze the blueberries and make a smoothie (so far we haven’t had a really hot day, but I’m sure we will before the season is done.